Saunners: Hayato Isomura and the Men Who Love Saunas Blu-ray

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented sauna boom. Popular young actor Hayato Isomura visits Finland, the spiritual home of the sauna, in WOWOW's first programme devoted to the blissful state of totonoi, captivating everyone who loves saunas.

Hayato Isomura comments: “Saunners will be broadcast over six episodes on WOWOW. As someone who loves saunas, being able to take part in this project fills me with emotion. It reminded me how glad I am to have discovered saunas and fallen in love with them. Filming in Finland brought moments of culture shock, and discovering the depth of sauna culture made me realise that I was still a beginner at calling myself a sauna enthusiast. There is still so much to gain through saunas and the people who gather there; it feels as limitless as the universe. I want to stimulate all five senses, explore the sauna path further, and introduce more people to it. I love saunas, and I think that feeling overflows throughout Saunners. Saunas make people smile. I am sure viewers will smile too. Won't you join the Saunners?”

This is the ultimate sauna programme made by people captivated by saunas. Isomura, who played the handsome sauna devotee in TV Tokyo's drama Sado, also began pursuing that passion in his private life. Seeking totonoi—the feeling of happiness produced by repeated cycles of sauna, cold bath and rest—he visits saunas day after day. His search for the finest experience takes him to Finland.

With a history spanning more than 2,000 years and, by some estimates, three million saunas for approximately 5.5 million people, saunas are part of everyday Finnish life. The range is extraordinary: a contemporary sauna in central Helsinki with magnificent views from a stylish wooden terrace; a smoke sauna surrounded by nature, with a lake for cooling down, embodying the country's forests and lakes; Helsinki's oldest public sauna in a residential building, cherished by local people; and an entirely self-service public sauna that began when someone brought a sauna stove into a harbour shack.

Isomura visits these distinctly Finnish saunas with fellow devoted enthusiast Ichiro Yatsui, enjoying authentic experiences unavailable in Japan. Their conversations about saunas are another highlight. Having discovered the pleasure of deeply relaxed, unguarded companionship in Finland, Isomura brings what he has learned back to Japan to share with his sauna friends. He plans a sauna camp in the great outdoors, where Nobuyuki Suzuki and Yu Inaba join the group.

Episode 1 — Encountering the finest saunas in Finland, the world's happiest country. After a ten-hour flight from Japan, Isomura arrives in northern Europe's sauna homeland. As a dedicated enthusiast, he wants to discover how people enjoy saunas at their source. What will he find in a country said to have around three million saunas?

Episode 2 — Diving into the Baltic Sea in midwinter, with water at two degrees! Joined by his sauna friend Ichiro Yatsui, Isomura visits a strikingly designed facility beside the Baltic Sea called Loyly. The Finnish word means steam, something familiar to sauna enthusiasts and central to authentic Finnish sauna enjoyment. What kind of Loyly awaits them?

Episode 3 — Unguarded companionship at public saunas loved by locals. The programme explores two extremes: traditional everyday saunas reminiscent of Japanese public baths and a free, open sauna with hints of hippie culture. At the traditional sauna, the sight of elderly Helsinki residents smiling as they cool down outdoors is wonderfully soothing. At the free sauna, adventurous visitors enjoy themselves in their own individual styles.

Episode 4 — Returning to nature in a smoke sauna surrounded by forest and lake. Saunas are scattered throughout Finland's vast forests. Visiting an outdoor sauna beside the woods and lake of a national park, the pair discover that a sauna is a place for conversation and connection, more like a social salon than a silent room.

Episode 5 — Sauna friends gather at a Finnish sauna discovered in Japan! Back from an unforgettable experience in Finland, Isomura wants to share it with his friends. Hearing of a sauna surrounded by Finnish-style natural scenery beside Lake Nojiri in Nagano, four hours by car from Tokyo, he heads there with Nobuyuki Suzuki and Yu Inaba.

Episode 6 — A tent sauna appears beside Lake Nojiri: enjoying a sauna camp! In Nagano's mountainous, forested landscape, the three friends try a lakeside tent sauna, using Lake Nojiri as a natural cold bath. After warming up in an authentic sauna exceeding 100 degrees, they plunge into the icy lake. This first ultimate sauna experience makes their enthusiasm grow even stronger.

Bonus footage brings together a carefully selected collection of previously unreleased scenes.