
Arguably the most sophisticated kiddie pool ever created.
Have you ever been at a wedding or music festival and thought to yourself, “What this party really needs is a large-scale public bath with natural mineral water?”
That quite possibly is the logic behind this development by Beppu Onsen, an association of hot springs in the city of Beppu, Oita Prefecture.
Although famous throughout the country for their baths, Beppu still feels that more people ought to be visiting. However, the dilemma is that people can’t truly see how good the baths are without first actually going there. So they developed a way to instead bring the bath to the people.
These Genso no Yu or “Visionary Baths” are inflatable, easy to transport anywhere in the country, and can fit four to five adults in each of the two 450-liter (119-gallon) baths. Of course, they use 100 percent Beppu sourced water, transported in specially-designed heated tankers to keep it at a piping 40 to 42 degrees (104 to 108 Fahrenheit).
Visionary Baths are hoped to be used at large-scale events like university festivals to spread the Beppu experience first-hand. Anyone looking to book a porta-bath will have to contact Beppu Onsen and negotiate costs based on logistics.
Currently they are expected to debut at Beppu Onsen Academia in Beppu B-con Plaza on 9 November. From there a Visionary Bath will materialize at Tokyo Tower during the Jigoku Mushi Matsuri (“Hell Steaming Festival”) on 23 November. The, on 1 December a bath will be blown up at the Ritsumeikan University Festival at their Biwako campus in Shiga Prefecture.
So if you love baths, balloons, and a bit of bouncing on your bare butts in Beppu spring water, then be sure to keep an eye out for the Visionary Bath when it comes to an event near you!
Source: @Press, Netlab
Images: @Press
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