The Japanese have the oddest TV shows in the world, so this almost doesn’t seem surprising. Almost.
Turkish “doctor fish” nibble at Japanese market
HAKONE, Japan (Reuters) – The Japanese are known for eating more fish than any other nation in the world — now fish may have a chance to get their own back.
In a beauty treatment imported from Turkey, bathers at “Dr Fish”, a new spa in the hot spring resort of Hakone, dip their feet into a warm pool teeming with fish that nibble away at dead skin and bacteria.
The toothless Kangal fish, just a few centimetres long, are touted as a cure for skin conditions such as psoriasis in Turkey, but for the hygiene-obsessed Japanese it’s more about getting their feet squeaky clean.
The experience is ticklish, rather than painful, bathers say.
“They’re eating the bad stuff and it makes me feel better,” Shingo Kamiya, a 45-year-old customer at the spa said as the fish swarmed around his bare toes.
Eeuuh!
New take on “smells like tuna.”
First maggots in open wounds, now this! Regardless of the benefits, I’m not sure I could deal with the concept.. I guess if they served alcohol at this “spa” it might help.
It could work. Humans are absolutly loaded with creepy-crawlies. There are examples all through the animal world where one species “cleans” another: shrimp clean different marine animals everyday, birds that clean alligator’s mouths and bison’s backs, and even lamprays on sharks. I’d give it a shot, what do you have to loose?
Joe: don’t forget the leaches used to drain tainted blood! FYI: the maggots only eat dead flesh.
Jim,
A lamprey (correct spelling) is a bloodsucking parasite. They would be good for the shark only if the shark really believes in this theory (and I use the word loosley) that its blood is tainted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampreys
#2, They may smell like fish, but I understand they taste like chicken.
#5, Does that make the majority of lampreys Republicans? You know, they say they are your friend, just there to help you. But they really want your blood.
Wow, this is getting tiresome even for me. I hate Bush and the current Republican leadership too, but does every damn story have to have a political cheap shot in the comments?
If those bacteria aren’t causing you any trouble, why get rid of it? It may actually be doing some good. Having said that, I’ll still try it out if it were available here. This story reminds me of a story of an Indonesian woman swept out to sea for days by the tsunami. Hanging on a piece of debris for dear life, she said she could feel the fish biting at her legs.