Virtual YouTuber cross-promotion gives fans a real-world memento.
The fundamental reason to go to a Japanese hot spring or public bath is, in fact, to take a shower, nevertheless it’s not like guests scrub themselves off, take a fast dip in the bathtub, after which dress and head out with the identical speed and efficiency as they’d in the event that they were bathing at home. As an alternative, the popular thing to do is first to take a pleasant, leisurely soak, then come out of the bathtub and loosen up in the ability for some time, after which repeat the entire process again, perhaps multiple times.
In fact, should you’re making a time out of your trip to the baths, you may get hungry in the course of your stay, so many facilities even have attached restaurants. For instance, should you’re feeling peckish between baths on the Raku Spa chain, you may pop into their eatery and order up all kinds of Japanese favorites, like tempura rice bowls, ramen noodles, or a rice omelet. Or, starting later this month, you can try one in every of their brand-new menu items…
…some raw carrots.
OK, so it’s not the heartiest option, nevertheless it’s definitely a healthy one, and perhaps should you caught your naked reflection within the mirror whilst you were changing after your bath and noticed you’ve placed on a couple of unwanted kilos, this veggie option ought to be easy o your waistline. That doesn’t, nevertheless, mean that it’s going to be easy in your wallet, because the bowl of carrots is priced at 3,938 yen (US$34.25)!
▼ There are lots of things that we now have to think about our funds before purchasing, but we didn’t expect “carrots” to be one in every of them.
Now it’s true that Japanese foodies are not any strangers to premium-priced produce, as our experiences with 1,080-yen bananas from Hokkaido and three,240-yen Taishu persimmons have shown. Nonetheless, these carrots don’t come from a region or farm fabled for his or her deliciousness, and Raku Spa doesn’t describe them as anything apart from just plain old “carrots.” So what’s presupposed to justify the worth?
Yep, it’s the otaku appeal of the carrots’ connection to Usada Pekora, a member of the Hololive virtual YouTuber family. The rabbit girl, as you’d expect, loves carrots, and along with the uncooked veggies, 3,938 yen also gets you the washtub container to take home, and it’s autographed by Pekora herself.
The carrot bucket is only one a part of an upcoming Raku Spa/Hololive cross-promotional event, which also includes art a slew of exclusive merchandise showing Pekora and her fellow virtual YouTubers wearing post-bath yukata robes, similar to these tenugui wrapping cloths.
And thankfully the Pekora carrots (which is able to only be available in limited quantities) aren’t the one special menu item being added for the event, which also features Shiranui Flare, Houshou Marine, Shirogane Noel, and Uruha Rushia.
You don’t get to maintain the bowls for the opposite items, but their prices are rather more consistent with standard restaurant fare in Japan. And, as all the time with otaku-oriented dining, you get character art coasters along with your orders, and people willing to shell out for the Pekora carrots get two of them, as a substitute of the one which other orders get.
Other advantages that include the carrots are the choice to have the kitchen staff slice as lots of them as you would like into carrot sticks, although you’ve got to make this request on the time of ordering. Also, Raku Spa says that depending on the dimensions of the carrots, you might get more or fewer than the five shown within the promotional photo.
The event runs from January 27 to February 28 at Raku Spa and Gokuraku Yu (Raku Spa’s parent company) facilities, including downtown Tokyo’s Raku Spa 1010 Kanda and Raku Cafe Monzennakacho (a full list of participating locations is obtainable on the official website here).
Source: Raku Spa via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Raku Spa, Pakutaso
● Wish to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!