「Seaside Hotel Maiko Villa Kobe "Safi Spa Maiko"」 Experience Story

Whenever I travel through Hyogo Prefecture on my way to the Tokai region, it has become a tradition to stay the night before at Seaside Hotel Maiko Villa Kobe. This time, I was heading to Aichi Prefecture over the three-day holiday from November 22 to 24, but I decided to kick off the trip a day early, on the evening of November 21. I wrapped up work early, hit the road, and checked in around 6 p.m. Needless to say, I'd been in an absurdly high-spirited mood the entire drive, belting out songs at the top of my lungs — so by the time I gave my name at the front desk, my voice had been reduced to a raspy whisper, which caught me off guard. Seaside Hotel Maiko Villa Kobe is home to a sauna produced by Hiroshi Ota, the man known in Japan as the "Sauna King." Featuring two saunas with distinctly different concepts and two cold plunge baths, it's a facility that even the most dedicated sauna enthusiasts would find impressive. Tonight, I was holding my pre-trip celebration here. After showering, I stepped into the first sauna: Mirumiru. Mirumiru is designed for socializing — it has a large TV and is set up so guests can enjoy conversations with friends. The room is packed with clever features: there's an area where you can lie down, and even a vibrating bath set at around 30°C inside the sauna room itself where you can cool your body. It's a sauna experience you simply can't find anywhere else. Since I was on my own, conversation wasn't really on the agenda, but I made the most of it by lying down and soaking in the heat. In a typical public bath or super sento, lying down in the sauna is pretty much impossible — most rooms are designed with seating in mind, and with other guests around, it's just not practical. But a sauna built with lying down as the default? That's a different story entirely. Stretching out horizontally lets you warm your entire body evenly, and the sensation is completely unlike sitting upright. For me personally, lying down feels more relaxing, and I always seem to last longer that way. As I let the pleasant scent of the wood used in the sauna room wash over me, my body warmed through. Time for the cold plunge. There are two options: a vibrating bath at around 17°C and a cross-counter cold bath at around 9°C. I went straight for the 17°C. The heat built up in my body slowly began to fade. Cold plunge temperature is a matter of personal taste, but for me, somewhere between 15 and 17°C is the sweet spot. It's gentle on the body while still doing a solid job of cooling you down. Once you get into single digits, it becomes hard to relax and actually sink in — and sometimes the cold seeps all the way to your core, leaving you genuinely chilled. It's entertaining as an experience, but if there's a 15–17°C bath available, I'll skip the single-digit one every time. After resting on the chair beside the cold plunge, I moved on to my second set in Mokumoku. Unlike Mirumiru, Mokumoku is conceived around silence — you enjoy self-service löyly on your own, conversation is prohibited, the lighting is dim, and the whole room is designed for those who want to be alone with their thoughts. I was genuinely moved that two saunas with such radically different concepts could coexist under the same roof, and with that feeling, I stepped inside. As luck would have it, Mokumoku was all mine. That meant I could do as much self-service löyly as I pleased. When a sauna is set up for self-service löyly, I believe you should go for it enthusiastically. Left alone, a sauna room gradually dries out, but by periodically pouring water over the sauna stones to generate steam, you keep the room comfortable and easier on the skin. After pouring löyly to my heart's content, my body was absolutely done — in the best possible way. Afterward, I added one more set each in Mirumiru and Mokumoku, and that was the wrap on the pre-trip celebration. Saunas in upscale hotels tend to be wonderfully uncrowded. In Mokumoku, both of my sets were private, and even in Mirumiru there were only about three other people, so the experience was supremely comfortable. Enjoying hot springs and saunas in a busy super sento has its own charm, but sometimes you need a calm, cool environment like this to quietly enjoy the sauna on your own terms. Putting yourself in a different environment gives you new stimulation — and that holds true for just about everything in life. I had three days of sauna adventures ahead of me in Aichi Prefecture, and just thinking about what might be waiting for me was enough to keep the excitement buzzing and sleep at bay for a while. Eventually, though, my thoughts began to drift, and I slipped into a deep, restful sleep.