Fujikyu is turning a retired commuter train into SADEN, a day sauna sitting on the tracks at Shimoyoshida Station near Mt. Fuji. The Blue Train sleeping car that stood on the site will not be scrapped.
A free Pokemon footbath opened in May to help quake-hit Noto recover. Less than two months later, three of its seven statues (Vaporeon, Psyduck and Gyarados) are damaged, and one has prompted a police report. A look at what happened and how Japan is reacting.
On June 19, 2026, Iizaka Onsen in Fukushima launched a town-wide all-inclusive plan: one ¥25,000 passport for 16 inns, 13 baths, and 25 shops, with local sake, disc gyoza, and day-baths on the house. A look at a shrinking spa town's bet on a whole-district tourism model.
A JAMSTEC-University of Tsukuba team has discovered self-replicating circular RNA replicons living in 70-80°C Japanese hot springs. These newly found members of the Obelisk superfamily, a mysterious RNA entity first described by Nobel laureate Andrew Fire in 2024, expand our view of RNA-based life and may offer fresh clues to the RNA world hypothesis on the origin of life.
An analysis of the Akasaka luxury private sauna fire, where a couple in their 30s died trapped inside the members' sauna "SAUNATIGER." Two safety failures stood out: a detached door handle and an emergency button whose office receiver had been switched off. It examines the challenges of private saunas that surged during Japan's third sauna boom, alongside sauna culture and safety in Finland and elsewhere. How does sauna safety work in your country?