We visit a place where you can rent a private sauna room, achieve the height of relaxation

A private, customizable space that’s all yours for up to 100 minutes!

Saunas are becoming all the rage in Japan these days, and it’s no surprise given how much the Japanese love a good spa experience. Between VIP rooftop saunas, weekend sauna events, and even mobile saunas, there are all kinds of ways to enjoy the experience of being bathed in hot steam, and now you can even enjoy a sauna all by yourself at Roku Sauna, which is just about to open on April 2.

With a name that comes from the sauna’s six special features (“Roku” is the Japanese word for “six”), this new facility with private sauna rooms is opening just a two-minute walk from Tama Plaza Station in Yokohama, which is around 35 minutes by train from Tokyo. The place hasn’t quite opened yet, but our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma got a sneak peek. Let’s see how he liked it!

Roku Sauna offers a really private experience. From booking your private sauna room in advance to leaving the facility, you don’t have to interact with a single person if you don’t want to. Everything you need is waiting for you to pick up on your way in.

Your session includes one free drink and a free rental of a sauna hat made by respected Japanese towel brand Imabari Towel.

Your sauna experience also comes with aromatherapy, so you also get to choose one of six different scents to use in your private sauna room. Masanuki didn’t know which one to pick, so he asked the staff. “Citrus scents are popular with male customers,” they said, so Masanuki went with “Grapefruit White”.

When you make your reservation, you get a special passcode for your room. Once you arrive for your scheduled time, you simply enter the passcode and go in. Masanuki found his room…

Put in his passcode…

And opened the door.

“Oooooooooh!” Masanuki couldn’t hold back the impressed noise he made as he went inside. It was really spacious.

The place was also equipped with three towels–two large and one small–and different kinds of shampoo and skincare items. Clearly, you could arrive at Roku Sauna empty-handed and you’d be fine.

And there was an infinity chair!! These chairs are designed to make you feel weightless. Masanuki couldn’t wait to try it out.

But first, he wanted to get into the sauna. He took a quick shower to clean himself off…

Then in he went!

It was a lovely, luxurious space, made entirely with hinoki cypress wood. The bench was huge, with room enough to lie down, and the sauna stove was made by MISA, a famous Finnish company. But the nicest thing about it was that, since it was a private room, Masanuki could adjust the lighting and temperature to exactly how he wanted it.

The sauna is hot stone style, meaning you generate steam by pouring ladles of water over hot stones. At Roku Sauna, that’s also where the aromatherapy comes in. You can add a few drops of the essential oil to the water that you ladle over the stones, giving the experience an extra aromatic touch. Of course, you can do this however often you like, since it’s a private room.

With just one ladle, the steam wafts right over you. It was the best!

Plus, the sauna has a Bluetooth speaker which lets you connect your phone so you can play whatever music you like, which was almost the best part for Masanuki.

After the sauna, Masanuki cooled down with a cold shower. The shower was a rainfall style, which unleashed a cascade of water down on Masanuki. It reminded him of the “Warm Pillars” at the capsule hotel and sauna Do-C Ebisu, and it felt really nice.

Next, Masanuki was excited to try the infinity chair. You can adjust the incline of the chair to whatever extent you like, but Masanuki immediately set the back of the chair as far back as possible to achieve a completely weightless state, and, in turn, complete relaxation. Naturally, you can play your favorite music in this area, too.

Masanuki achieved the height of luxury this way. It was probably the most relaxed he’s ever been.

Roku Sauna offers 80-minute and 100-minute sessions, starting at 3,960 yen per person (US$33.36). For women, there’s also a powder room that’s free to use, so you can really pamper yourself and take your time getting dressed. If you go with friends, you can also rent a room in groups of up to three of the same gender, and the rooms are spacious enough to accommodate each group.

Oh yeah, have you figured out the six special features of Roku Sauna? They were: spacious rooms, freedom to set the temperature and lighting, a self-service hot stone stove, an acoustic space, the infinity chair, and the fact you get a free drink and can rent a sauna hat for free. All of those are great features in Masanuki’s books!

Roku Sauna will be opening to the public on April 2 and is now accepting reservations, so if you’re feeling a little stressed, you might consider booking a session. The experience is sure to leave you feeling like a capybara in a hot spring!

Facility information
ROKU SAUNA
Kanagawa-ken Yokohama-shi Aoba-ku Shin-Ishikawa 2-2-2 FUJIKYU Biru 1F
神奈川県横浜市青葉区新石川2-2-2 FUJIKYUビル1階
Hours: 7:20 a.m. to 12:40 a.m.
Open every day
Website

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