Passports please! Japan sauna attempts world record

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - A Japanese sauna on Monday tried to set a world record for the largest number of nationalities in a spa, which necessitated a door policy stricter than most nightclubs, according to local television.

The sauna in western Japan managed to get 50 foreign students in the attempt, which was sponsored by the International University of Japan in Niigata Prefecture.

Any visitors to the spa had to show their passports before being allowed in -- or turned away.

"We have students from 50 countries. It will be a world record if we succeed, that is, if we keep the door shut," said an official at the university.

The previous world record was set in Japan in 2004, with 38 nationalities represented in a spa.

Local city officials attended the event as witnesses.