If you're already getting bored and need to relax during this quarantine period, here's a suggestion from Japanese business owners. Some of the famous Japanese hot spring resorts are now open for people to relax in their homes. Interestingly, you only need virtual reality (VR) headsets and watch streams on Youtube to avail of the free relaxation tour.
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Japan offers hot springs using your VR!
Since a virus is infecting, most people around the world, most businesses are now closed to protect customers from getting too much interaction with other people. Just like in Japan, 90 percent of "ryokan inns" in the famous Arima hot spring resort town went out of businesses.
In response to this business meltdown, a group of hot springs owners in the country created an alternative for hot spring fanatics out there. According to the report in The Mainichi Shimbun, west Japan resort springs are now offering a VR relaxation tour to all their guests that wanted to experience the authentic Japanese unwinding.
Using their Youtube page, Arima Hot Spring posted VR footage of their local hot springs. As an explanation, the business wanted to "deliver hot spring to your home" for you to get a free relaxing hobby while lockdown.
"Japanʼs hot springs can help healing people in quarantine around the world, as well as increase the efficacy of the quarantine," the group says in a press release. "This way, we may, even if only slightly, help reduce infections and suffering from the new coronavirus."
So far, the project includes videos from the top five hot springs in the country, including Arima Sansoh Goshobessho, Takayamasou Hanano, Taketoritei Maruyama, Tocen Goshoboh, and Motoyu Ryuusenkaku.
How to try a virtual hot spring?
Having to set up your home in a Japanese-like hot spring is now made more accessible. If you like to try this new trend, Arima hot spring wants you to search for their Youtube page, get your VR headset, and plug it in for you to see how Japanese hot spring feels like.
The company promises that once you try their hot spring VR tour, a different sensation will be felt by your own skin. This new quarantine hobby can be made in your own tub. Arima also advises all users to use and sprinkle some of the relaxing aromas that you might be hiding in your bathroom to add the feeling of sensation while you're on hot spring.
"The VR offers a full view of the selected bath and allows the viewer to experience the hot-spring visually and in sound. The user can vividly hear the thermal waters flowing and enjoy the soothing sound of the cherry blossoms gently fluttering in the wind," explains by Arima. "When watching the VR while soaking in a bathtub, the person can feel as if immersed in the innʼs hot-spring bath. A normal home bathtub, so to speak, transforms into one of Arima Onsenʼs hot-spring pools."
