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From the role of enlivening public baths to the role of enlivening the community Masaomi Takahashi of Tsurumi “Shimizu-yu”

“銭湯”の盛り上げ役から、地域の盛り上げ役へ 鶴見「清水湯」髙橋政臣さん

take over what is commonplace

--What made you decide to take over the public bath?

After the third anniversary of my grandmother's death, my father called me and told me that he was thinking about quitting his job. When I was in elementary school, I wrote in my essay that I wanted to inherit a public bathhouse in the future, but I didn't really think about it as an adult. I was working at an IT company in Tokyo, and public baths had been commonplace up until then, so I thought it would be sad to see them disappear.

I knew that the management situation was not very good, but I decided to get involved and then quit rather than quit without getting involved. For now, I want to get involved in the end and sort out my feelings.

--Wasn't it scary to quit your job and jump into the public bath industry?

I was nervous, but no matter what you do, it's rare to feel completely at ease. I feel like I decided to go in the direction I wanted to go.

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During events, the entrance is lively with decorations, signs, and strollers.

--Did you help out when you were a child?

I didn't have a bath at home until I was in the 6th grade of elementary school, so I always took baths in public baths. I was even asked to sit at the counter. Since I was a child at a public bath, many customers talked to me when I was alone in the bathtub, and I became acquainted with most of the people in the neighborhood.

As my sister and I gradually reached adolescence, there were times when we didn't like that kind of thing, so when we decided to renovate our house and took a bath for the first time, we were so happy (lol).

“Public bath share house” connects residents and the community

--Have you ever thought about what you wanted to do when taking over the public bath?

If we only had a public bathhouse, we would have a limited number of customers, and we were aware of the difficulty of attracting customers, so we thought of combining various things to increase our remaining capacity. One of them is a share house. At first, it started as a business that utilized this location rather than selling itself as a public bath. I myself had lived in a share house in Tokyo, and it was a lot of fun, so I decided to put that experience to good use.

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--The building itself is quite large, isn't it?

When we first started, we had some people working as live-ins, so we had rooms for them, and we're also building an extension. There are 8 rooms, including some that are not currently in use. This year is the 6th year, and there are about 20 people living here.

--What kind of people live there?

Some people joined because of connections between themselves and their wives, or because they received an inquiry and happened to be available. There are many people who run their own companies or are freelancers. There are people working on the web and honey distribution in general, students who are running ventures that connect tourists and students, and people who are starting businesses in Africa.

There are many cases where people go abroad for work or study and then come back to live there. If it's vacant, you can move in right away, and people say things like, ``I really like the bath,'' so maybe they're subconsciously looking for something Japanese-style.

--Did you set any criteria for the type of person you wanted to join?

I've been thinking about various things from time to time, and the environment around me and my home is constantly changing, so I hope to create a place where everyone can share these changes. Two years ago, one couple had a baby, and we now have a family environment. It's a bit unusual for a share house, and I think some people are worried about crying at night, but as you live with other people, you can rehearse what you don't have and what you might experience in the future. In other words, we have people come to us who can accept it as a form of richness.

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――Have there been any changes in public baths because of these people living there?

It seems that by being recognized as someone who lives in Shimizu-yu, both residents and neighbors find it easier to talk to each other. Exchanges have started without me knowing, and the oden shop right next door is asking questions like, ``That girl went to Peru, where is she now?'' or ``I heard she's going to Africa?'' .

A few times I've had a resident take over the counter, so sometimes the regulars get amused and say things like, ``Who are you?'' or ``I live here.'' (laughs)

Also, since public baths and share houses are businesses that only operate within their own locations, I wanted to create an opportunity to talk to local people walking around town, and I worked with residents to open shaved ice shops and roasted sweet potato shops. We also set up food stalls. We also participate in local festivals and carry the mikoshi together.

A place where various people meet

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Even on the day of the cherry blossom viewing festival, the bandai serves as a drink counter.

--There are many unusual events held at public bathhouses.

So far, we have held yoga, Pilates, and dance workshops in the dressing room. Due to some good fortune, I have been asked to teach here, and I have also been asked to try my hand at Shimizu-yu.

Then, I thought that I could make use of the shape of the counter to create an opportunity for communication, and that's when I came up with the ``Public Bath BAR.'' With the help of a friend of mine who works as a bartender on a business trip, I had regulars at the public bath, people who had never been to a public bath who lived nearby, and friends of mine who live in Tokyo came all the way. Ta. It's a small space, so it was difficult to get 10 people together. It's difficult to call a bartender every time, so I'd like to continue doing this in the future, even if it's in a simpler form.

Shin.

--The breadth of Takahashi's friendships is clearly reflected in the shared house and events like that.

It's not that I have a wide range of people, but that I get inspired and get ideas by showing up in various places and talking to various people. Even if I think about things on my own, there are limits to what I can come up with, so I ask people who have worked at public baths for a long time to help me out, and I try to be light-footed and go outside to seek information. .

By holding an event, you can create a different environment with people coming and going than usual.

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The cherry blossom viewing festival is divided into daytime and nighttime parts, and includes live performances and readings.

--How did the annual cherry blossom viewing festival begin?

Shortly after I took over, the roof was blown off by a typhoon, and we had to close the public bath for repairs. Although we couldn't use the baths or anything else, we thought it would be encouraging just to have people gather together, so the first time we did it, we just decorated a little cherry blossoms and had a meal together indoors.

Since then, with the help of various people, the scale has grown rapidly, and last year we started to have musicians perform live, sell snacks such as oden and takoyaki, a greengrocer selling local vegetables, a traditional Thai massage shop, an accessory shop, and a second-hand bookstore. They also opened a store.

The people at the taxi company seemed to be surprised that most of the customers were young people who came from Tokyo, not just their own acquaintances, but also acquaintances of people who would be involved. ``All the girls going from the station to Shimizu-yu are cute, but what's wrong with them?'' (laughs)

What we can do for regular customers and local people

――It has become a very popular event through social media and word of mouth.

Last year, a total of about 130 people came. However, I feel that it is very difficult to disseminate information to local people. We handed out free tickets to people in the neighborhood, and people from senior citizens' associations and neighborhood associations came, but the space was small and it might have been difficult to get into some places. It was interesting to see regulars and young Tokyoites drinking together.

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A greengrocer from Yokohama also opened a store.

It will be difficult to hold a cherry blossom viewing event this year due to personnel constraints, but from now on, we will hold a place for communication such as a bar, or a small marche held together with local shops, so that the people who always come and who live in the neighborhood can enjoy the cherry blossom viewing event. I want to think more about things that will benefit the people who live there.

It seems like there are a lot of men living alone in this area, so I think they'd be able to live a more comfortable life if they had a good selection of manga, so I've been slowly collecting manga lately. Since we can't compete with the volume of things like Super Sento, I thought it would be fun to focus on rare items and manga that we would like to introduce. I would like to build bookshelves and expand the floor space.

――Do you mean that you will shift direction after a big event?

The same goes for cherry blossom viewing and the sale of goods such as sento T-shirts, but a big part of what I did was to draw attention to sento itself, so now that sento are becoming a hot topic, it's better to do it myself. , I think doing it in Tokyo has more power to get the word out.

This is often seen in the public bath industry as a whole, but in reality, there are a lot of things that are not much different from restaurants. I think there are many different ways to do it. A lot of people are communicating about the industry as a whole, so I'm thinking more about what I can do at my own public bath.

At first, I thought it would last about three years, so in a sense it's unexpected that it's lasted this long, but while I've been solving various practical problems, I've been working on it for as long as possible for the sake of our regular customers. It would be great if it could continue.

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