Japan’s bathhouses struggle to stay afloat as oil prices spike, supply dwindles

Customers of Ikesu Onsen, a traditional Japanese bathhouse in Tsushima in Aichi prefecture, have had to delay their daily dips due to the Iran war. The sento, or public bathhouse, has been forced to push back its opening time by an hour since late March because of an unstable supply of fuel oil, according to Kyodo. Monthly delivery has been halved from about a tonne, leading the number of customers of the family-run 97-year-old sento to fall to around 10 per day. “It’s a major blow,” its...

By SCMP’s Asia desk