Join a (very unique) Japanese-Estonian sauna evening in Tallinn this Saturday
You’ll get the chance to eat insect ramen noodles and take part in Estonia’s first Fundoshi championship.
Update: This event is now taking place in Vene Maja at Saunaküla, which is about a €10–15 Taxify ride from the centre of Tallinn.
Japanese and Estonian sauna fans are joining forces in Tallinn this Saturday (6 October 2018) to offer a very unique sauna experience — and anyone is welcome to join.
Tallinn resident Yushi Nakashima has invited two notable personalities from Japan — an acclaimed chef and a sporting champion — who are going to demonstrate their skills in-between enjoying the ロウリュ (leil).
Good food is an important part of a good sauna experience in Estonia, but we’re quite sure nothing like this has been served here before.
Yuta Shinohara is famous in Japan for cooking INSECTS so will be serving crickets to sauna fans in Tallinn, which will be combined with the traditional Japanese dish of ramen. You can read more about his insect delicacies in this article from Reuters.
That won’t be the most bizarre part of this sauna event though.
The Japanese sport champion is NODAPAI and his sport involves taking off traditional Japanese underwear called Fundoshi in the most stylish way possible.
Yes, really. And everyone attending has an opportunity to learn about the importance of Fundoshi in Japanese culture, try them on and take part in the competition to take them off.
In preparation, you can click here to see what a Fundoshi Championship looks like or watch NODAPAI demonstrate his best techniques here:
As far as we are aware, this will be the first ever “World Underwear Takeoff Grand Prix in Estonia”, as they are calling it.
The sauna being used for this event is at Seaplane Harbour Marina, which has a great view over Tallinn Bay and a deck on top that will be used for the events while cooling off between sessions in the hot room. We last used it for a sauna party when welcoming the first sauna craft to cross the Baltic sea:
As always, all sauna fans in Tallinn are welcome and don’t worry if you don’t know anyone there already — you soon will.
The cost to take part is €10 and you’ll need to bring your own towels and drinks. Swimsuit / fundoshi is optional. Sign up through Facebook here:
Thank you to Yushi Nakashima for organising the event and for promoting Estonian sauna culture in Japan, while working here to create more business connections between Estonia and Japan. In fact, Yushi is such a big fan of Estonian saunas that he even has one named after him here in Estonia. You can read that story here!
About ‘Estonian Saunas’
Thanks for reading. The Estonian Saunas blog is run by Anni and Adam, explorers and exporters of Estonian saunas.
Anni is a green building specialist who grew up here in Estonia immersed in sauna culture, while Adam is a väliseestlane (‘foreign Estonian’) whose family were exiled to the UK during Soviet times but he has now returned and is still trying to understand the sauna — and everything else about his Estonian heritage.
Together, we love finding weird and wonderful saunas all over Estonia and telling the world about them. Check out our plan to make 100 Estonian saunas more famous around the world.
We also offer two saunas in Tallinn that you can visit. Both are based on the best of Estonian design and technology, although in very different ways. The first is our smoke sauna, Rangi saun, which combines an ancient sauna heating technique with a contemporary Estonian design. The second is our WiFi-controlled e-sauna, Tondi Saun, which is part of our apartment that you can book through Airbnb.
In addition to reading our blog, you can follow Estonian Saunas on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. There’s also a Facebook group for fans of Estonian saunas where you can share advice and stories.
Finally, you can email us at tere@estoniansaunas.com.
