The moment I finished work at 4 p.m. on Friday, I jumped in the car. As always, the energy of a Friday is in a completely different league from any other day of the week. The second I'm freed from a week of work, the switch flips and the sauna trip begins. I sped across Awaji Island in what felt like an instant and drove to Nishi-Akashi Station in Hyogo Prefecture. From there, I took the Shinkansen to Nagoya, then switched to a limited express on the Meitetsu line all the way to Meitetsu Gifu Station. Four hours of travel in total — but when you're thinking about the sauna waiting at the other end, it's nothing. Arriving at Gifu Station, I set off on foot toward Shin-Gifu Sauna. It being April, people who looked like new recruits were glowing with that fresh-faced energy everywhere I looked. While they were taking their first steps into working life, I was heading to a sauna. What a wonderfully free existence. After walking a while, the exterior I'd seen so many times in magazines and websites came into view. I checked in at the entrance, which radiated an immaculate sense of cleanliness. Shin-Gifu Sauna doubles as a capsule hotel, so I'd be staying the night. I had reserved a Premium Room in the annex. The annex was laid out like a shared house — several rooms in a row, with shared toilets and sinks. The tops of the room partitions weren't fully enclosed, leaving an open gap to the neighboring room. In other words, if you happened to share the space with someone who snored like a freight train, you'd be in for a thoroughly sleepless night. On top of that, my room was directly across from the toilet. The next morning I would have the rare and singular experience of being woken by the bathroom sounds of another guest or a staff member — but that's a story for later. If complete privacy is your priority, I wouldn't recommend staying the night. Anyway, that's not the review I'm here to write. The star attractions at Shin-Gifu Sauna are the sauna and the cold plunge bath. Let's enjoy them to the fullest. Shin-Gifu Sauna has a genuinely moving origin story. The owner, Makoto Nishiyama, had been running several izakayas. When a sauna he'd frequented for years closed in December 2020, the rent on the property dropped significantly. He decided then and there to build a sauna there. He raised funds through a business reconstruction subsidy and crowdfunding, and poured in the spirit of hospitality he'd cultivated through his izakaya work along with his passion as a sauna enthusiast — finally opening the doors in August 2022. This facility is the crystallization of that passion, blending Gifu's history and culture into every detail. Stepping into the main bath area, it felt a bit smaller than I'd imagined — no outdoor bath, just indoor. The rest area is located outside the main bath, next to the changing area, with chairs and the like set up there. Birch trees and vihta hang in this rest space, creating a beautifully crafted atmosphere. Back to the baths themselves: the undisputed highlight of Shin-Gifu Sauna is the cold plunge fed with flowing subterranean water from the Nagara River. You could honestly say I made the trip just for this. I've visited Gifu many times before, and Gifu Prefecture is practically a holy land for cold plunge baths — the quality of its natural water is extraordinary. After washing up and warming myself in the regular bath, I headed straight for the main sauna. There are also about three private saunas for one or two people within the same bathing area, but I'm not much for cramped spaces, so I went all in on the main sauna. The main sauna runs on two units: a far-infrared heater and a convection-style Iki stove. The top bench sits around 95°C, while the lowest is around 70°C — a pretty significant temperature difference between levels. Having that much choice in what temperature zone you want to sit in is excellent. I warmed my body thoroughly, then finally made my way to the cold plunge. Shin-Gifu Sauna has three types of cold plunge baths. The Zone the Just, at 15°C, fed with flowing Nagaragawa subterranean water; the Extreme Gold, a single-digit plunge at 8°C; and the Zero Gravity, a gentle option at around 25°C. Naturally, I wanted to start with the Zone the Just. The moment I sank in, I was struck by how soft the water felt. The Nagara River's subterranean water enveloped my entire body. I stayed still for a while, letting the cold work its way through me gradually. After about a minute, I could feel the cold spreading from somewhere deep inside. I stepped out, toweled off, and moved to the rest area. In the rest space with its gentle scent of birch, I briefly lost consciousness. Absolute bliss. As I was relaxing in the rest area, staff members began gathering one by one in the main bath area. An aufguss event was about to take place. Shin-Gifu Sauna puts serious effort into aufguss, and apparently has dedicated heat wave masters on staff. What stirred my excitement was watching the staff in their preparation. They rehearsed their towel technique carefully, running through all the different movements they'd be doing inside the sauna room. Most of all, the look in their eyes. The eyes of people who have made up their minds. I knew I had to experience this aufguss, so I joined. The style of this aufguss was something called Mugen Nappa — Endless Heat Wave. From the moment the aufguss begins until the last guest walks out, they keep waving. It's an endurance battle: staff versus guests. There are multiple staff members who take turns with the waving, but I'd never encountered an aufguss framed as a contest like this before. Usually there's a set program, and when the time's up, it's over. The content of the aufguss was equally unique — one performance per song, with each staff member bringing a completely different musical mood and towel technique. In a single session you got to witness a whole range of styles, and it was an absolute joy to watch. I hit my limit partway through and stepped out, then plunged into the Extreme Gold at 8°C to cool down thoroughly. After an aufguss, a single-digit cold plunge is exactly right. When I returned to the rest area, the staff who had just finished the aufguss came over and gently fanned cool air over me as well. They had to be running on empty physically, yet that level of hospitality was genuinely moving. I've experienced aufguss at many different facilities over the years, and honestly most of them felt like a routine task being carried out as part of the job — nothing that particularly moved me. But at Shin-Gifu Sauna's aufguss, I felt real professional passion for the first time. The spirit of hospitality that was born in that izakaya lives on in the aufguss here, too. After a wonderful time, I wrapped up my sauna activities for the day. I'd sleep here and get back in the sauna again first thing tomorrow morning.

The moment I finished work at 4 p.m. on Friday, I jumped in the car. As always, the energy of a Friday is in a completely different league from any other day of the week. The second I'm freed from a week of work, the switch flips and the sauna trip begins. I sped across Awaji Island in what felt like an instant and drove to Nishi-Akashi Station in Hyogo Prefecture. From there, I took the Shinkansen to Nagoya, then switched to a limited express on the Meitetsu line all the way to Meitetsu Gifu Station. Four hours of travel in total — but when you're thinking about the sauna waiting at the other end, it's nothing. Arriving at Gifu Station, I set off on foot toward Shin-Gifu Sauna. It being April, people who looked like new recruits were glowing with that fresh-faced energy everywhere I looked. While they were taking their first steps into working life, I was heading to a sauna. What a wonderfully free existence. After walking a while, the exterior I'd seen so many times in magazines and websites came into view. I checked in at the entrance, which radiated an immaculate sense of cleanliness. Shin-Gifu Sauna doubles as a capsule hotel, so I'd be staying the night. I had reserved a Premium Room in the annex. The annex was laid out like a shared house — several rooms in a row, with shared toilets and sinks. The tops of the room partitions weren't fully enclosed, leaving an open gap to the neighboring room. In other words, if you happened to share the space with someone who snored like a freight train, you'd be in for a thoroughly sleepless night. On top of that, my room was directly across from the toilet. The next morning I would have the rare and singular experience of being woken by the bathroom sounds of another guest or a staff member — but that's a story for later. If complete privacy is your priority, I wouldn't recommend staying the night. Anyway, that's not the review I'm here to write. The star attractions at Shin-Gifu Sauna are the sauna and the cold plunge bath. Let's enjoy them to the fullest. Shin-Gifu Sauna has a genuinely moving origin story. The owner, Makoto Nishiyama, had been running several izakayas. When a sauna he'd frequented for years closed in December 2020, the rent on the property dropped significantly. He decided then and there to build a sauna there. He raised funds through a business reconstruction subsidy and crowdfunding, and poured in the spirit of hospitality he'd cultivated through his izakaya work along with his passion as a sauna enthusiast — finally opening the doors in August 2022. This facility is the crystallization of that passion, blending Gifu's history and culture into every detail. Stepping into the main bath area, it felt a bit smaller than I'd imagined — no outdoor bath, just indoor. The rest area is located outside the main bath, next to the changing area, with chairs and the like set up there. Birch trees and vihta hang in this rest space, creating a beautifully crafted atmosphere. Back to the baths themselves: the undisputed highlight of Shin-Gifu Sauna is the cold plunge fed with flowing subterranean water from the Nagara River. You could honestly say I made the trip just for this. I've visited Gifu many times before, and Gifu Prefecture is practically a holy land for cold plunge baths — the quality of its natural water is extraordinary. After washing up and warming myself in the regular bath, I headed straight for the main sauna. There are also about three private saunas for one or two people within the same bathing area, but I'm not much for cramped spaces, so I went all in on the main sauna. The main sauna runs on two units: a far-infrared heater and a convection-style Iki stove. The top bench sits around 95°C, while the lowest is around 70°C — a pretty significant temperature difference between levels. Having that much choice in what temperature zone you want to sit in is excellent. I warmed my body thoroughly, then finally made my way to the cold plunge. Shin-Gifu Sauna has three types of cold plunge baths. The Zone the Just, at 15°C, fed with flowing Nagaragawa subterranean water; the Extreme Gold, a single-digit plunge at 8°C; and the Zero Gravity, a gentle option at around 25°C. Naturally, I wanted to start with the Zone the Just. The moment I sank in, I was struck by how soft the water felt. The Nagara River's subterranean water enveloped my entire body. I stayed still for a while, letting the cold work its way through me gradually. After about a minute, I could feel the cold spreading from somewhere deep inside. I stepped out, toweled off, and moved to the rest area. In the rest space with its gentle scent of birch, I briefly lost consciousness. Absolute bliss. As I was relaxing in the rest area, staff members began gathering one by one in the main bath area. An aufguss event was about to take place. Shin-Gifu Sauna puts serious effort into aufguss, and apparently has dedicated heat wave masters on staff. What stirred my excitement was watching the staff in their preparation. They rehearsed their towel technique carefully, running through all the different movements they'd be doing inside the sauna room. Most of all, the look in their eyes. The eyes of people who have made up their minds. I knew I had to experience this aufguss, so I joined. The style of this aufguss was something called Mugen Nappa — Endless Heat Wave. From the moment the aufguss begins until the last guest walks out, they keep waving. It's an endurance battle: staff versus guests. There are multiple staff members who take turns with the waving, but I'd never encountered an aufguss framed as a contest like this before. Usually there's a set program, and when the time's up, it's over. The content of the aufguss was equally unique — one performance per song, with each staff member bringing a completely different musical mood and towel technique. In a single session you got to witness a whole range of styles, and it was an absolute joy to watch. I hit my limit partway through and stepped out, then plunged into the Extreme Gold at 8°C to cool down thoroughly. After an aufguss, a single-digit cold plunge is exactly right. When I returned to the rest area, the staff who had just finished the aufguss came over and gently fanned cool air over me as well. They had to be running on empty physically, yet that level of hospitality was genuinely moving. I've experienced aufguss at many different facilities over the years, and honestly most of them felt like a routine task being carried out as part of the job — nothing that particularly moved me. But at Shin-Gifu Sauna's aufguss, I felt real professional passion for the first time. The spirit of hospitality that was born in that izakaya lives on in the aufguss here, too. After a wonderful time, I wrapped up my sauna activities for the day. I'd sleep here and get back in the sauna again first thing tomorrow morning.