As summer temperatures reach record levels, an interesting new refrigeration appliance has been unveiled in Japan: a one-person cooling booth designed to rapidly reduce body temperature in just minutes

Named the Do Hiemon Box, the large booth may look like a commercial refrigerator or vending machine but it is not designed to keep food and beverages cold, rather, it is made to quickly cool down humans, specifically workers, suffering from heat exposure. 

The product has been developed by a specialist refrigeration and vending machine manufacturer, SDRS in Japan, and is being sold through industrial equipment supplier Trusco Nakayama.

The booth works by maintaining an internal temperature of around 15°C and directing chilled 5°C air towards the user’s head, neck, shoulders and back. Users simply sit inside the enclosed booth for around five minutes to reduce body temperature after working in extreme heat.

Rather than targeting consumers, the Do Hiemon Box is aimed at businesses operating in high-temperature environments, like construction sites, factories, warehouses and logistics facilities where heat stress is increasingly an occupational health concern. 

The unit is priced at approximately 1.5 million yen (around A$15,700) before tax, which positions it as a workplace safety investment rather than a consumer appliance.

The technology reflects a growing market for personal cooling systems as people seek to protect themselves, and employers seek to protect workers, from high temperatures. 

The thinking behind the design is that the booth operates more economically than conventional air conditioning. Rather than using a large amount of energy to cool an entire room, Do Hiemon Box focuses on rapidly cooling a single individual, which allows workers to recover more quickly.

The first public release is already underway. A unit has been donated to Maebashi City Hall where residents and visitors can use it free of charge during opening hours. If successful, similar cooling booths could become commonplace in industrial workplaces and public facilities across Japan as the country adapts to the increase in heatwaves.