Riverside spa tents, private rooms: Japan’s sauna industry won’t let pandemic turn down the heat
- Hygiene concerns and physical distancing rules have led to a burst of innovation, with new individual saunas and even outdoor versions
- And despite the pandemic, the appetite to sweat one’s way to health or beauty or just let the heat unknot a stiff body seems undiminished
But instead of spelling the end of the good times, the challenge has led to a burst of innovation, with the emergence of saunas for individuals and even outdoor versions in such scenic spots as riverbanks.
“It has become an opportunity for novelty to become pervasive,” said Yasutaka Kato, 37, representative director of the Japan Association of Sauna and a doctor.
Japan’s saunas were once seen as the preserve of middle-aged men, but in recent years they have drawn in increasing numbers of younger people and women too. And despite the pandemic, the appetite to sweat one’s way to health or beauty or just let the heat unknot a stiff body seems undiminished.
Solo Sauna Tune, an upscale sauna in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, opened in December with private rooms only, while, in another departure from the norm, eschewing the usual hot-and-dry style of sauna common in Japan for the Finnish steam bath approach.