August 4, 2006
More and more Japanese are discovering that nothing gives their lives a breath of fresh air than, well, a breath of fresh air, according to Sunday Mainichi (8/13).
Oxygen products are booming across the archipelago, from oxygen bars to spray cans of O2 to oxygen snacks.
An intrepid Sunday Mainichi hack hits the streets to find out whether the oxygen boom is the real thing or simply a fad full of hot air.
Wing Oxy Bar Ginza Matsuzakaya is an oxygen bar in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo that plugs its services as "relieving stress quickly" and "providing recovery from fatigue and improved metabolic performance."
It's packed most times with salarymen, OLs and middle-aged housewives who sit at a counter, plug an oxygen tube up their noses and snort away, paying 600 yen for each 10 minutes they breathe.
"Inhaling highly concentrated oxygen improves the body's ability to burn fat and can be three to four times more effective than aerobic exercise," a Wing Oxy spokesman tells Sunday Mainichi. "It also heightens the metabolic performance of individual cells."
Other benefits are claimed -- oxygen breaks down the lactic acid in the blood that causes fatigue and swelling. It also helps break down alcohol in the bloodstream, making it an effective means to avoid or recover quicker from hangovers. It increases hemoglobin, aiding circulation, the bar spin doctor says, adding that Wing Oxy has recently started a service taking advantage of the purported health benefits of breathing in air.
"If oxygen is absorbed across the entire face, it livens the skin cells and prevents aging," the spielmeister tells Sunday Mainichi.
Wing Oxy is not the only business making a killing out of selling air. Its nearby rival, Oxygen Oasis O2 Venus Ginza 4-Chome, has attracted rave reviews for its feet massages given while patrons are attached to an oxygen mask at a cost of 2,625 yen for 30 minutes.
Seven-Eleven Japan has recently started stocking convenience store shelves across the nation with canned oxygen, which supplies 35 shots of two second sprays of air.
"It was originally only sold in limited areas," a Seven-Eleven Japan spokesman tells Sunday Mainichi. "Now, though, we've expanded its sales route to encompass the entire country."
Asahi Beverages is also selling bottled "oxygen water," which claims to contain oxygen with a concentration five times normal levels, though the story doesn't note whether this means there is simply more empty space left in the bottle.
And if simply breathing or imbibing your oxygen just isn't enough, airheads can always turn their attention to edible oxygen in the form of O2 Taberu Sanso, a form of air made into a capsule.
"It improves the body's oxygen balance," a spokesman for Gold Kosan, producer of the edible oxygen, says. "And livens up the cells."
Medical experts have mixed opinions of the purported benefits of oxygen being flogged off to consumers.
"Of course, the medical world uses high pressure, highly concentrated oxygen, but places like oxygen bars and all the other oxygen merchandise should really be regarded as having nothing more than a relaxation effect," Kiyoshi Owada, a professor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, tells Sunday Mainichi.
"In fact, for those with respiratory problems, inhaling this type of oxygen could be dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution." (By Ryann Connell)
credit: mainichi
More and more Japanese are discovering that nothing gives their lives a breath of fresh air than, well, a breath of fresh air, according to Sunday Mainichi (8/13).
Oxygen products are booming across the archipelago, from oxygen bars to spray cans of O2 to oxygen snacks.
An intrepid Sunday Mainichi hack hits the streets to find out whether the oxygen boom is the real thing or simply a fad full of hot air.
Wing Oxy Bar Ginza Matsuzakaya is an oxygen bar in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo that plugs its services as "relieving stress quickly" and "providing recovery from fatigue and improved metabolic performance."
It's packed most times with salarymen, OLs and middle-aged housewives who sit at a counter, plug an oxygen tube up their noses and snort away, paying 600 yen for each 10 minutes they breathe.
"Inhaling highly concentrated oxygen improves the body's ability to burn fat and can be three to four times more effective than aerobic exercise," a Wing Oxy spokesman tells Sunday Mainichi. "It also heightens the metabolic performance of individual cells."
Other benefits are claimed -- oxygen breaks down the lactic acid in the blood that causes fatigue and swelling. It also helps break down alcohol in the bloodstream, making it an effective means to avoid or recover quicker from hangovers. It increases hemoglobin, aiding circulation, the bar spin doctor says, adding that Wing Oxy has recently started a service taking advantage of the purported health benefits of breathing in air.
"If oxygen is absorbed across the entire face, it livens the skin cells and prevents aging," the spielmeister tells Sunday Mainichi.
Wing Oxy is not the only business making a killing out of selling air. Its nearby rival, Oxygen Oasis O2 Venus Ginza 4-Chome, has attracted rave reviews for its feet massages given while patrons are attached to an oxygen mask at a cost of 2,625 yen for 30 minutes.
Seven-Eleven Japan has recently started stocking convenience store shelves across the nation with canned oxygen, which supplies 35 shots of two second sprays of air.
"It was originally only sold in limited areas," a Seven-Eleven Japan spokesman tells Sunday Mainichi. "Now, though, we've expanded its sales route to encompass the entire country."
Asahi Beverages is also selling bottled "oxygen water," which claims to contain oxygen with a concentration five times normal levels, though the story doesn't note whether this means there is simply more empty space left in the bottle.
And if simply breathing or imbibing your oxygen just isn't enough, airheads can always turn their attention to edible oxygen in the form of O2 Taberu Sanso, a form of air made into a capsule.
"It improves the body's oxygen balance," a spokesman for Gold Kosan, producer of the edible oxygen, says. "And livens up the cells."
Medical experts have mixed opinions of the purported benefits of oxygen being flogged off to consumers.
"Of course, the medical world uses high pressure, highly concentrated oxygen, but places like oxygen bars and all the other oxygen merchandise should really be regarded as having nothing more than a relaxation effect," Kiyoshi Owada, a professor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, tells Sunday Mainichi.
"In fact, for those with respiratory problems, inhaling this type of oxygen could be dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution." (By Ryann Connell)
credit: mainichi