oo 1 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Can someone tell me the difference between Sento and Onsen? It vexes me. The Japanese person I'm with here struggled explaining, so much so I think they were guessing. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Natural geothermal water and heated tap water. Link to post Share on other sites
Wizz 11 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Hold on, I don't think sento is necessarily heated tap water. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 A sento doesn't have an actual hot spring of water from the ground, they may use "onsen" water but it is either piped in or delivered by trucks to large tanks and kept warm. An onsen is a natural hot spring from the ground.....of course it can also be stored in a tank prior to hitting the bath, but the source is a spring on site Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Onsen sound so much better doesn't it. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 A sento is just a public bath. An onsen uses natural mineral water from a hot spring. They call them a spring, but such water may be from a borehole that goes down 1km or more. That's why Chubu Airport on its manmade island in the sea has an onsen. In many cases, the water will be reheated and filtered and recycled. If they have a gushing, high-temp source, they won't recycle the water and will normally proudly tell you about it. I'm pretty sure that the water for washing at some onsens is just tap water. So that if you wash but don't go in the bath, it's effectively a sento. Link to post Share on other sites
69 5 Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I didn't know that. Link to post Share on other sites
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