Do you enjoy a hot bath?

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I've been told that in the States, "only kids take baths, adults take showers." In Japan, everyone takes baths. But that's because the bathtubs are so nice. You wash and rinse before getting in the hot water, so the water stays clean. Besides having an ofuro (bath tub) in the house, there are two types of public baths: sento and onsen. The main difference is the sento is just regular water that hsa been heated, and the onsen is a naturally heated water from underground. Japan, being a volcaniclally active country, has many natural hot springs. People like to go to them for holidays, since they are often in the mountains and have beautiful scenery around them. However, there is also an onsen two blocks from where I live in Tokyo. What? Did you know that if you drill down about one kilometer and have water down there (a "lens" of water) that it will naturally be about 50ºC, so by the time it comes up the pipe it will be just right for bath water? That's what they did. They drilled down a little over one kilometer and found hot water. Each onsen has certain chemical composition of the water that is unique to the area. Ours is rich in iron and is supposed to be good for your skin. (I have never gone to that one yet; as one of my friends said, "What if we run into our students there?") I have been to the other older onsen that I can get to by five minutes of driving. It has the same kind of water, being in the same area, and was created the same way. Sento are usually cheaper because they didn't have to go to the expense of drilling and maintaining; they just use city water. In the olden days, Japanese people did not have a bath in their homes. They went to the public bath where they could enjoy being with their neighbors. Do you like a hot bath or hot tub, a shower, or would you like to come visit Japan and try an onsen or sento?