God bless my faulty brain.  Just as I was feeling a little bit un-buzzed, I realised I had never in fact googled “nakano sentos”. Turns out there is a pretty decent bathhouse about a 4 minute walk from my apartment. Yesssssssss.

nakano bath
Takasagoyu is kind of a no-nonsense place, especially since the staff there are not exactly trying to win charmer-of-the-week awards.  So much so, that probably the only real redeemable feature is its location.  So, let’s go no-nonsense on this and hit the scoreboard:

THE SCOREBOARD OF SENTO SUCCULENCE:
Takasoguyu, Nakano
Features: 1 large bath combing the electric bath, the massage bath, and some basic leg and thigh jets; dry sauna (I have recently had my world busted by the recognition that what I thought was a gas sauna might be infrared saunas), mizuburo, rotemburo, small lounge.
Bath Heat/10 8 (41 degrees)
Sauna heat/10 8 (90)
Spatial aesthetic/5 1. This place was pretty cramped.
Water quality/5 1 (its a sento, you know?)
Variety of bath types/10 4
Quality of rotenburo /10 8. Higher than normal because,coming well, for an inner city bathhouse, I’m surprised it has a rotemburo. Actually, it’s got an almost homely vibe to it with a couple of pot plants above the water. And a great wall for staring  at.
Mizuburo/10 5. Yeah, it’s tiny as maybe .5 x .8 m, and I hate to wait twice. Brrrh.
Lighting /10 5 (Really nothing special. It aint no Pokapoka land that’s for sure)
Cost to value /5 1.Including the 400 yen tag for the sauna, you’re looking at 860. That’s a bit rich.
Accessibility /5 5. For obvious reasons, and it is open til 1230am (shut mondays)
Little extras /10 5. Did I mention the pot plants? Plus, I’ve seen some men do some pretty strange shit here. More on that in a separate post probably titled “I’ve seen some men do some pretty strange shit in Tokyo bathhouses”.
Overall feeling /10 8.
OVERALL PROXIMITY TO BOILING POINT/100 Geez I’m not liking the look of this. Let’s see:
59.

59 degrees. My God that’s quite frigid.
Still, I know I’ll be back.  Especially since the Nakano bathhouses seems to be doing some stamp collecting thing in November.

Takasagoyu, Nakano
〒164-0011 東京都中野区中央４丁目４９−２

Ph: 03-3380-4126
http://takasagoyu.jimdo.com/