Having a cold beer after a hot bath is a nightly ritual for many Japanese, and now the country has found a way to further indulge -- soaking in the suds themselves.
In Hakone Kowakien Yunessun, a mountainous hot spring resort just a day trip from Tokyo, a spa park is offering a bathtub, shaped like a beer mug, filled with heated amber water and white foam with the aroma of hops and barley.
The resort is also pouring and spraying real beer into the bath and onto the customers three times a day until December 31.
The beer bath installation, which began late last month, pays homage to the "beer fights" of professional baseball season winners.
"We wanted ordinary people to enjoy the fun," the spa said in a statement.
The facility says the beer bath moisturises and cleanses the skin.
The theme park-style facility, which features various tubs of hot spring water, annually celebrates the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau with a real sommelier pouring the fresh wine into its open-air "wine spa."
The Yunessun also offers baths of coffee, tea and Japanese sake.
很多日本人习惯晚上洗个热水澡后喝杯冰镇啤酒。现在,日本人又多了一个畅享啤酒的方式——“啤酒浴”。
距离东京仅有一天路程的神奈川县箱根町是一个多山的温泉胜地。这里的一家温泉公园设了一种啤酒杯状的浴缸,浴缸内盛满了散发着啤酒花和大麦清香的热啤酒。
工作人员还将啤酒倒进浴缸并向客人身上喷洒,这一服务每天提供三次,截止到12月31日。
“温泉啤酒浴”服务于上个月末推出,其灵感主要来自于职业棒球的赛季冠军们“洒啤酒”庆祝胜利的做法。
温泉公园在一份声明中说:“我们想让普通人也体会一下这种乐趣。”
据介绍,洗啤酒浴能够清洁并滋润肌肤。
该公园提供各式的“主题温泉浴”设施。在一年一度的宝祖利新酒上市庆祝仪式上,一名斟酒员会将新鲜的酒倒进公园的露天“酒温泉”里。
箱根町温泉胜地还向游客提供咖啡浴、茶浴及日本米酒浴。