【Economist】Tokyo's vanishing bath-houses: Troubled waters

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中文导读 如果你看过《千与千寻》，一定会对里面的“汤屋”印象深刻。“汤屋”，其实就是日本的公共澡堂，称作钱汤（sento），最早随佛教传入日本，后来演变为大众浴室。然而，随着家庭浴室的广泛普及以及社会观念的急剧转变，钱汤的生存日益艰难。如今的钱汤已不单只提供沐浴清洁这一功能，诸如美容、按摩、歌舞表演等服务竞相出现。即便如此，其数量仍在急剧下降，钱汤的时代已然不再。 Once-ubiquitous public baths are fighting to survive STEP from the fraying lobby into the tiled interior of Akebono-Yu, Tokyo’s oldest sento, or public bath-house, and there is an almost churchlike silence, interrupted only by the tinkle of spring water and the odd groan of pleasure from one of the elderly customers sinking into its tubs. A m ………………………………