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Asahi Shimbun
12-07-2025
- General
- Asahi Shimbun
Welfare groups using shut ‘sento' to push local ties, prevent frailty
Elderly citizens watch TV at Bara-no-Yu, a former sento repurposed into a day care service institution, in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on April 24. (Tatsuo Kanai) Many closed-down 'sento' public bathhouses across Japan have been reborn as cafes or even 'izakaya' pubs. But a few are now being used for welfare services while maintaining the original association with cleanliness and companionship. The Bara-no-Yu (Rose bath) is one such place. Located near Matsumoto Castle in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Bara-no-Yu closed in 2021 due mainly to equipment deterioration. The beloved sento had a history of 66 years and was among the largest public bathhouses in Matsumoto. After its closure, the facility remained idle for years. But at 9 a.m. on a recent day, elderly people were chatting and watching TV in what was once the washing area of Bara-no-Yu. They were seated under a wall mural of a red Mount Fuji, a fixture decoration in Japan's sento tradition. A man in his 80s was soaking in a bathtub next door and being washed by a worker. 'It feels so good being here that I can forget all the nasty things,' the octogenarian said. Camomile House, a welfare service provider, refurbished the sento building in October 2024 and opened a day care service center within it. The group had been operating three other day care centers at vacant houses in the city. Camomile House drew on that know-how in reviving the public bathhouse. Yuka Wada, who administers Bara-no-Yu, said that when she was in her 20s she worked at a large-scale day care service center, where workers would wash bathers in a cramped bathhouse with a changeover interval of only several minutes. 'This is like potatoes being washed,' one user said, a remark that stuck with Wada. 'Elderly people cannot afford to take a leisurely bath at home, where they run the risk of falling down and drowning,' Wada, 44, said. 'I realized how important bathing is.' Wada was thinking about operating a day care service that specializes in bathing when she heard that Bara-no-Yu was closing. 'This is it,' she thought. She immediately snatched up the opportunity. A brochure for the reopened Bara-no-Yu contains the words 'entertainment day care service.' The facility uses an expansive former bathroom space for concerts and even tuna dissection shows. 'To survive competition, a welfare institution should be a fun place not just for users but also for staff workers,' Wada said. PRESERVING SHOWA-ERA BUILDING A medical institution took over Juraku Onsen, a sento in Osaka's Suminoe Ward, after it closed down. The bathhouse was founded in 1963, but it was shuttered in 2021 when a couple operating it fell ill. The following year, Yasuaki Miki, chief director of the nearby Nanko Hospital, decided to take over Juraku Onsen's business. 'I want to preserve this building from the Showa Era (1926-1989),' Miki, 66, said he thought at the time. 'You could never erect this same building again.' Following repairs of plumbing and other equipment, he reopened Juraku Onsen in February 2023, with Nanko Hospital named as the bathhouse's operator. Miki organizes a weekly 'centenarians' gymnastics' session for elderly citizens at Juraku Onsen. In addition, he has tied up with the operator of an after-school day care service for children with disabilities. At the bathhouse, they learn how to put firewood into the bath furnace and are taught about bathing manners. Miki said he plans to organize other events, such as sessions only for women who have undergone breast cancer surgery. 'My goal is to make this a sento that is open to all people,' Miki said. 'PERFECT FOR WELFARE' A recent legal change has also provided a push. Non-heirs hoping to take over a sento business had to go through formal procedures to discontinue the company. Then, they had to obtain fresh permission from the prefectural government to operate the sento. A December 2023 amendment to the Public Bathhouses Law obviated that need, lowering the hurdles for such business takeovers. Public bathhouses continue to close due to aging equipment, a lack of successors and soaring fuel expenses. The Japan National Sento Association represents sento organizations from 38 of Japan's 47 prefectures. Its statistics show the number of member public bathhouses has dropped steadily from the peak of 18,000 or so in 1968 to only about 1,500 as of April 1 this year. Around 100 public bathhouses closed in the last fiscal year alone, association officials said. Studies have shown that bathing and communicating with people at public bathhouses can promote health and may prevent conditions requiring nursing care. 'Sento qualify as 'community salons for frailty prevention,' a concept advocated by the health ministry,' said Shinya Hayasaka, a medical practitioner and Tokyo City University professor of bathing habits and balneology. 'Their effects are not limited to health promotion alone. They spontaneously attract men and women of all ages, thereby creating communication.' Hayasaka, 56, continued, 'The sento are also helping to foster neighborhood communities, so they are a perfect match for welfare.'
Asahi Shimbun
30-06-2025
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
Survey: Majority of big companies feel economy is at a ‘standstill'
Supermarket employees display bags of stockpiled rice released by the central government on May 31 in Tokyo's Ota Ward. (Tatsuo Kanai) Fifty-seven of 100 major Japanese companies believe the domestic economy is 'at a standstill,' the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic for a majority to feel that way, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. The figure represents an increase of 16 companies from the previous survey in July 2024. The latest 100-company survey was conducted from June 6 to 19. The last time more than 50 responding companies said the economy was at a standstill was in spring 2021, during the crisis over the novel coronavirus. The number of companies in the latest survey that say the economy is 'moderately receding' was nine, up six from the 2024 survey. Only 33 companies feel the economy is 'moderately expanding,' a significant decrease from 53 in the 2024 survey. And zero companies believe the economy is 'significantly expanding,' the same as in the previous survey. When asked to choose up to two reasons for their evaluations, 'consumer spending' was selected by 54 companies, followed by 'capital investment' by 28 and 'wages' by 25. 'Wage growth has not kept pace with the sustained rise in prices of food, energy and other items, and households are saving money,' Makoto Tani, chairman of Skylark Holdings Co., said. The survey also found that the most common concern for Japan's economy is 'intensifying trade friction, including tariffs,' cited by 65 companies, followed by 'sluggish personal consumption,' selected by 41. 'If trade friction intensifies, it could put pressure on corporate profits and cause employment uncertainty,' Shinichiro Funabiki, president of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc., said. 'There are concerns that this could lead to a decline in domestic consumption and investment stagnation, contributing to a slowdown in the overall economy.' Teiichi Goto, president of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., said, 'The future of tariff negotiations with the U.S. remains uncertain, and depending on the outcome, there could be a negative impact.' The majority of survey respondents also take a cautious view of the global economy. Sixty-one said the world economy is 'stagnant,' up 17 from the previous survey, while 18 believe the global economy is 'moderately decelerating.' Two companies said it was 'solidly decelerating,' compared with zero in the previous survey. Among the optimists, 15 companies feel the global economy is 'moderately expanding,' and one responded that it is 'solidly expanding.' Eighty companies said the biggest threat to the global economy is 'tariff action by the U.S. Trump administration.' And half of the 100 companies said they are concerned about the outlook for the U.S. economy. 'The uncertainty caused by the U.S. tariff policy is covering the entire world,' said Toru Nakashima, CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. 'Excessive pessimism is being corrected, but the economy remains unpredictable with significant downside risks.' Six companies cited 'the impact of international conflicts and terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere' as a concern for the global economy.
