Want to experience a real Finnish sauna? Port Kanda, which opened in late April in Kanda Nishikicho, features a traditional Finnish steam bath and a Scandinavian-style aesthetic. In case you’re wondering, Port Kanda isn’t located in Tokyo Bay—its name is meant to evoke associations with a place where people from all over the world can come to relax and unwind. You’ll find SaunaLab in the basement of this multi-story building. Sauna Lab was designed by sauna expert Yukitaka Yoneda, who also worked on the Nagoya and Fukuoka sauna labs. It’s based on traditional Finnish sauna culture.
Separate male and female areas feature changing rooms, showers, a moderate-temperature sauna (a Finnish sauna massage using dried birch leaves) and a steam room. And here’s the sauna itself. Each area has its own sauna – don’t worry, you can try both, as the male and female areas switch places every Wednesday.
The Ok sauna is a standard sauna where birch-scented water is poured onto the rocks to create steam. From the outside, the pine hut looks like a barrel, but inside, the walls and thatched roof make it feel like you’re sitting in a hut.
Sauna Ek is a spacious, dimly lit room that resembles a mountain lodge. There are three stoves, a large sink, and even tatami mats to sit on. To really cool you down after your sauna experience, both areas have a single-person ice sauna, which is about -25 degrees Celsius.
After enduring these extreme temperatures, you can relax in the wikhta, a common area with a sloping wooden ramp that’s perfect for lounging. You can book a visit to SaunaLab up to a week in advance. A 90-minute sauna session costs 2,700 yen per person. The facility is open daily from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The basement is also home to the SaunaLab shop, which sells handmade sauna hats, buckets, ladles, home clothes, and a variety of birch wood stirrers. For a snack, head to the Kitchen Sauna café on the first floor. They serve special sauna coffee, and you can choose between hot (370 yen) or cold (420 yen). The café is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last order at 7:30 p.m.).
Check out ten commissioned pieces displayed throughout the building, including a fabric lamp in the shape of a sauna hat by Yuri Himuro.
The quiet wooden rooftop terrace is dotted with plants and decorated with mountain-inspired works by artist Ogiso Mizue. Here, after a sauna, you can breathe in the fresh air and admire the view of the vast city, which is especially pleasant.
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