{"id":151769,"date":"2023-03-01T15:39:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T06:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=151769&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2023-03-01T15:39:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T06:39:36","slug":"japanese-inn-skimps-on-bath-water-replacement-president-explains-why","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/japanese-inn-skimps-on-bath-water-replacement-president-explains-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Inn Skimps on Bath Water Replacement &#8211; President Explains Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chikushino City&#8217;s Daimaru Bessou held a press conference after receiving criticism from the local government. The inn&#8217;s long-standing practice of replacing the water in its large communal bath only twice a year on its two annual closure days, in violation of prefectural regulations mandating weekly replacement, was revealed. In addition, the inn neglected to inject the necessary chlorine disinfectant, resulting in a Legionnaires&#8217; disease outbreak in December of last year, with Legionella bacteria levels reaching up to 3,700 times the standard limit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-151772\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fnn_daimaru-besso-onsen_2023_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C788&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Japanese Inn Skimps on Bath Water Replacement - President Explains Why \" width=\"1400\" height=\"788\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fnn_daimaru-besso-onsen_2023_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fnn_daimaru-besso-onsen_2023_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fnn_daimaru-besso-onsen_2023_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fnn_daimaru-besso-onsen_2023_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company&#8217;s president expressed deep regret and offered apologies at a press conference in Fukuoka on February 28th. &#8220;I regret the harm I caused to everyone with my short-sighted thinking, and tarnishing the name of Daimaru Bessou,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yamada then admitted, &#8220;Around December 2019, I instructed our staff to change the water in the bath only twice a year, during the Obon and New Year holidays. I had the impression that Legionella bacteria were not serious germs as they can be found in ponds and puddles. Even if someone were to die from Legionnaires&#8217; disease, I thought they would likely have had an underlying illness. I myself bathe in the hot springs two or three times a day, but I did not think the water was dirty. I believed that the spring water, which is filtered and recirculated through a device that can deliver about 70 liters of source water per minute, had good water quality. I didn&#8217;t like the smell of chlorine.&#8221; He also admitted that he had initially provided false information to the health department, saying that the water change was appropriate. He stated that he had a desire to pass the inspection. This incident is not the first outbreak of Legionnaires&#8217; disease in Japan. In 2002, a collective infection occurred at a hot spring facility in Miyazaki Prefecture, resulting in seven deaths. <\/span><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20230228\/5010019398.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Get Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu area news and events in English regularly.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sign up for our <\/span><b>free<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> weekly newsletter. Opt out at any time and privacy is protected. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get the \u201cNow\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disclaimer: These summaries are from publicly posted contents. Errors might occur during translation. Images are sourced independently for illustrative purposes and credited appropriately. Use <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this form<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to send feedback or ask for edits.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chikushino City&#8217;s Daimaru Bessou held a press conference after receiving criticism from the local government. The inn&#8217;s long-standing practice of replacing the water in its large communal bath only twice a year on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":151779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-151769","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/151769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}