The Japanese like Beaujolais Nouveau wine so much they're swimming in it ... literally.
A hot spring spa resort in Hakone, a resort region near Japan's celebrated Mount Fuji, is pouring the fruity red wine into one of its pools until Sunday to celebrate the release of this year's product.
The Hakone Kowakien Yunessun has invited a French sommelier to come to Japan to pour a dozen bottles of the Beaujolais Nouveau, produced by France's Cordier, into its open-air "wine spa" every day.
PHOTO: AFP
"We installed the wine spa last year, and conducted the Beaujolais Nouveau celebration. It was a great success," said Seiji Sanada, an official at Yunnesun.
"The aroma of Beaujolais is very pleasing, very nice. From the open-air spa, you can see the mountains, leaves turning color and hear the sound of a nearby ravine. It's very pleasant," he said.
Yesterday when officials in the "wine spa" poured the Beaujolais Nouveau into the bath, people enjoyed catching the wine falling through the air with their hands and tasting it, while soaking in the bath at the same time.
Japan is the biggest importer of Beaujolais Nouveau, with the wine sold everywhere from fine restaurants to convenience stores.
Even though beer and Japanese sake remain far more popular than wine, Beaujolais Nouveau has become a seasonal fad in Japan which this year ordered a record 11 million bottles.
Sanada insisted that the Beaujolais bath had real value.
Wine smoothens the skin and its aroma relaxes the mind, he said.
The company said bathing in wine is "a rejuvenation treatment."
"It has been said that the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, loved to bath in wine," said a company release.
Japan is dotted by natural springs, or onsen, where people kick back and soak in steamy hot water.
ALCOHOL COULD DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS