Japanese Sauna Tourists Crave a Cold Bath – Key Takeaways from the World Sauna Forum

The STEAM project visited “The most relaxing business event in the world”, World Sauna Forum, that celebrated saunas and sauna cultures in Jyväskylä, Finland, 9.–11.6.2026. In this article, we present the key insights from our point of view. 

Sauna is an interesting and important activity for Japanese people. For a Japanese person, the sauna experience consists of three parts: sauna, cold bath, and rest. This is the “kata” for sauna. Kata is a Japanese word that means “form” and it refers to a certain way, a structure, of doing something. 

The purpose of the sauna kata is to reach “totonou”, a deep relaxation. This specific feeling is created when the nerves stay in a relaxed state from the sauna and stress hormones stay high form the cold bath. That’s why the cold bath is an essential part of the sauna experience for the Japanese. 

Interestingly, the kata-formula mirrors our own sauna culture. We sit in the sauna, take “löyly”, take a dip (preferably in a lake), and cool down outside for a while before returning to the steam. Japanese travellers may find it appealing that in Finland, sauna is enjoyed in the kata that is familiar to them. 

Sauna in Numbers 

In Doctor Yasutaka Kato‘s presentation, Finnish and Japanese sauna cultures were put into comparison. We learned that the ideal sauna temperature for a Japanese sauna-goer is 86.8 degrees Celsius, while Finns prefer a cooler 75 degrees.  

After the sauna, a Japanese person craves a 16-degree bath, and the average temperature of Finnish lakes in the summer is 18 degrees. The dip matters – 99.2% of Japanese sauna-goers, in fact, combine bathing with their sauna experience. 

Sauna Makes You Healthier 

The health benefits of sauna are of interest both here and around the world. One of the speakers revealed that they measure their heart rate in the sauna to obtain optimal health benefits.  

Not every traveller will want their heart measured, of course, but communicating the health benefits is worth considering for those designing sauna experiences for tourists. 

Tourists Love Stories and Authenticity 

When discussing the development of Finnish and Estonian sauna tourism, we could do a better job of articulating our sauna culture. Travellers are drawn to stories, traditions, and authenticity.  

We are too modest to boast about our own and take for granted the sauna and how one behaves there. For a foreign traveller, the Finnish sauna is mysterious and full of stories.  

In the STEAM project, we recommend that sauna entrepreneurs targeting Japanese tourists dig out the history books on local mythology and traditions. 

Tips for sauna experience designers and developers: 

• Use storytelling as part of your sauna service. Let the stories be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted. Japanese visitors are particularly interested in mythologies and traditions. 

• Highlight the health benefits of sauna. You can go one step further by offering a sauna service as a part of which the customer can, for example, monitor their heart rate. 

• Not everyone goes to the sauna everyday like we do. Make sure that your customers know what to do in a sauna – throwing “löyly” might be obvious to us, but not to someone from the other side of the world. 

Check out the World Sauna Forum website: https://worldsaunaforum.com/ 

We want more tourists to come to experience our saunas in Finland and Estonia – help us reach our goal and share your thoughts in the survey here: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/A874C80754A24FD7  

Picture: Mariia Kauppi, Visit Finland