I finished work at 5 p.m. on Friday and started moving. By now it's become a habit to start sauna trips on Friday nights. And that's actually very important. On Fridays I'm coming off work and sometimes a bit tired. I could consider leaving on Saturday morning instead. But if I try to start the trip on Saturday I tend to slip into full-off mode and end up not leaving the house until Sunday night. I've spent many wasted weekends like that and regretted them. This time my destination was Hakata. I drove from my home to Utazu Station in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, then took a train to Okayama Station. From Okayama I took the shinkansen toward Hakata Station. I had dinner on the shinkansen and prepared myself for the night sauna. I usually don't decide on a hotel in advance, so I often book the place I'll stay while on the train. Lack of planning is part of the charm. After finishing the necessary tasks and doing some reading, we arrived at Hakata Station. It had been since July last year that I came to Hakata, and the city was as lively as ever. The air seemed full of appetite and temptation. Being a Friday, Hakata's night was at its peak. Despite the bustling scene, I was walking toward a specific facility. My destination was not an izakaya or a soapland but Hotel Cabinas Fukuoka. It was the first stop on my Kyushu sauna trip. Hotel Cabinas Fukuoka is superbly located just a 5-minute walk from Hakata Station and offers 24-hour access to its sauna. It also has an attached capsule hotel so you can stay overnight. After checking in at the lobby and changing in the locker room, I headed to the large public bath. I started by soaking slowly in the artificial hot spring called the mineral spring. It uses ore sourced from the deep seas of Finland in Northern Europe, and maybe because of the rich mineral content my body warmed up in just a few minutes. The high ceiling and open space added to the feeling of both physical and mental relaxation. Once warmed up I entered the sauna. The sauna room fits about 20 people and the temperature was around 90°C. There are two stoves: an iki stove sitting in the center of the room and a rocky stove located at the edge. A spot in front of a stove was free, so I sat down, closed my eyes, and slowly let the fatigue of travel melt away. I wanted to meditate quietly, but there was an older man muttering to himself who made me frown. It's supposed to be a no-talking environment, so I wished he would be quiet. Little did I know this older man would later cause me considerable trouble during the aufguss event. After the sauna came the cold plunge. The cold plunge fits about five people and is a bit deep, so you can fully cool your body. However, the water temperature was around 19°C to 20°C, which was underwhelming. For a post-sauna cold plunge, 15°C to 16°C is ideal, and at 19°C to 20°C the refreshing impact drops significantly. I was a little disappointed that the cold plunge wasn't colder. After the cold plunge I moved to the open-air bath for the outdoor cool-down. From Hotel Cabinas Fukuoka's open-air bath you can get a sweeping view of the area in front of Hakata Station. For some reason I found myself recalling that famous scene from the classic Japanese anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky where Captain Muska dismissively says people are like trash. Looking up I could also see the starry sky, and despite being in the heart of bustling Hakata I felt like I had stepped into another world. I repeated the sauna→cold plunge→outdoor cool-down cycle a few times and, just as I decided to make the next one my last set, an announcement was made: "We will start the aufguss now. If you wish to participate, please enter the sauna room!" Since I was already there I decided to join and sat on the upper bench. As everyone focused on the start, the person sitting next to me left right before it began, leaving the spot beside me empty. At that moment an older man moved in as if to say, "Now's my chance!" That older man turned out to be the same one who had been muttering to himself earlier. My bad feeling proved correct. The aufguss style here had no music; the staff poured aromatic water on the sauna stones and quietly fanned the steam. It allowed you to enjoy the aroma and steam in a calm atmosphere. There are also aufguss events that blast loud music and feel like a show, but I prefer the quiet style. Just when I was thinking, "Ah, this is really nice..." a shout came from directly beside me: "Ah! Ah! Hot! Hot! This is... hot! Aaaah! Uooo!" The atmosphere was completely ruined. I could forgive a quiet murmur, but this was almost a scream. Other guests looked annoyed. I did not want someone next to me acting out like that. I hoped he would leave, but he stayed put. Of course, situations like this tend to go the opposite way of what you wish. Reluctantly, I decided to leave.

It was a turbulent way to start the trip, but that's part of the joy of travel. You experience things on a trip that you normally can't, and that makes travel interesting. I thought about that as I walked toward the hotel where I would be staying. From tomorrow I'll properly start my sauna tour, and I plan to visit three facilities in the morning, afternoon, and evening. First, I'll try Sauna Yogan Fukuoka Tenjin.