It's relaxing, sanitary, therapeutic, social; even spiritual. Since ancient times, as written in Shintoism and Buddhism, the Japanese ritual of bathing has been opening the doors of spiritual contentment through the purification and the ritual cleansing of the physical body. And so the Japanese, like Filipinos, bathe daily, if not multiple times, daily.
But it isn't just about religion. After World War II, most Japanese couldn't afford to have bathrooms in their homes, so cities provided them with communal bathhouses, a place where people drank, gossiped, and had fun, almost like at a town square. Once integrated, today's bathhouses are segregated by sex.
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