Jul 26, 2012
Insanely crowded Japanese wave pool [6 pictures]
National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita recently took these shocking pictures (shocking to agoraphobes, at least) of swimmers at the Summerland Wave Pool in Tokyo…
Yamashita told My Modern Met that he’s getting a lot of negative responses to these images…
It seems a number of viewers are horrified, appalled, nauseated and generally grossed out by the sheer number of swimmers squeezed into these mega-pools.
There’s no question that given the heat, humidity, and population of Tokyo in the summer, the throngs at any swimming pool there are going to, by definition, test the limits of crowd control and sanitation….
[But] Japanese people, by tradition and habit, are arguably the cleanest – not to mention the most cleanliness-conscious – in the world. The water in these pools is clean enough to drink!”
I’ll take his word for it…
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Waaay to crowded for me … I’d rather take a cold bath.
Wow!
“Insanely crowded Japanese _______________.” I think just about anything would fit in that sentence.
I have lived in Japan, and this is nothing compared to the subways at rush hour! You might say that it doesn’t compare, since these people are in swimsuits and therefore more exposed… But then, you haven’t been a young woman on a packed subway, have you? Groping happens, even in ultra-polite Japan!
As a lifeguard, these pictures make my heart rate speed up. Looks like a lot of fun, but it’d be easy to get lost in that crowd… Anything to beat the heat, I guess.
The amount of urine that is probably in the pool give me hives the size of Godzilla!
but wait…I don’t get it…it’s an indoor pool???? Not for me!Tarah you sure you want to go to Japan?
They would have alot more space if if weren’t for all of those rubber rings. They should limit the amount of inflatables at peak times, I think.