Tourists and local residents have enjoyed a hot bath with the fragrant scent of apples in Yokote City, northern Japan.

A bath at a hot spring inn was filled with 160 apples to promote locally grown fruit. Yokote is known as the largest apple producer in Akita Prefecture.

People began taking dips from 6 a.m. on Sunday.

One bather said the smell of the apples is relaxing. Another said he thinks the fruit makes him feel warmer.

An official of the inn said he hopes that bathers will be refreshed through their eyes and noses.

The apple bath will also be available on Sundays and national holidays in December and January, as well as the first three days of the New Year.