[Sento Tour 48 Asahi-yu @ Shin-Koiwa] A relaxing local sento that retains a Showa-era feel

[Sento Tour 48 Asahi-yu @ Shin-Koiwa]

I had taken a break from running and swimming for a while, but I started back up this morning. After my morning run, my destination today, following last week, was a sento in Edogawa Ward. They are holding a stamp rally for sentos in Edogawa Ward until 12/17, and I have completely fallen for it.

I had been to Koiwa Station twice before, but I had never been to Shin-Koiwa Station. The area around the station is in Katsushika Ward, and if you go a little south, you are in Edogawa Ward. I arrived in Shin-Koiwa just after noon and decided to start with a light meal on the north side, so I went to #Kandaya Shin-Koiwa Store. While I was strongly tempted by the 1,000-yen set (standing only) that lets you drink up to 10 chuhai, I decided to just relax at the counter.

Since there were lively loaches in a tank right in front of me, I started with fried loach and blowfish fin sake. This is a rare menu item for such a budget-friendly shop. The sake selection was also quite sophisticated, so I decided to have Gokyo from Yamaguchi and Harushika from Nara. The grilled sardine was high quality, with delicious roe, making me wonder if it was really just a sardine. Never underestimate chain stores.

After that, I wandered around looking for some carbohydrates. I moved from the north exit to the south exit and went to the Lumiere Shopping Street, which is quite impressive with its arcade and heavy foot traffic. As is common in this area, there are many Asian (Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Nepalese, etc.) grocery stores and restaurants. Fishmongers and deli shops are also still going strong. While walking, I spotted #Banh Mi Gon Gon Shin-Koiwa Store, where you can eat Vietnamese banh mi and pho. I had a Saigon Special beer and the Bun Bo Hue (Vietnamese spicy beef noodles), which seems to be popular. Since it's Vietnamese cuisine, even though it's called spicy, it was within an acceptable range and very delicious. It had a different appeal from pho. One thing that surprised me was that it contained pork cartilage that had been simmered until the bone was soft. It's something I often make in my own pressure cooker, so I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Since I still had some time before the sento opened (or rather, because I had my eye on it in the shopping street), I went to #Nomidokoro Shukiya, a 'kaku-uchi' (standing bar) with a very spacious area on the second floor of a liquor store. I hadn't marked it, but I found another amazing shop. Since it was my third stop today, I just had the Roman 3-type sake tasting set, but I'll definitely add it to my list of places to revisit. This was my first time having Roman from Fukushima, and the Junmai Daiginjo, Junmai Ginjo, and 'Ura-Roman' Junmai Ginjo were all excellent. The 'Ura' (back/secret) one was especially good. I don't think it's widely available. Just the name 'Ura-Roman' makes me laugh a little.

Finally, I went to #Asahi-yu. Both the architecture and the interior retain a Showa-era style. I enjoyed the rather hot water along with the local elderly regulars. Even in the changing room, the conversations between the older women were much more energetic and audible than those of the men. Apparently, they joined a walking club in Toshima Ward for their health, but ended up walking too much and their legs hurt, or because it's Toshima (which sounds like 'toshi-mo' or 'old age'), there are only old people, and so on. But the lady at the front desk was also busy talking to male customers about sumo and soccer. Perhaps these kinds of casual conversations are happening more in online spaces these days.

My companion for today's trip is 'Minakata Kumagusu - The Limit of Japanese Potential' by Taisuke Karasawa. He is a giant of knowledge with many legends of uncertain truth, but I imagine he was a type completely different from an ordinary person, with thoughts swinging from extreme to extreme, and being expelled for going beyond the rules of schools and libraries. It gives me a sense of familiarity to see that his time living abroad and interacting with foreigners led to his subsequent confidence and disappointment.