But can you really put a price on this kind of science fiction-grade luxury?

When visitors to last year’s Expo 2025 world’s fair in Osaka saw that Japanese company Science was displaying a human washing machine pod, it must have felt like a vision of the future, and it was. However, this wasn’t a vision of the future of many centuries, decades, or even years ahead, but actually just a sneak-peak at what was coming in a few months, as you can now officially walk into one of Japan’s most popular electronics chains and buy a human washing machine of your own.

The Mirai Ningen Sentakki, which translates to Future Human Washing Machine and has also been called the Human Washing Machine of the Future by Science, is just what is says it is: a pod that you sit down in, close the canopy of, and then sit back while the tub fills with water and the device automatically lathers, rinses, and dries you using jets of water and air. There’s even a program of soothing images and music that plays while you’re being washed to make the whole thing extra relaxing.

The first hotel Human Washing Machine went into service in December, but as of February 26, electronics retailer Yamada Denki is taking orders for home-use human washing pods. They won’t be cheap, as they’re priced at 60 million yen (approximately US$387,000), but that price does include installation and maintenance for the first year.

Having a pod that washes you was, until very recently, a luxury so firmly of the science-fiction variety that it’s hard to say whether 60 million yen is actually asking a lot for this kind of tecno-decadence. Still, that’s quite a large financial commitment to make for something without having any personal frame of reference for how much you enjoy it, and so Yamada Denki will be holding free trial sessions of the Future Human Washing Machine at the Yamada Denki Labi Ikebukuro Main branch in downtown Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood this month. The test-bath sessions will be held on March 16, 18, 23, 27, and 30, but due to expected high demand participants will be chosen randomly through a lottery system, and entries can be made online here between now and March 9. While the demonstrations are only being held at the Ikebukuro location, the Future Human Washing Machine itself can be ordered at any Yamada Denki branch,

Source: Denfamico Gamer via Jin, Yamada Denki (1, 2)
Top image: Science
Insert images: Science, Yamada Denki
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