Does the morning sauna make up for a night of communal snoring?

With Tokyo hotel prices increasing due to the tourism boom, both domestic and international travelers are often left on the hunt for budget-friendly alternatives. While capsule hotels and internet cafes are fairly well-known, there is another gem that you can find within the city: the super sento.

A super sento is essentially a leveled-up Japanese public bathhouse, often being a multi-story wellness theme park featuring diverse hot springs, saunas, restaurants, and relaxation lounges. For those looking to save money without sacrificing the luxury of a hot soak, as is often done with internet cafes, staying overnight at a 24-hour facility like Thermae-Yu in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood is an option that is hard to beat.

Located on the outskirts of Shinjuku’s neon-covered entertainment district Kabukicho, Thermae-Yu offers a high-end spa experience that doubles as a great place for an overnight stay.

Two of our Japanese-language reporters, Ahiruneko and self-proclaimed “spa expert” Masanuki Sunakoma, recently teamed up to see if a night on a spa lounger could actually beat a hotel room.

▼ The “Spa Expert”

Though Ahiruneko has visited super centos several times, he had never stayed until morning, so he enlisted the help of Masanuki, who claims to have visited almost every super sento that can be stayed at overnight within Tokyo.

After putting their shoes in a locker, they visited the front desk, where they received towels and loungewear after an explanation of the price.

Ahiruneko had done his homework and had read Masanuki’s previous article, so he knew that you can register for a free membership and get a discount of 200 yen (US$1.25), but when it came to Masanuki’s turn, Masanuki started to panic because he didn’t know how to pull up his membership screen.

▼ Was calling Masanuki to join him really the correct decision?

The basic admission fee for members between Monday and Thursday is 2,700 yen, which includes the rental loungewear and towels. If you stay past midnight, an additional late night fee of 1,800 yen is also charged, making the total come to 4,500 yen for an entire 24 hours of usage from entry.

First, enter the locker room on the first floor, where you change into your loungewear, leave your luggage, and then head to the spa area on the second floor.

Lockers are assigned by number and are opened using a wristband.

▼ Put your essential items in the provided bag.

Ahiruneko took a face towel from the changing room and entered the bath area, which turned out to be so spacious that you wouldn’t believe you’re in the middle of Kabukicho.

Masanuki recommended the neutral electrolyzed water bath, but it was so hot that Ahiruneko couldn’t stay in it for a long time, so first timers should enter with some caution. This wasn’t a major problem, though, because there’s an impressive variety of baths to choose from, and Ahiruneko enjoyed the high-concentration carbonated bath in particular. The super sentos he had visited in the past were smaller than Thermae-Yu and always packed with people, but here he could stretch his legs with ease.

Having both cleansed themselves, it was time to reward themselves for a day’s hard work with a beer.

However, the bar on the B2 floor was already closed, having stopped operations for the night at 11:00 p.m..

Fortunately for the two of them, the restaurant on the B1 floor was still open, as it stays open until 5:00 a.m.

While a medium draft is a bit pricey at 693 yen, Ahiruneko just couldn’t end the day without the refreshing taste of beer.

The ordering system uses your wristband for scanning, with your final payment for all charges being made all at once, just before leaving the facility.

▼ They also got some edamame to munch on.

▼ Cheers!

▼ Ah…

▼ That hits the spot!

It was then that Masanuki presented Ahiruneko with some essential items for an overnight stay at a super sento.

▼ Earplugs and an eye mask. According to battle-hardened veteran Masanuki, the quality of sleep changes completely depending on whether you have these two.

After finishing two beers each, it was finally time to hunt down a spot to sleep for the night. They first headed to the lounge space on the fourth floor. After midnight, the third floor becomes women-only, so be careful not to make an awkward mistake by wandering onto the floor, gentlemen.

The lounge has three types of chairs you can sleep on.

▼ Wave-shaped bed-like chairs

▼ Reclining chairs

▼ Sofas

Try out each one to see what suits you, and also get a feel for the surrounding environment, since you can usually hear snoring from all over. The brightness also differs depending on the location.

Ahiruneko also went to check out a space called the Ibi King Room, or Snore King Room, located at the back of the first floor locker room.

The name makes it sound loud, but when he went in, it was surprisingly empty. Could he possibly have stumbled across a hidden gem? But then again, the room felt a little cold.

Heading further down to the B2 floor, Ahiruneko came across the largest lounge, which has rows and rows of the same reclining chairs from the fourth floor.

▼ The sofa area also looked dark and promising.

“Shouldn’t we have checked here first?”, Ahiruneko wondered to himself. The next moment, Masanuki made a shocking revelation, as he he, the supposed expert, admitted he hadn’t even known this area was an option for sleeping. Apparently, when Masanuki previously stayed at Thermae-yu, he had completely skipped it, thinking it was just a massage area. “To think there were this many places to sleep…,” Masanuki murmured, standing dazed for a moment.

Despite all the areas they checked, Masanuki eventually chose a sofa on the fourth floor as his bed for the night.

Ahiruneko decided to check out the manga shelves on the B2 floor that had piqued his interest.

Eventually, Ahiruneko decided on the sofa area next to the shelves to sleep on, as he much prefers being able to lie down on a flat surface to being in a recliner.

After actually trying to sleep, Ahiruneko found an appreciation for the eye mask: the level of relaxation is completely different when using it. However, the earplugs ended up making him feel a bit uneasy because he couldn’t hear his surroundings, so he ended up taking them out halfway through the night.

As expected of Kabukicho, even on a weekday night, it was still reasonably crowded, meaning that even with the eye mask on, Ahiruneko could sense people’s presence.

Ultimately, Ahiruneko remained in a state of about 60 percent sleep and 40 percent wakefulness, until he was slowly woken up by someone’s alarm at 5:00 a.m., after which he fell into a complete deep sleep for about 90 minutes more.

After waking up at 7:00 a.m., Ahiruneko didn’t feel the fatigue of pulling an all-nighter, but he couldn’t help but feel that he lacked the skill to sleep well in a super sento. He went to check on Masanuki on the fourth floor, and he seemed to still be sleeping.

Deciding to make the most of his time at the super sento, Ahiruneko went straight to the second floor to take a morning bath and wake himself up.

The transition from a morning sauna to an open-air bath in the slightly chilly air was so refreshing that he completely forgot he was in the middle of one of the busiest parts of Tokyo.

Afterward, Ahiruneko did some work in the co-working space located in the locker room.

It’s equipped with outlets and free Wi-Fi, but there are only four seats, so you have to be pretty lucky to get one.

After some time had passed, Ahiruneko received a message on his phone from Masanuki saying that he was out of the bath. They reunited outside the lockers and upon Ahiruneko telling Masanuki that he hadn’t slept much, but had still had a lot of fun, Masanuki wore a confusing expression that seemed to be a mix of relief and satisfaction.

When Ahiruneko got his bill at the front desk, it came to 7,624 yen, 4,500 yen for his overnight stay and and 3,124 yen for the beers and edamame. Ahiruenko and Masanuki had both put their beers on Ahiruneko’s tab, though, so actually their cost per person was about 6,000 yen. Considering that the current market rate for no-frills business hotels in Shinjuku is around 15,000 per night, staying at Thermae-yu turned out to be pretty economical.

▼ Soon, they met back up again at the office, ready to start their next adventures.

While it lacks the privacy of a hotel, and is difficult to do if you have a family in tow, the morning sauna and refreshing outdoor bath in the crisp air had made any fatigue of sleeping on a sofa disappear. You may be like Ahiruneko and need a little more experience to have a truly satisfying sleep, but there’s no question that super sento like Thermae-Yu are an incredibly affordable way to spend the night in Tokyo.

Location information
Thermae-Yu / テルマー湯
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Kabukicho 1-1-2
東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-1-2
Website

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[ Read in Japanese ]