Group recommends pouring some into your own tub to make it feel like you’re taking a bath together with the idols.

One of the key differences between idol singer groups and more mainstream J-pop acts is how much of idols’ revenue comes from non-music sources. Sure, idols sell albums and concert tickets just like other musicians, but a huge chunk of their earnings comes from assorted merchandise like posters, photographs, and pins.

But four-member idol unit The Banana Monkeys is looking to go beyond such tried-and-true merch by selling its idols’ leftover bathwater.

https://twitter.com/info_banamon/status/1090572246228250624

Late last month, the group posted a video of two of its members, Tenka no Chanyuki and Asuka Rei, hanging out in a tub, soaking in water colored a vibrant purple from the bath powder that had been added. However, the Banana Monkeys official Twitter account claims the bath powder was particularly expensive, and so they’re hoping to recover the cost by selling the leftover bathwater, which they scooped out of the tub afterwards and bottled.

▼ Clips from the video

https://twitter.com/info_banamon/status/1090254990772293632 https://twitter.com/info_banamon/status/1090572826208161793

“It’s water that idols soaked in, so it’s definitely clean,” boasts the announcement, taking the opposite approach from the Japanese takeout chain that previously offered idol sweat-flavored fried chicken. “You can drink it,” the announcement goes on to say, though we’re not sure how safe that would be, before offering the healthier (at least physically) alternative of “or add a little to your own tub and feel like you’re taking a bath together with the idols.”

▼ Although the fact that both Tenka no Chanyuki and Asuka Rei were fully clothed arguably would make it more like doing laundry with them.

Following the announcement, the group’s account proudly tweeted that the leftover idol bathwater was now on sale through secondhand online marketplace Mercari, priced at 100,000 yen (US$900) for a bottle, a price that we’re not sure is exorbitant or not, considering there’s no competing brand of used idol bathwater to compare it to.

▼ The Banana Monkeys’ “Ima wo Ikiro” (“Live for Now”)

However, while that tweet contained a link to the product’s page on Mercari, the listing has since been deleted. It’s unclear if the group, after further consideration, decided not to sell the bathwater, or if it perhaps sold all of the liquid it had available. If it’s the latter, no one has come forward claiming to be one of the buyers, though perhaps that’s because being the owner of a bottle of used idol bathwater isn’t the sort of thing most people would want to tell the world about.

Source: Twitter/@info_banamon via Jin