Laundry and Public Baths
Coin laundries are conveniently located and easy to use. There is always a laundry where there is a public bath, so the easiest way to get to a laundromat is to follow signs to a public bath.
Public baths have been a Japanese tradition for a very long time. At the baths, one can take a hot bath as well as shower for a fee. Baths are separated into sections for male and female. No clothes or bathing suits are allowed inside - there are locker rooms outside the bath where customers can leave clothes and belongings. The baths are kept very clean and one must always take a shower before stepping into the hot bath tub. Inside the tub, it is not polite to swim about - one should just sit back and enjoy. There is no embarassment among bathers about nudity, which can often be an unusual concept for the non-Japanese.