Hot Spring Inn offers ‘apple bath’ in northern Japan

Tourists and locals enjoyed a hot bath with the fragrant scent of apples in Yokote City, northern Japan.

A tub at a hot springs inn was filled with 160 apples to promote locally grown fruit. Yokote is known as the largest apple producer in Akita Prefecture.

People started taking dips from 6am on Sunday morning.

One swimmer said the smell of the apples is relaxing. Another said he thinks the fruit makes him feel warmer.

An official at the inn said he hopes swimmers will be refreshed through their eyes and noses.

The apple pool will also be available on Sundays and public holidays in December and January, as well as the first three days of the New Year.