海の家 – Beach House

“Umi no ie” [literally “House of the Sea”] is a Japanese public bathhouse with a restaurant on the beach.  You can purchase food & drinks, take a shower, and even safely store your luggage here while you go swimming.  It costs about $5 ~ $15 to take a shower and check your bags.  An umi no ie is usually a temporary bathhouse only open in the summer; built right before the summer break starts and taken down once the season ends.

As you can see in the photo, Japanese people take off their shoes to enter an umi no ie.