Ok so this happened a fair few years ago but still haunts me..... Back in 2017 I was in my final year of university, and got the opportunity to spend five weeks in Tokyo for an exchange / observership. One of the items on my bucket list was to visit a sento (traditional indoor Japanese bathhouse). I wanted to go to somewhere a bit less touristy, and luckily there was a place only a few blocks from where I was staying, like 45mins out of the central city. Not wanting to make an idiot of myself, I did some research beforehand regarding what to expect and how to act. One thing mentioned was that you have to wash yourself before you hop in the pool. I didn't have a travel bottle of soap / body wash but read that you can buy it at most places, and if not then it will often be supplied.

When I got there I quickly realised no one spoke English, and although I managed to pay for my entry, I couldn't communicate r.e. soap nor could I see any for purchase behind the counter. I assumed there would be some in the actual bathing area so stripped down naked in the changing room, put my clothes in a locker, and proceeded into the actual bathing room. On the left hand side of the room were like 15 or so washing stations, to the right was the big pool. There were a few old men sitting (well more like squatting) on tiny footstool things washing themselves. I was the only non Japanese person there, and alas there was no soap in sight. Then I spied just to the left of the entrance, on a table, a small woven basket with like 7 bars of soap in it.

This was where I made my big fuck up.... I assumed that this was the communal soap basket. I grabbed a bar of soap and walked over to one of the washing stations to get to business. One of the old Japanese guys saw me doing this, and started glaring at me and muttering something under his breath. This would've been the time to return the soap to the basket and call it a day, but I'm a fucking idiot so that didn't happen. Shortly after, another old Japanese man gets out of the bath, walks over to the table, picks up the basket of soap, exchanges words with the guy who glared at me, and proceeds to also start glaring at me and saying something in what seemed to be a pretty angry tone.

This is when I realise with horror that the basket was in fact his, and I had just stolen one of his bars of soap. By this point I had already lathered myself up however, so handing the soap back to him clearly wasn't an option. I awkwardly tried to apologise but could see it wasn't well received. I didn't see any other option except to finish washing myself, but the next issue was that I had nowhere to put the soap. I didn't have a toiletries bag with me, and there were no rubbish bins anywhere. So I just sat there, red faced, completely naked, dying a million deaths inside, continuously rubbing soap on myself and breaking it up/disintegrating it into small enough chunks that it would go down the drain. I'm sure the Japanese men continued glaring and cursing at me, but I didn't make any further eye contact with them so can't be completely sure. After this ordeal was over, I rinsed myself off, got up and entered the bath. The water was incredibly hot however, and this alongside the shame and embarrassment washing over me, made for a thoroughly unenjoyable experience. I only stayed in there for like five minutes before slinking out, back to the safety of my touristy accommodation.

TL;DR: Went to a traditional Japanese bathhouse, accidentally stole an old man's bar of soap, still haunted with shame and regret to this day