If you've ever taken a relaxing soak in a hot spring and said, "Gosh, this is nice, but I wish there were some way to throw in the heart-racing thrills of a roller coaster ride," we'd think you were being completely ridiculous. There's a time for everything, we'd tell you, and the time for speeding along a track with sharp turns and sudden drops is not while you're sitting in a pool of steaming water. What's wrong with you? we would continue. Somebody's going to get hurt.
But hey, what do we know?
The Japanese resort city of Beppu—located amid the famous hot springs of Kyushu island—has announced plans to build the world's first spa-themed amusement park. You can watch a 100% insane promotional video released last week to get an idea of what that might be like. Filled with visitors of all ages wearing only towels, the clip shows smiling parkgoers riding a carousel, Ferris wheel, cable cars, and a roller coaster—all while sitting in built-in tubs bubbling with spring water.
Beppu's mayor, Yasuhiro Nagano, also appears, promising that the city will build the park if the video reaches one million views.
When it reached 1.8 million views four days after it was posted (it's gotten more than 2 million on YouTube as of this writing), the mayor's office released a statement thanking the public for its support and confirming that the plans will move forward.
No completion date has been announced, and it's unclear whether the finished product will look at all like what's shown in the video.
