The simple act of taking a bath carries serious risks for older people, while assisting them is a demanding task for caregivers. Toyota has been working on a potential solution.
In addition to welcoming many visiting skiers in the winter, Iiyama City in Nagano Prefecture is also hosting trials of a new Toyota initiative. It involves a HiAce in a parking lot, from which people emerge enveloped in steam…
The amount of steam billowing from their bodies seems out of the ordinary. What is going on?!
As it turns out, the inside of this HiAce—dubbed the Nukumaru—has been turned into a mist sauna.
Twice as deadly as the roads
“My grandma also uses home-visit care services. Watching them assist her with bathing, I was shocked at how difficult the caregiver’s work is,” says Shoma Kawaraguchi of Toyota’s Advanced Mobility System Development Division.
Shoma Kawaraguchi, Advanced Mobility System Development Division
Assisting someone with bathing is really hard work. But for the person soaking in the bath, that is the happiest moment of their week. I wanted to preserve that joy, and that’s why I submitted my idea to a company initiative aimed at identifying new mobility uses.
We started by surveying around 500 caregivers on the topic of bathing. Unsurprisingly, everyone told us they were affected by the heat, and the task took a great toll on their bodies.
That’s not the only issue.
Data shows that the number of older people who drown in bathtub accidents is roughly double that of traffic fatalities. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s 2021 population statistics reveal an annual figure of 4,750 deaths. In simple terms, 13 people a day lost their lives while bathing.
Source: Government of Japan Public Relations Office（https://www.gov-online.go.jp/useful/article/202111/1.html）⋆Japanese only
This makes mobile mist saunas, which eliminate the risk of drowning, an important development.
At first, Kawaraguchi considered installing a bathtub inside the large, boxy e-Palette. However, a bathtub requires 300 liters of water, creating difficulties not just in terms of weight, but also in operating the service.
Instead, he turned his attention to mist saunas, which provide a similar effect to bathing after simply sitting in the room for 10 to 15 minutes.
A fine mist permeates the skin, emulsifying waste matter so that it can rise to the surface, where it is flushed away by sweat. Then it’s just a matter of wiping the skin clean. The process uses only about two liters of water per person, while also greatly reducing the burden on caregivers.
But compared to dry saunas, how well does the mist variety warm the body? Risa Asami, one of Kawaraguchi’s colleagues at the Advanced Mobility System Development Division, explains.
Risa Asami, Advanced Mobility System Development Division
Everyone is a bit skeptical at first, but after 10 to 15 minutes in there, they come out sweating. They’re amazed at how it warms your body to the core and takes the chill out of your fingers and toes.
As you can tell from the steaming user in the photo at the top of this article, the warmth is not just skin-deep.
“Saunas are too hot, but this is nice and comfortable at around 42°C. I feel like I was sweating more than in an onsen,” says a man in his seventies. Another man, dripping large beads of perspiration, told us, “It warms you up instantly. Probably a good way to sober up too (laughs).”
With no risk of drowning, and none of the stifling feel of a dry sauna, this is a great way for older people to relax both body and mind.
Toyota calls out of the blue
Be that as it may, how did the trials end up happening in Iiyama City?
Kawaraguchi, Advanced Mobility System Development Division
Would our mist sauna work as a care service? We needed to demonstrate its value—for instance, would you feel clean after just wiping away the sweat?
We contacted local governments all around Japan, seeking their cooperation, and Iiyama City showed an interest.
“We had never worked with an auto manufacturer before, so I was surprised when Toyota called out of the blue,” recalls an Iiyama City official. “I was like, ‘How can we help you?’”
With day services now the norm, Iiyama had very few mobile bathing vehicles. But people got behind the idea, and the city decided to join in the trials as a way to expand service options.
Thanks in part to the efforts of city hall staff, some 80 residents participated in the trials. So how did things turn out?