The activities of the Japan Root Herb Association appear in “Sekai Yokujo Kenbunroku” (An Account of the World's Bathhouses), the latest book by Ayana Kobayashi, published by Gakugei Shuppansha on 21 December 2025 (ISBN 978-4-7615-2958-1).

The author, born in Okayama in 1984, moved to Finland in 2011 and took a master's degree in arts education at the University of Jyväskylä; in 2025 the Finnish Sauna Guild awarded her the title of Saunamestari, the first Japanese person to receive it. Her books include “Koshu Sauna no Kuni Finland” and “Creative Sauna no Kuni Nippon”.

The passage on JRHA covers the on-site training the association runs in Phuket and Bangkok — herb school sessions and facility visits — and places the Thai herbal sauna “op samun phrai”, and the RootHerb® at the centre of it, within the study of bathing culture.

This is an English summary. The full article was written in Japanese. Original article in Japanese →