Published : 06 Aug 2026, 04:43 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:30 AM
A Japanese company has introduced a walk-in cooling booth designed to help people recover quickly from extreme heat, as the country faces increasingly intense summers.
According to The Japan Times, the Do Hiemon Box is an oversized stainless-steel refrigerated booth that blows chilled air over users after they step inside, offering rapid relief from heat exposure.
The unit, developed by machinery and tools manufacturer Trusco Nakayama, has sold around 200 units since going on sale earlier this year.
Each booth costs about ¥1.5 million ((about $9,500, or roughly Tk 1.16 million), the newspaper reported.
The booth resembles a tall refrigerator on wheels, fitted with a window, bench and glass door, and operates from a standard electrical outlet.
Once a user sits inside, the temperature is maintained at 15 degrees Celsius while jets of 5 degrees Celsius air are directed at the head, neck and shoulders.
The Japan Times says the unit is intended for locations where conventional air conditioning is difficult to install, including steel mills, construction sites, golf courses, universities and leisure facilities.
Following last week's earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture, Trusco dispatched several units to evacuation shelters to help people cope with the heat.
Fumiaki Matsubara, general manager of Trusco's product division, told the day that the booth was designed to prevent heat-related conditions from worsening rather than provide a place for people to relax.
"The concept was less about providing a place to rest and more about providing equipment that could help prevent heat-related conditions from becoming more severe," he said.
Japan has experienced increasingly hot and humid summers as global temperatures continue to rise, with temperatures regularly exceeding 35 degrees Celsius.
Authorities have introduced new terminology to describe exceptionally hot days, while public broadcaster NHK frequently warns viewers about the dangers of heatstroke.
During summer, pharmacies and household goods stores also stock a wide range of cooling products aimed at helping people cope with the heat.
Trusco, which employs around 3,300 people and has a market value of about $1 billion, mainly manufactures machinery, tools and workplace equipment.
The company reportedly received inquiries about the Do Hiemon Box from Germany and the United States.
It believes the product could also find wider use at shopping malls, summer festivals and other crowded venues as extreme heat becomes more frequent.
Matsubara said stricter Japanese government regulations aimed at preventing heatstroke were also driving demand.
As per The Japan Times, demand for Trusco's wider range of workplace cooling products has roughly doubled each year in recent years.
