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The
walk to Imado Onsen from Asakusa station is a 20-minute stroll along
the landscaped right bank of the Sumida River, through one of Tokyo
oldest and funkiest neighborhoods.
The neighborhood defines the bath. Some of Imado Onsen's customers
have been coming here since before the war. On the walls there are
tattered posters asking for volunteers to help at the local summer
festival and placards flamboyantly autographed by a baseball star,
a stand-up comedian, and the master of ceremonies of a late-night
soft porn TV program, who live in the area and come here to unwind.
You can stash your dirty laundry in a coin washing machine and it
will be ready for you when you are set to reenter the real world.
Everybody knows everybody.
The little sauna, clearly installed well after such things became
fashionable, is free. Rent a sauna towel for 100 yen or not, as you
like. The baths are shallow, encouraging supine soaking. Every bath
opens out into the large garden with its carp pool and palm trees
and a bath of its own in a rocky grotto. It is said that this outside
bath offers a splendid view of the summer fireworks display on the
Sumida.
Beer comes easily to hand at the sake shop two minutes away.
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