About 1.9 miles from our house (10-25 minutes depending on how we hit the nine stoplights and how much time we spend waiting on trains) is a sports center complex. Part of this complex is a swimming pool where it was suggested that Daisy do some walking to help with pain that she was having. Since we don’t do the language very well, one of Daisy’s students and her husband (one of our Alpha guests) agreed to go with us the first time.
As you enter the separate building which contains the pool, the first thing you need to do is take off your shoes
(after all this is Japan) and leave them on a shelf or in a locker if you have shoes that are worth stealing.
You then proceed through the automatic sliding door, and around the corner you find the ticket machine where for 400 yen each ($4) we get our tickets. (Blue button on the machine is for boys ticket and pink button for girls). 
This allows us 2 hours in the pool. Down the long hall and down one floor on the elevator gets us to the desk where they stamp our ticket and say some things that we can’t understand.
Two things our “advisors” had told us repeatedly was that everyone MUST wear a bathing cap (don’t I look cute?), and you can’t use soap to wash at the pool.
(We were a little puzzled by that because we aren’t in the habit of washing in the pools in America, but later noticed “no soap” signs in the shower stalls.) Daisy’s student also told her that we weren’t allowed to take our towels out to the pool (there was a rod with towels hanging on it that said “towels” above it so we tend to doubt that rule) and insisted that she rinse her face of chemicals from the pool in an area that looked like mini water fountains, although we didn’t see anyone else doing that.
Since we planned to only walk in waist high water, Daisy (who is very near-sighted) thought that she would be able to keep her glasses on, but her student checked with the life guard and was told she could but only if she had a strap. So before we went the second time, we purchased a strap for $10 only to be told that it didn’t matter, “No glasses allowed.” (Later, we discovered that there are goggles that one can buy (we don’t know where) for a steep price that would be sort of like “prescription” goggles for near-sighted people. Perhaps that was what they were referring to when they mentioned having a strap???)
Daisy also learned another pool “no no” after she got her hair cut. She had been wearing earrings consistently during our visits to the pool, but apparently no one had noticed because her hair covered them. In our first visit to the pool following her hair cut, one of the life guards came to tell her to take off her earrings. Even though we couldn’t understand her words, it was pretty obvious what she was saying!
I had hoped to take a lot of pictures, especially of the “changing of the guard,” for this blog, but last night as I sat in the glassed-in balcony waiting for the life guards to change, a girl came and told me (at least I think that’s what she said), “no pictures allowed.”
In America when it’s time for lifeguards to change, that’s what they do. One gets off the chair, one gets on the chair and that’s it. Not here. The new one stands beside the chair holding a yellow cone in his/her hand while the one on the chair goes through the motions of looking at every space in the room (pool, balcony, behind them, etc.) and all the while moving their hand back and forth in a (to me) puzzling way. The only thing I can compare it to is the sort of motion a priest makes when blessing his people. Then they switch places and go through the routine again.
On the half hour an announcement is made—we have no idea what they say, but apparently it’s not important because no one has come to scold us for not complying. Then at five minutes before the hour another announcement is made and the lifeguard blows a whistle, and everyone must get out of the pool for a ten-minute “rest.” We are allowed to be in the Jacuzzi during the rest period and there is also a spa where one can spend that ten minutes—those are both also available at any other time.
There are two mops hanging in the men’s locker so that when (not if) you drip on the floor after swimming, you can mop it up. Lockers are available for 100 yen (about $1.00) to store clothing while swimming and the money is returned when leaving.
So it’s a bit different than the States but once we accepted the rules, it has become a pleasurable experience. The room and water temperature are kept at 30 degrees Centigrade (since America tried to go metric many years ago I’m sure that you all know that is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
So we invite you to come on over and join us for a walk, but don’t forget your bathing cap.
(after all this is Japan) and leave them on a shelf or in a locker if you have shoes that are worth stealing.
You then proceed through the automatic sliding door, and around the corner you find the ticket machine where for 400 yen each ($4) we get our tickets. (Blue button on the machine is for boys ticket and pink button for girls). 
This allows us 2 hours in the pool. Down the long hall and down one floor on the elevator gets us to the desk where they stamp our ticket and say some things that we can’t understand.Two things our “advisors” had told us repeatedly was that everyone MUST wear a bathing cap (don’t I look cute?), and you can’t use soap to wash at the pool.
(We were a little puzzled by that because we aren’t in the habit of washing in the pools in America, but later noticed “no soap” signs in the shower stalls.) Daisy’s student also told her that we weren’t allowed to take our towels out to the pool (there was a rod with towels hanging on it that said “towels” above it so we tend to doubt that rule) and insisted that she rinse her face of chemicals from the pool in an area that looked like mini water fountains, although we didn’t see anyone else doing that.Since we planned to only walk in waist high water, Daisy (who is very near-sighted) thought that she would be able to keep her glasses on, but her student checked with the life guard and was told she could but only if she had a strap. So before we went the second time, we purchased a strap for $10 only to be told that it didn’t matter, “No glasses allowed.” (Later, we discovered that there are goggles that one can buy (we don’t know where) for a steep price that would be sort of like “prescription” goggles for near-sighted people. Perhaps that was what they were referring to when they mentioned having a strap???)
Daisy also learned another pool “no no” after she got her hair cut. She had been wearing earrings consistently during our visits to the pool, but apparently no one had noticed because her hair covered them. In our first visit to the pool following her hair cut, one of the life guards came to tell her to take off her earrings. Even though we couldn’t understand her words, it was pretty obvious what she was saying!
I had hoped to take a lot of pictures, especially of the “changing of the guard,” for this blog, but last night as I sat in the glassed-in balcony waiting for the life guards to change, a girl came and told me (at least I think that’s what she said), “no pictures allowed.”
In America when it’s time for lifeguards to change, that’s what they do. One gets off the chair, one gets on the chair and that’s it. Not here. The new one stands beside the chair holding a yellow cone in his/her hand while the one on the chair goes through the motions of looking at every space in the room (pool, balcony, behind them, etc.) and all the while moving their hand back and forth in a (to me) puzzling way. The only thing I can compare it to is the sort of motion a priest makes when blessing his people. Then they switch places and go through the routine again.
On the half hour an announcement is made—we have no idea what they say, but apparently it’s not important because no one has come to scold us for not complying. Then at five minutes before the hour another announcement is made and the lifeguard blows a whistle, and everyone must get out of the pool for a ten-minute “rest.” We are allowed to be in the Jacuzzi during the rest period and there is also a spa where one can spend that ten minutes—those are both also available at any other time.
There are two mops hanging in the men’s locker so that when (not if) you drip on the floor after swimming, you can mop it up. Lockers are available for 100 yen (about $1.00) to store clothing while swimming and the money is returned when leaving.
So it’s a bit different than the States but once we accepted the rules, it has become a pleasurable experience. The room and water temperature are kept at 30 degrees Centigrade (since America tried to go metric many years ago I’m sure that you all know that is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
So we invite you to come on over and join us for a walk, but don’t forget your bathing cap.
