In the states you can still find diners from the 50’s and 60’s with the cool retro architecture and feel, in Japan you can find places like Kobe Kua House. The facade on the 8 story tall building is worth the short walk from Sannomiya alone. In front of Kua House there are coin operated taps and vending machines that sell the great tasting “Kobe Water” that they bottle there on the spot and fill some of the baths with. According to their webpage Kua House had Japans first cold water bath. In the hot days of summer, that cold spring water bath is as refreshing as swimming in a mountain stream.
Besides the cold “Kobe Water” well, Kua House has 2 other hot springs. A sodium bicarbonate well (重曹泉) and a boric acid well (硼酸). Both are unique and you can easily tell the difference between the three natural springs that Kua House has access too. Because of this unique situation, Kua House is a good chance to explore how different spring waters can feel.
There's a unique bathing manner here also. The tub baths have wooden boards on top of them for resting your arms on. It says you sold sit in the bath, with your arms out of the water for some sort of therapeutic effect. It seems however that the wooden boards have been taken away since the last time I went here in the summer of 2012.
As mentioned about above, Kua House is a retro thanks to age. Thankfully the entire building has been remodeled recently and some of the wear and tear of years of use has been removed. A rooftop rotenburo has also been built. The hallways and directions from the front desk to the changing room to the capsule hotel to the baths are a bit confusing. There is no straight line and not much in terms of signs in Japanese let alone English. Getting lost naked and wet from the bath in the building might not be the best experience. It really is not that bad, but just a bit confusing at times.
Kua House is a large complex much like Amayu House. There are capsule rooms, rest rooms, restaurants and banquet halls for guests. It is a very interesting building to explore for guests from abroad.
Sadly the nearly 1,000 fee for just taking a bath makes Kua House an expensive choice when other nearby bath houses are half the price. Still, I always enjoy my time here. Coupons are available on occasion in newspapers and perhaps other sources. I get them from a friend who finds them in the (Japanese) Yomiyuri. The normal ¥920 entrance fee is lowered to ¥500.