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Yomiuri Shimbun
19 hours ago
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Ishinoyu Public Bathhouse Is Still Providing Great Firewood-Heated Baths That Charm Local Community
The Yomiuri Shimbun The facade of Ishinoyu and its iconic chimney ICHIKAWA, Chiba — Strolling through the Kokubun residential area of Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture, east of the Edogawa River, a distinctive square chimney caught my eye. Below a red hot bath mark, the bold black letters 'ishi no yu' were prominent. This chimney is a symbol of the sento public bathhouse that has been beloved by the community for more than half a century. In 1970, the year of the Osaka Expo, former farmer Minoru Ishibashi built the Ishinoyu bathhouse on the former site of his rice paddy. After Minoru died, his wife Mitsuko, 85, their eldest son Kazuhiro, 61, and their third son Susumu, 55, took over the business, preserving the traditional method of heating groundwater with firewood. The Yomiuri Shimbun A man finely cuts wood salvaged from the pillars of a demolished wooden house to use as firewood. The bathhouse uses recycled wood as fuel, primarily from the pillars of demolished wooden houses. The wood is cut into manageable pieces to ensure it burns efficiently and is then transported by handcart to be burned in the furnace. This strenuous work often leaves workers soaked in sweat, and finding scrap wood can be difficult. Despite these challenges, firewood remains essential to Ishinoyu, leaving them no alternative but to continue to use it. As the shutters rise at 3:30 p.m., a stream of waiting customers passes under the noren curtain, each paying Mitsuko ¥500 at the bandai attendant's booth before entering the changing rooms. 'There's nothing like water heated with firewood,' said a man, 67, the president of a construction company in the city. 'A week without a bath at Ishinoyu and I'm completely stressed out.' He has been a regular customer since he was 20. The Yomiuri Shimbun Parts of the walls in the bath area are adorned with stones. I borrowed a towel and headed to the bathroom. Being true to its name, 'Ishinoyu,' which means 'stone bath,' has parts of the walls adorned with stones. The interior, with a design that somewhat evokes an open-air bath, brought to mind Kazuhiro's words: 'My father always said he wanted to create a bath resembling a hot spring.' After thoroughly washing myself in the washing area, I stepped into the bath. The deep comfort was such that a sigh nearly escaped my lips. Over in the medicinal bath, a man showed no sign of getting out. After stepping outside of the bathhouse, I felt refreshed. My body felt lighter, and even my pace of walking seemed to have quickened. I understand why regulars have been coming here for years. Ishinoyu The Yomiuri Shimbun Address: 2-2-21 Kokubun, Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture Note: Masashi Sada, a singer and Ichikawa's goodwill ambassador, used to frequent this bathhouse. It was also used as a set location for the film 'Undercurrent' starring Yoko Maki. Hours: 3:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (last entry at 10 p.m.) Closed on Thursdays and other days.
IOL News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Short Films That Challenge Perspectives: Highlights from the 27th Encounters Festival
THE 27th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival includes a bold, diverse, and boundary-pushing selection of 31 short films in this year's programme packed with features, panel discussions, and community screenings in Cape Town and Johannesburg from 19 to 29 June. Image: Supplied Shorts by their nature succeed on their creative brevity - the filmmakers can distill powerful stories into concise, impactful experiences, providing us with fresh perspectives and a kind of freedom that often sparks bold innovation, says Mandisa Zitha, Director of the 27th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. The festival includes a bold, diverse, and boundary-pushing selection of 31 short films. The Shorts Section comprises 11 themed short film blocks featuring documentaries from 20 countries offering personal narratives, socio-political commentaries, and defiant accounts that hold a mirror to the lived experiences of a distinctive range of voices. This year's short documentaries have directors confronting issues that span climate justice, gender identity, ancestral land rights, queer desire, and revolutionary memory. Whether poetic or investigative, introspective or confrontational, these films provide deep insights and speak to the world of 'now'. 'Our shorts programme is not only a celebration of form and creativity, but a reflection on our world, and they are fierce and courageous contributions to the documentary form,' Zitha said. Survival against the climate crisis, elements, capitalism, and political forces are traced in the theme 'Currents of Resilience' in the documentaries Guardian of the Well, Undercurrent, Pouring Water on Troubled Oil and Keeper. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Imposed layers dictating and defining beauty are peeled back in 'More Than Meets the Eye' with Sprouting, and Am I the Skinniest Person You've Ever Seen?, challenging narratives around the body and cultural perceptions. The 'Death by Discrimination' theme faces, head-on, the deadly consequences of systemic prejudice, with The Flow of Resilience and Onthou vi Fredo? offering poetic elegies of memory and defiance. Women's struggles, resilience, and strengths across Africa and the diaspora are the focus of the theme 'In Her Name' with the shorts Before 16, Victoria, and Seeds from Kivu. 'Fragments of a Forgotten Land' unearths buried pasts and living landscapes with poetically rendered documentaries The Rock Speaks, The Sending of the Crows, and Flowers / Flores. Powerful South African reflections on land with ancestral memory and identity feature in the theme 'The Land's Silent Witness' with Umhlaba Wokhokho and Spirits of the Land. Fear, trauma, and the hope of transformation on opposite ends of the economic spectrum are explored in 'Between Fear and Forgetting' with They Dug a Grave in My Heart, Never Come Fetch Me, and Fear Fokol. Breaking taboos and reclaiming sexuality are spotlighted in the theme 'Redefining Desire: From Fear to Freedom' with Slut Club, Unyagoni, and What I Do Not Know Will Not Kill Me. 'Unmasking the Self' is a reflection on identity, towards self-acceptance in the films Message from Anonymous, At the Edge of Skin and Facing Forward. Voices of survival, and resistance against brutal colonialisation are heard in 'Roots of Resistance' with Ahmad Alive, Medallion, The Other Side of Beauty, and Dreams of a Revolution. 'Between the Ordinary and the Uncanny' embraces the seemingly ordinary made extraordinary with The Fries Philosopher and perfectly a strangeness. Encounters takes place at the Labia Theatre and V&A Waterfront Ster-Kinekor in Cape Town and The Bioscope and The Zone @ Rosebank in Johannesburg from June 19 to 29. Cape Times
