Captain Tsubasa Mural Completed at Tokyo Bathhouse to Celebrate Local Sento Culture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, October 18, 2025

A mural depicting the main character from popular soccer manga “Captain Tsubasa” was completed on Friday at Fuji no Yu, a sento public bathhouse in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.

Yoichi Takahashi, 65, the manga’s creator and a native of the ward, took part in the project to help promote his hometown’s sento culture.

The painting spans 14.5 meters across the upper wall, above the divider separating the men’s and women’s baths, and depicts protagonist Tsubasa Ozora performing his iconic overhead kick. Takahashi and sento painter Mizuki Tanaka, 42, began working on the mural on Thursday morning.

Takahashi said he used to regularly go to a sento near his home until he was a high school student. “I’ve always wanted to paint something in a sento, so this feels like a dream come true,” he said.

Fuji no Yu is scheduled to undergo renovations soon, and visitors will be able to see the mural in its current form until around the end of March.