As Japan experiences increasingly intense summer temperatures, a local company has introduced an innovative cooling booth designed to help people escape the heat — a one-person “human refrigerator”.
Known as the Do Hiemon Box, the booth resembles a giant refrigerator but is specially built to cool the human body. Developed by Japanese refrigeration and vending machine manufacturer SDRS and distributed by industrial equipment supplier Trusco Nakayama, the invention was inspired by Japan’s well-known refrigerated vending machines.
The cooling booth maintains an internal temperature of 15°C, allowing users to step into an already chilled environment. Once seated, cold air cooled to around 5°C is directed towards the head, neck, shoulders and back, providing rapid relief from the heat.
According to the company, users can begin feeling noticeably cooler within five minutes, while spending around 10 minutes inside may help lower body temperature quickly enough to ease symptoms of heat exhaustion.
The product is primarily designed for people working in high-temperature environments such as construction sites, factories, warehouses and outdoor event venues, where prolonged exposure to heat can pose serious health risks.
The Do Hiemon Box features three adjustable cooling and airflow settings and automatically switches off after 20 minutes to prevent users from becoming too cold. It also consumes about half the electricity of a conventional spot air conditioner, requires no permanent installation and can be used both indoors and outdoors thanks to its wheeled design.
The launch comes as Japan continues to face record-breaking summer temperatures. Authorities have even introduced new terminology to describe days when temperatures exceed 40°C, highlighting growing concerns over extreme heat and climate change.
Heatstroke cases have also been rising across the country. In Tokyo alone, 48 people were taken to hospital for heat-related illnesses on 15 July, prompting businesses and local authorities to explore new ways of protecting workers and the public from dangerous conditions.
The Do Hiemon Box is now available for purchase in Japan through industrial equipment distributors, with the standard model priced at approximately 1.5 million yen before tax.
Although the product is currently targeted mainly at businesses and organisations, the company believes that as Japan’s summers continue to grow hotter, personal cooling booths like the Do Hiemon Box could eventually become a common sight in public spaces, much like the country’s iconic vending machines.
