ANN/THE JAPAN NEWS – Unused buses, transformed into mobile wood-fired saunas, are now being rented out to hot spring resorts, campsites, event venues, and various locations across Japan.
Known as ‘Sabus’ (sauna buses), these innovative vehicles are gaining popularity.
Initially, only one Sabus existed, based in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. However, with the launch of a second Sabus in Kawasaki this summer, the mobile sauna is now more commonly seen in eastern Japan.
On September 16, the second Sabus made a special appearance at a levee construction site along the Karasugawa River in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, as a treat for participants on a site tour.
The event was run to help inform nearby residents about the details of the construction and express appreciation to them. The second Sabus was an unused Tokyu bus. The outer appearance of the vehicle is almost identical to a city bus.
Inside the vehicle, there is a U-shaped sauna with seats in the back. Users can also look out through the large windows near the seats. The stop button was turned into a switch used to pour water on heated stones. The ticket box is now a container for the water and a handle on a hanging strap has been repurposed as a thermometer’s outer frame.
Sabus is the brainchild of Arisa Matsubara, 31, an employee of Shinkibus Co based in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. Matsubara came up with the idea around the summer of 2020, when she was looking for new ways to use buses amid the decline in the number of bus passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She used examples in Finland and other countries as reference. The Sabus service is operated by the Osaka-based company Rebirth that Matsubara founded during a temporary work transfer in 2021. Sauna Ikitai, a sauna search website operating company, has assisted in supervising projects and design work. The first Sabus was completed in February 2022, but they could not meet countrywide demand with only one mobile sauna.
“I will be glad if people find both the sauna and the bus itself to be appealing. I would like to continue to look for new ways to repurpose unused buses in the future,” Matsubara said.
