A Disappearing Japanese Institution: The Sento (銭湯), or Public Bath

It's becoming harder and harder to find public baths, with the following photo (taken in downtown Niigata City) illustrative of many sento today:

"- 乃湯", the first character of the name is missing, but the character 湯 , meaning 'hot water', is the giveaway that this used to be a bath (as are the doors separately marked ’女湯’(Women's Bath) and ’男湯’Men's Bath). However, as the plume of steam indicates, いずみ湯 is still in operation.

The number of public baths peaked at 17,999 in 1968. As of 2022, the figure was 1865. By the way, hot springs are indicated by the characters 温 and 泉, or onsen, literally 'hot spring', while the sen (銭)in sento is a trifling sum of money, 1/100th of a yen.