We can’t say we haven’t loved the rush of cool feeling of a cold refrigerator on a hot day. But we didn’t think there’d be a marketed and sold refrigerator that is complete with a seat and room for an adult to get inside of.
Trusco, a Japanese brand, is selling their Do Hiemon Box for $9,326.25. Billed as a way to rapidly cool humans in 5 minutes, it makes sense as temperatures has routinely reached over 40C, or 100F.
Japan has coined a new word, Kokushobi, a cruelly hot day, for when the temperature climbs past 40 degrees Celsius.
It is roughly the size and shape of a Japanese vending machine, because that is exactly what it was modeled on. You step in, sit on the built-in chair, and air chilled to 5 degrees blows across your head, neck, shoulders and back. The interior holds at 15. Five minutes and you feel it. Ten and your core temperature comes down. It shuts off at twenty so nobody overcools.
It runs on roughly half the power of a spot air conditioner, sits on wheels, and needs no installation. Since April it has gone into more than 130 factories, warehouses and construction sites. Maebashi City Hall was donated one and opened it to the public for free.
Is this our new normal? It’s a scary thought.
