A large curtain gives it the look of an old neighborhood bathhouse tucked into an alley. Step through, and a tatami living room awaits with a single low table. Beyond it lies a cypress bath and the greenery of the courtyard garden. Fill the tub in the evening for a first soak, then lean back in a floor chair afterward to watch a movie. When sleep calls, head upstairs to the bed or futon. It's a whole house rental built around the bath, the kind of place where you find yourselves asking, "who gets the first soak tonight?"

Only those soaking in the bath get to have this garden entirely to themselves, from the closest possible view. Against a backdrop of charred cedar fencing, a single maple tree stretches its branches toward the light from the skylight. At night, leaves lit by lantern light shimmer and ripple across the surface of the water. The layout is designed so that this greenery is visible even from the tatami living room, just beyond the veranda. Small as it is, it draws every eye in the house, the finest supporting presence throughout.

A large curtain gives it the look of an old neighborhood bathhouse tucked into an alley. Step through, and a tatami living room awaits with a single low table. Beyond it lies a cypress bath and the greenery of the courtyard garden. Fill the tub in the evening for a first soak, then lean back in a floor chair afterward to watch a movie. When sleep calls, head upstairs to the bed or futon. It's a whole house rental built around the bath, the kind of place where you find yourselves asking, "who gets the first soak tonight?"