Japanese love their baths and if you've ever enjoyed the Japanese bath experience you know it can be a near-religious experience. God, er, good things can always be made better, however, and bathers in Japan have access to dozens of different bath salts that turn a simple bath into a full-on spa experience.

Get it? Spa; vino... not exactly subtle but neither are the names of the salts: "Ripening Cabernet Wind" and "Fresh Wind Chardonnay". I can't figure out the "Wind" reference unless they mis-spelled "Wine".

Tsumura offers the wine salts - actually a liquid suspension containing wine extracts - in bulk for 6,300 yen (about $65) per case of 20 which includes 10 red and 10 white.

It works out to around $3.20 per bath, which compares favorably to emptying a dozen or two bottles of Zinfandel into the tub. Hey, not everyone can live like a TARP wife, amiright? Note to Tsumura... bring out beer bath salts if you want to capture the guy market. It might actually make a few dudes I know bathe more often.

[inventorspot]