New Japanese Spa in Hakone

Wine spas are becoming familiar in Spain and Italy where there is an abundance of table-wine but Japan is importing wines for their new "wine spa" - even Beaujolais!

The Kowakien Yunessun spa in Hakone, Japan, installed a "wine spa" last year, touting bathing in wine as a rejuvenation treatment. The brochure assures visitors that Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, loved to bathe in wine. During the Beaujolais Nouveau season, a dozen bottles of the young wine were poured into a hot spring each day.