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Two men were found dead Tuesday in a sauna at a business hotel in Wakayama City.
According to police, the two men were found, one lying on top of the other, at about 6 a.m. at City Inn Wakayama. TV Asahi quoted hotel staff as saying that the men, both in their 50s, were drunk when they went into the sauna at around 2 a.m. An ambulance was called but the two men were already dead by the time it arrived, police said.
Police said there were no signs of external injury on the bodies and plan to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Steam in the sauna was electrically generated. The temperature inside the room was 52 degrees Celsius when the bodies were discovered. Falling asleep inside a sauna can cause blood circulatory problems, health officials say. Going into a sauna while drunk can also cause the body to become dehydrated.
Many hotels post warnings outside saunas, urging people not to go in if they are drunk.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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basroil
Most places outside Japan I have seen have automatic cutoff switches, if nobody presses the switch the machine turns off. They should definitely be made mandatory here, since people clearly can't seem to use them safely.
BurakuminDes
Being rolling drunk and entering a sauna is probably not the safest thing to do. Rather than make a crass "Darwin Award" comment, I will wish these two poor blokes a happy Rest in Peace.
Jechan
clap... clap... clap... want a medal? not everyones parents are smart enough to let their 3 year old into a sauna...
southsakai
You serious. Japanese drink like a Boss around here! Anyways this is really terrible for these 2.
Hope the family is left with something.
caffeinebuzz
A tragedy for sure, but damn, what a way to go...
Yubaru
I have to admit that I have gone to saunas and steam baths drunk on a number of occasions. It was definitely NOT the smartest thing I have ever done in my life, and I got seriously dehydrated, but fortunately there were staff on hand to keep on eye on idiots like me so we didnt become statistics like these guys.
Yeah it's dangerous, and it's reaaallllly easy to get drowsy and sleepy, in a nice, warm, with a beer induced buzz, in a sauzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................
Sperry
Alcohol and saunas do not mix well.
Nessie
...Other than lots of awkward questions.
Cortes Elijah
Sounds like they used too much energy and..died. Saunas do that to you....
ebisen
Yeees :) please send it at: ebi at sembe dot com.
Ignoring your comment about parents - FYI, I was spending less than 1 minute in saunas in my childhood. I am lucky enough to live nearby an onsen with a sauna, and so I can very often observe the J guys usage pattern. Another thing I can't get used to is using it while sitting (but everyone here does it like this). I prefer laying, and I think it's less dangerous.
R.I.P. to the two guys anyway - my guess is that they fell asleep on each other.
Ewan Huzarmy
According to police, the two men were found, one lying on top of the other
Were they both going at it hammer and tongs and were overcome by the sauna heat ?
Crazedinjapan
@southsakai.......Japanese drink like a boss ??? Some of these elderly men are as good at managing their alcohol consumption as they are at "managing" clean up sites ...getting polluted is easily done with little effort and little regard for personal safety. If this is what you are making a comparitive towards then you are bang on !
nedinjapan
The Japanese get heavily drunk on a few glasses of beer! They might have passed out over a shot of Shochu!
ebisen
For the person that -1ed me:
I started using one at 3, and now, spending 3 sessions of 15-20 minutes on the top (hottest) bench in a 90 degrees sauna is kind of routine for me. It is very painful to watch other users getting hard breathed and leaving after 5 minutes on the lowest (coolest) bench.
ebisen
Yeah, I dare say that most Japanese have no idea about how to use a sauna, and have too little experience with.