When you come in, you pay, in my case 440yens to this old man who sits between the two doors. Prices are lower for children.
The interior was covered entirely in old wood, looking like it came from another time.
You leave your shoes in a little individual cabinet, take the key (a wooden rectangle with a number) and go in 'room' hidden from the entrance by panels.
At the difference to onsen you have to bring your own material: soap, shampoo and towel. of course you can buy most of these items at the entrance desk but they're pretty basic.
The main room has chairs and mirrors everywhere (yerk!).Then you get naked, putting all your clothes in a bigger individual cabinet, take the key (another rectangle but not in wood) and go in the bath area.
The bath area is a big tiled room with, on each sides, little 'station', each of them with 2 taps (cold/hot), and 2 baths, a small one in corner and big one in center. Not sure what the small one is for but will investigate.
Then you take a low plastic stool, a basin and sit at your station. Wash yourself thoroughly, rinsing soap with basin filled with water. It's important there is no soap or shampoo left when you enter the bath.
Once all is cleaned out, you go to the bath (lovely and hot).... While I was there, none of the other 3 women (mostly grannies) joined me so I think there might be an unspoken rule not to get in when other people are there, if possible.
Afterwards, you rinse yourself at your station, clean the station, dry a little bit and go back to main room to get dressed.
A funny thing in the sento I went to was that the hairdryer's cable went through an old box. You had to put 20yens in the box to active the hairdryer. Looked very old and basic but the system works.
I can tell you it's definitely worth a try: you come out of there warm and completely relaxed.
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