Jujutsu Kaisen Event Review – Raku Spa Collaboration with Special Food Menu and Onsen-Themed Merchandise

Raku Spa is a chain of hot spring baths complete with spa services, beauty salons, restaurants, cafes, bars, libraries, karaoke rooms, kids amusement center, resting areas, rooftop gardens, rental rooms and event halls. With dry saunas and open air baths, they are spacious places you can spend the entire day just relaxing and lounging about. 

I’ve been to a couple of Raku Spa onsen and while I loved spending the day there with friends, given the current pandemic I kept on hesitating despite the fact that the chain of spas was having a collaboration with Jujutsu Kaisen. A friend of mine, Nami, who’d been wanting to go for some time finally had an opening in her weekday schedule, so she and I decided to take a mid-week break from our work and immerse ourselves in a JJK-themed onsen.

(English continued below Japanese)

やっと行くことができました!極楽湯X呪術廻戦コラボということで4月から気になっていたが、一緒に行きたい友人と私の平日休暇取得のタイミングがなかなか合わず。また、パンデミック真っ最中に温泉かと思うとためらったりしていました。が、気がついたらもう6月になったし、今行かないと一生後悔すると思い、友人となんとか休暇を調整して行きました。素敵な手ぬぐいも買えたし、温泉テーマの公式グッズもたくさんあり、キャラ食事も美味しかった。コースターは被ったが、二人だったので問題なし。楽スパは3・4回目ぐらいだが、今回は初めてのアニメコラボ体験。楽しい1日でした!開催は7月11日まで延長となったようなので、まだ行ってない方に是非おすすめしたいです。

Photo Ops

The first thing that greeted us was a set of panels featuring the gang. How cute can these four get?

Life-sized panels of Fushiguro and Gojo

I was disappointed they weren’t wearing more colourful, patterned clothing like the ones customers actually get to wear. But the dark blue clothes remind us of their school uniforms, so I guess it’s as JJK as one can get.

Life-sized panels of Itadori and Kugisaki

Character Hand Towels

For manga/anime fans, an additional JPY 760 to the entrance fee will get you a Jujutsu Kaisen character tenugui or hand towel.

Hand towels with Kugisaki and Gojo designs

They’re packed in opaque silver bags so there’s no way of knowing what’s inside. The best thing is that the counter staff don’t just hand you a pack, but offer you a bunch to choose from. That means you can’t blame the staff if you want a Gojo and end up with someone else. 

Spreading out the Gojo hand towel on a chair

So guess who I got? The man himself, Satoru Gojo! Yay! My friend Nami got Nobara Kugisaki. Yay for her, too! 

Laying out the Kugisaki hand towel on a table

The towels are 35cm x 90cm in diameter, made of a thin cotton fabric. Cute, eh?

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Gift Shop with Lots in Stock

Next to the reception center is the gift shop, with a shelf filled with Jujutsu Kaisen merch

Lots of JJK onsen-themed merch as well as regular merch

I thought they’d only be selling Raku Spa-exclusive goods but the mountain of blue boxes you see on the left hand side of the pic are plushies available in toy stores everywhere. The rest of the merch, however, are ones you can only get after you check in at Raku Spa. Yep, unlike museums and art galleries, the souvenir shop is only accessible to those who have paid the entrance fee.

All kinds of merch such as mini nobori (vertical banner with pole and stand), key rings, acyrlic die-cut dolls, plastic sleeves, sicker sets and die-cut postcards

Some of the merch are ‘blind’ packaged – they come in opaque silver-foil wrap and there’s no way of knowing what’s inside, so if you want to complete a set you might have to buy more than one each.

Left – Cute drawstring bags. Right – Acrylic die-cut dolls with stand, blind-packaged mini acrylic dolls and pinback buttons, hand towel, and set of pinback buttons

I got myself a hand towel, featuring the chibi version of the characters. They’re just too adorable! I love it when they’re all together in a group.

Stuff I bought at the souvenir shop

Also, I couldn’t help but get Gojo’s acrylic figure, as well as Kugisaki’s. I love the laughing Gojo, looking at him being his joking, non-serious self makes me happy. As for Nobara-chan, ugh, she’s too cute eating an ice cream cone. I love this girl, especially when she gets to eat and is clearly enjoying it.

Entertaining Onsen-Themed Posters

After checking in, we were entertained by a series of posters featuring Sukuna, saying funny things based on his famous quotes in the manga, but with an onsen twist. 

Sukuna humorous onsen posters

I’ll write a separate post about these, they’re so funny they deserve a post of their own 🙂

All Kinds of Hot Spring Baths

I couldn’t take pictures inside the hot spring baths, of course, because it’s full of naked women and girls, but there were themed saunas, a bedrock bath, open air jar-shaped tubs, a silky milk bath, a grape bath, jacuzzis and so on. 

Hallway lined with character banners

The entrance to the baths were lined with colourful nobori or banners featuring the four characters. Yuji is first in line, greeting everyone with a big smile.

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Fushiguro, Kugisaki and Gojo follow not far behind

After showering we went straight to the outdoor baths as I really didn’t want to marinate indoors in a place full of unvaccinated strangers (me included, I mean, the vaccination program in Japan is being carried at a snail’s pace and my generation is second to the last in the priority list). 

Character-Inspired Dishes

We bathed, soaked in the outdoor baths, and then went to the restaurant. This really was my main purpose for coming here: I wanted to eat the JJK-themed food. I ordered Megumi Fushiguro’s chicken sauté with ginger sauce, which featured a strange-looking but delicious black-coloured rice. The collab menu comes with a printed senbei or rice cracker of the character the dish was named after. For the giveaway coaster I got Yuji-kun, which made me very happy as I hardly ever get him in random distributions such as this. 

Fushiguro likes food that goes well with ginger thus this chicken with ginger sauce dish. The black rice is for his black hair or black Divine Dog, I guess 🙂

Nami ordered the Yuji Itadori ramen. You’re supposed to put the senbei on the dish to decorate it, and then eat it along with the rest of the food. But neither of us felt like eating the characters, ahaha! So we kept them on their little paper plates. My friend got a Fushiguro coaster, which made her happy because Megumin is loved by many, including her.

Yuji Itadori ramen. Dunn what’s Yuji about it… must be the orange-ish soup xD

Taking Advantage of the Manga Library

I didn’t feel like going to any of the more than half-dozen themed saunas in the facility. Who wants to stew and sweat while the virus is still flying about and infecting people by the hundreds? Not me. Fortunately, Nami was more than happy to sit on the rooftop terrace and gossip with me about people we knew, or complain about our jobs, until we grew tired and went to the lounging room to nap or read manga. 

I read a few volumes of 文豪ストレイドッグスBungo Stray Dogs, which was an interesting story located in Yokohama about a group of young detectives with special powers. 

There are literally thousands of manga and magazines available in the library, plus a convenient online database so you can find the shelf with your books in a heartbeat. 

A Bit of Office Work

Later on we did something we both should not do, but still did. We took out our laptops, went to the conveniently-supplied office room and began to work. The workspace is small, with shelves of books on one side and partitioned desks on the other. There are electric outlets for multiple devices, and the chair is the office-type, swiveling kind. 

Yeah, it’s supposed to be our day-off but we both couldn’t stand the thought of not reading work-related emails and what-not. Ugh, thinking about work while in a spa! I told my friend it was a bad thing to do, and she told me it was a bad thing to do, but then we laughed it off and spent around an hour typing on our laptops. That’s what a 24/7 “duh what’s work-life balance?” kind of lifestyle does to you. Ahaha! Though actually it’s not funny.

Snack Time

At around 3 pm we got the munchies and went back to the restaurant and not the bar, which only served drinks but not the ice cream sundae I wanted. 

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Nobara Kugisaki-themed ice cream sundae

Here’s Nobara Kugisaki’s raspberry parfait. Isn’t she adorable? To my disappointment, however, I got the exact same Itadori coaster I was given during lunch! Aaargh! Look, I love Yuji-kun but c’mon! Where are all the others!?!

Sky blue drink to represent Gojo

Nami ordered a Gojo sky blue ginger drink. Guess who’s coaster she ended up with? Fushiguro, the exact same one she got during lunchtime! Can you believe it? Doesn’t this onsen facility have any other character in stock? 

The coasters come in an opaque silver wrap so it’s impossible to tell who’s inside, and all the distributions are random, or so they claim. Well, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. The good thing is that there were two of us, so we swapped coasters and ended up with one Itadori and one Fushiguro each. A great pair as they go perfectly well with the non-Itadori and non-Fushiguro tenugui we got earlier!

Themed Dry Saunas or Stone Spas

After more napping and lounging about, in spite of our initial hesitation we ended up doing the sauna rounds. Each of the dry sauna or stone spa rooms are themed. There’s one covered entirely in mirrors, the ceiling festooned with circular orbs, their light bulbs transitioning from one colour to the another while soothing music plays in the background. Then there’s a dome-shaped room with a planetarium ceiling twinkling with constellations. If you’re with a romantic partner you’ll enjoy the candle-themed room featuring a huge, softly glowing candle light chandelier. 

As part of keeping safe during a pandemic, since it’s too hot to wear a face mask, you’re supposed to keep your social distance and not speak while inside. There’s actually a sign in each sauna entrance saying conversation is prohibited. Unfortunately, for some of the rooms there were groups of people who insisted on chatting while others were trying to relax or nap. How annoying! You’d think people would know how to read and understand signs. 

My favourite sauna, though, is one made of salt rocks and over 50 degrees Celsius. We sweated and sweated in a good way, very detoxifying, and thankfully there were no chatterboxes inside so we had a good, quiet nap as well. 

End of the Day

Before we knew it closing time was just an hour away, so we did the onsen rounds one last time. By 8 pm we were paid and out the door.

All in all, we had a great time. Raku Spa has amazing facilities, and is affordable to boot. I’d love to go there again after we’re all vaccinated and I no longer have qualms about jostling with strangers. It’s a healing, rejuvenating place, if you don’t mind some moments of kids running about screaming, along with a few rule-breakers here and there. 

Notes and Tips

Mondays to Thursdays, the entrance fee is JPY 1480 (excluding tax), and from Fridays to Sundays as well as holidays, it’s 200 yen more expensive. Before the pandemic, the opening time was from 10:00 to 2:00 am, but as of this writing many facilities are closing at 8 pm. 

Spas located a considerable distance from the nearest train station offer free shuttle service, so be sure to check out the bus schedule on the facility’s official website.

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It’s perfectly okay to go to a Raku Spa without any kind of preparation. Basically, all you need is a credit card or cash. They provide a bag with a bath towel, hand towel, plus the loungewear/roomwear of your choice. These are rentals included with the entrance fee. I suggest, though, that you bring your own washcloth or sponge.

Aside from the clothing, the facility provides shampoo, hair conditioner, body soap, face wash, facial toner, body lotion, hair dryer, combs as well as disposable shavers and toothbrushes. I always bring my own comb, depilator, toothbrush and toothpaste, to minimize plastic waste.

Must Do’s

Better not go to a Raku Spa on a weekday or holiday. Pandemic or not, there are just too many people for comfort. If you’re like me and not a fan of crowds, then avoid weekends like the plague. I think it’s absolutely worth it to take a day off from work just to spend an entire weekday there. If you’re feeling up to it there’s a full-fledged salon in-house offering hair cuts, massages and esthetic services. On a weekend you’ll need to wait hours for your turn.

Not all facilities participate in the Jujutsu Kaisen collaboration, so check out the list to make sure. As of this writing, around 30 (31 for merch, 29 for restaurant food) spas are doing the JJK collab. The last day of the event, by the way, has been extended from June 15 to July 11. That means there’s still time to go!

Also, while the spas are open almost every day of the year, they sometimes close for maintenance. Never go without checking the calendar for each facility. 

I highly recommend Raku Spa, especially now that they’re doing a collab with JJK (until July 11, 2021). Be prepared to be buck naked in front of strangers. It’s totally worth it, though! 😀

How to Buy from Overseas

If you live outside of Japan, you can buy the products from this event and have it shipped to you. Check out my Buyer’s Guide.

Search key phrase: 

呪術廻戦 極楽湯

Thank you so much for reading! Please take a moment to share a thought or two in the comment section below. Your comments give me life and are a real source of encouragement. xoxo – hana

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kriss

working while in a spa ffs hana its your freakin day off u two shouldve confiscated each others laptops lol

kriss

i like how gojo figurine is properly much taller than nobara theyre really trying to get the sizes down pat lol

kriss

food looks great wish u were more descriptive tho i mean whats the black rice all about lol

kriss

also turning to winter down here would be sweet to spend all day in an onsen or spa or anywhere warm

myri

I saw your posts on instagram and was eager to read your review! I’m happy that you had a lovely experience and that you were able to distract yourself (even a little bit) from your work! 🙂

All the food looks so delicious, when I saw the picture of the ice cream it literally made my mouth water! Here it is already very cold and it is not recommended to go to buy some ice cream but I think for my birthday I will make a small exception and buy some xD

Btw, all the gifts look so cute! As I said before, I find the culture of merchandising in Japan fascinating!

I wish there were saunas here like those in Japan, i mean, there are, but they are for people with a lot of money hahaha the common people (especially broken university students like me) cannot afford them! If I ever travel to Japan, I will definitely go to a sauna!

myri

I missed you too! Miraculously I survived this semester and on Friday I go into my winter break and I won’t have classes until August! Yay! ?

Here we are also back in a state of emergency, the cases of covid simply increase every day and the doses of vaccines dont provide enough for the entire population, not even the risk ones!! I wonder when we can get back to normal. A few days ago I read a article saying that Argentina will only be able to return to normal in 2024, 2024! it’s just so sad!

Oh, don’t worry about me! I’m sure that when I can afford to travel to Japan the pandemic will no longer exist xD hahaha. Anyway, I’ll write down the places you recommended! One of my dreams is to travel to Japan and I want to fulfill it!

P.S. I know you don’t want to know anything with SNK, but did you see the additional pages? If you have seen them, what do you think? When I saw them I just couldn’t believe it. I mean, I was hoping that that ship would happen, but just chapters 138 and 139 destroyed those expectations lol

myri

TBH I don’t have plans xD maybe I’ll start some anime or manga (I have to finish JJK and KNY first ? ) but beyond that I think I don’t have anything else. Maybe I will practice my cooking more and want to start a healthy diet and exercise! What do you have planned to do in the summer?

ps. Sorry for not answering earlier, these last days at the university we had a conference and with my group mates we had to do a lot of research! It was very stressful but luckily it went well for us 🙂

Last edited 3 years ago by myri
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