Osaka: Old bathhouse to be city office

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:32 JST, September 25, 2022

IZUMI-SANO, Osaka — An old-fashioned public bathhouse built in the early 20th century in Izumi-Sano, Osaka Prefecture, will be remodeled and used as one of the city’s government offices.

The 212-square-meter bathhouse, situated in the old town, is a one-story wooden building located a five-minute walk from Nankai Izumi-Sano Station. While the eye-catching exterior is purely made in a Japanese-style, the interior features a blend of Japanese and Western trends popular at the time of construction, including a domed ceiling with tall windows. The building was damaged in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and was forced to close.

The city government plans to keep the exterior of the bathhouse as it is. Only the interior will be renovated, turning it into an office for its cultural properties preservation department. The women’s section of the bathhouse is to be kept as unchanged as possible and will be rented out as a shared office.