Iwakuni City - 岩国市
Konparu-yu
Konparu-yu
Japanese Name: こんぱる湯Prefecture: YamaguchiCity: IwakuniAddress: 〒740-0018 山口県岩国市麻里布町３丁目１３−４Access: 5 minutes from JR Iwakuni / JR西日本 岩国駅Category: SentoPrice: Yamaguchi Prefecture Public Bathhouse Association price or cheaper (sauna, if available, may be extra)Holiday: SundayHours: 14:00-22:00
Review:Any sento that is a 5-minute walk from the station is welcome to me. I was able to visit this sento during an hour-long wait for the next train while on a Seishun 18 Kippu trip to Yamaguchi. Konparu-yu is a simple and well used sento. I would compare it to Kiwa-yu in Wakayama. I can tell it is well loved thanks to all the goods that the regulars have haphazardly placed in every nook and cranny of the changing room. Typically, sento rent out lockers but here it appears to be a free-for-all. The baths here are a bit worse for wear and anyone who is conscious of that should avoid this sento. That said, I felt that it was clean enough for me. The main bath had a design that was unusual in a dogleg L shape and it is also quite shallow. Along the back wall was a cold-water and medicated bath. Both of these baths were only half full. I was not sure if I was supposed to bathe in them! It could have been because I got there right after they opened and the baths were still filling, or they were not filled all the way to save water and cut costs, or it could have been something totally different. There used to be a sauna here but in the men’s side it has been taken out. A new tile wall has been half of the way built where the sauna used to be with a sign saying do not enter. Perhaps it might be a sauna in the future. Interesting place and a good one to try for sento enthusiasts like me. Note: If I did not read the Google reviews that said the bandai obachan was rude, I would not have noticed. On my visit she was indifferent and not talkative. I am sure that I have experienced similar acting sento staff in Osaka, so I did not worry about it nor did I think she was rude.
Visit Date: September 2020
Review:Any sento that is a 5-minute walk from the station is welcome to me. I was able to visit this sento during an hour-long wait for the next train while on a Seishun 18 Kippu trip to Yamaguchi. Konparu-yu is a simple and well used sento. I would compare it to Kiwa-yu in Wakayama. I can tell it is well loved thanks to all the goods that the regulars have haphazardly placed in every nook and cranny of the changing room. Typically, sento rent out lockers but here it appears to be a free-for-all. The baths here are a bit worse for wear and anyone who is conscious of that should avoid this sento. That said, I felt that it was clean enough for me. The main bath had a design that was unusual in a dogleg L shape and it is also quite shallow. Along the back wall was a cold-water and medicated bath. Both of these baths were only half full. I was not sure if I was supposed to bathe in them! It could have been because I got there right after they opened and the baths were still filling, or they were not filled all the way to save water and cut costs, or it could have been something totally different. There used to be a sauna here but in the men’s side it has been taken out. A new tile wall has been half of the way built where the sauna used to be with a sign saying do not enter. Perhaps it might be a sauna in the future. Interesting place and a good one to try for sento enthusiasts like me. Note: If I did not read the Google reviews that said the bandai obachan was rude, I would not have noticed. On my visit she was indifferent and not talkative. I am sure that I have experienced similar acting sento staff in Osaka, so I did not worry about it nor did I think she was rude.
Visit Date: September 2020