The desires of a sauna enthusiast are truly bottomless.
You spend the morning in a sauna, exhaust yourself completely, and sleep like a log. Most people would rest quietly until their evening plans. But the moment you wake up and feel your energy returning, the very first thought that crosses your mind is: "Alright, let's hit another sauna."
After checking into the hotel, I had crashed hard. Not only had I been grinding through a demanding work week, but I had also kicked things off that morning with a sublime session at Arima Kaido Onsen Suzuran no Yu in Kobe — and the combined effect had hit me like a wall of exhaustion. A few hours of afternoon sleep, however, had fully restored me. My head was clear. Every cell in my body had reawakened, hungry for the next sauna. I was back at full strength, ready to sink into hot water all over again.
My hotel was near Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, so I got in the car and headed toward Naruohama. I cracked the window, and a breeze carrying the faint scent of the sea drifted in. As the ocean drew closer, the building I was looking for came into view.
Naruohama Onsen Kumano no Sato.
My first visit in a full ten years. I had come here when I was living in Hyogo Prefecture a decade ago, and the memory of what a wonderful experience it was had stayed with me ever since. The moment I stepped through the entrance after parking, I couldn't hide my surprise. The place looked nothing like I remembered. Automated check-in gates had been installed, and the interior had been beautifully renovated. The restaurant was far larger than I had imagined, and it was immediately clear that the entire facility had evolved.
I changed in the locker room and entered the main bath area. What greeted me was a space full of exotic, Bali-inspired resort atmosphere. Even the bath itself looked a little different from my memory. "Was it always this spacious?" I muttered to myself. From the entrance you could look through the indoor baths all the way out to the outdoor area, where rows of tubs filled with abundant natural hot spring water drawn from deep underground awaited. In the center of the bathing area, chairs for post-sauna relaxation had been placed with perfect flow in mind. Stepping out into the outdoor section, I found a unique resort atmosphere that blended in something vaguely European — and somehow, the mood of that outdoor bath was the one thing that had stayed lodged in my memory. The sauna area appeared to have been renovated and refreshed as well. My expectations were high.
Before heading to the sauna, I decided to start with the signature hot spring. Naruohama Onsen Kumano no Sato offers a free-flowing, source-direct weakly alkaline simple thermal spring. The moment I sank into the water, a soft, subtly silky sensation wrapped around my entire body. Within just a few minutes of soaking, I could feel warmth spreading through me steadily and deeply. This is the power of a true natural hot spring. My body had warmed up enough that I could have gone straight to the cold plunge bath without even touching the sauna.
So that's exactly what I did — before entering the sauna, I stepped into the cold plunge bath to cool down the body the hot spring had thoroughly warmed up. This is what's called "mizu-doshi," a pre-sauna rinse in cold water. The cold plunge bath was spacious, easily accommodating five people. At a perfect temperature of around 17–18°C, it snapped my flushed body back to crisp alertness.
I dried off and finally made my way to the sauna. It's a dry sauna using far-infrared heaters — not a stone-type stove, but I genuinely like far-infrared heaters for the deep, powerful heat they deliver right to the core of the body. The room has three tiers and can fit around 18 to 21 people. The humidity level felt remarkably well-balanced too — none of that skin-cracking dryness you sometimes encounter. Thanks to the renovation, the room was clean and the overall comfort level was outstanding.
Once I had thoroughly heated up, I plunged back into the cold bath. After cooling down properly, I moved to one of the lined-up reclining chairs. A few people were already sprawled out in a state of complete unconsciousness, but I got lucky and found one open seat. These chairs are exceptional — Italian-made NALDI Folio relax chairs. I surrendered my full weight to the chair, let every muscle go slack, and felt the pounding of my heartbeat gradually slow and settle. This moment. This is the one that's truly, utterly blissful.
Once I had found my calm again, I began my second set.
From this point on, I start each round with a soak in the free-flowing hot spring. At a facility with quality hot springs, my routine shifts from the standard sauna → cold plunge → rest to hot spring → sauna → cold plunge → rest. Japan has a long tradition of toji — therapeutic bathing — and hot springs really are something special. There's no question that soaking in them does the body good. And then there's the indescribable pleasure of sliding into a warm hot spring after your body has been chilled through in the cold plunge bath — it's something words can barely capture.
I warmed up in the hot spring and went straight into the sauna. I absorbed the far-infrared heat with my whole body, and when I hit my limit, I headed for the cold plunge. Then rest in the NALDI chair, then back to the hot spring, then back to the sauna. And a final cold plunge to close it out. I completed this exceptional routine for three full sets, and with that, my sauna session for the day was done.
After leaving the facility, I headed into the evening. Even when it's a meal shared with someone else, it still counts as a proper "sauna meal" in my book. To replenish all the energy burned in the sauna, I went straight for yakiniku without a moment's hesitation. The aroma of meat sizzling on the grill and the dripping fat seeped mercilessly into my perfectly relaxed body. It was a perfect night.
Once the evening wrapped up, I returned to the hotel. As I lay in bed, what was running through my mind wasn't the lingering warmth of the conversations I'd had — it was "Which sauna should I go to tomorrow?" Honestly, it's an almost embarrassing level of sauna dependency.
I knew for certain that I'd be up and moving the moment I woke up, but I hadn't yet decided which facility to visit. Hanshin Koshien Station was close by, making it easy to access Osaka by train. I was thinking it would take maybe 15 minutes from Koshien to Hanshin Umeda Station... and right at that moment, a certain place flashed through my mind.
Daito-yo in Umeda.
I had visited Daito-yo many times before, but I had recently picked up word that it had undergone a major renovation set for April 2026, with a brand-new sauna. On top of that, Daito-yo has a capsule hotel attached, which means it's accessible even in the early morning hours — perfect for someone like me who hits the ground running the moment I open my eyes.
Decided. Tomorrow morning, the moment I wake up, I'm going to Daito-yo.
I'll do a morning sauna session there, grab breakfast, and then head back to the hotel.
Perhaps the relief of having a perfect morning plan locked in did something to me — a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over me. And just like that, I sank into a deep, heavy sleep.
It really is true: the desires of a sauna enthusiast are bottomless. A body that should have been fully satisfied was already reaching for tomorrow's sauna.
