Dirty affair… The manager of a luxury Japanese inn, the Daimaru Besso Inn, apologized Tuesday for renewing the water in the facility’s hot springs every six months, causing bacteria to grow more than 3,700 times over the legal limit!

Local regulations require weekly renewal of the water in which men and women bathe separately, traditionally naked, after showering beforehand.

Makoto Yamada, president of the company that runs the nearly 160-year-old inn, said the facility neglected to keep the water clean by not using enough chlorine.

The manager “didn’t like the smell” of the chemist, he said at a press conference. “This was a self-serving motive,” Yamada added, describing the negligence as “a misconduct that completely neglected the health of our customers.”

The slackness at the Daimaru Besso Inn, where Japan’s Emperor Hirohito once stayed, began around December 2019. Since then, the staff at the facility located in Fukuoka (southwest Japan) became more careless as the number of customers decreased during of the Covid-19 pandemic, Yamada added.

Even before the scandal became public, there were already signs of concern.

Last year, in an inspection of the authorities it was found twice the amount of Legionella bacteria than that allowed in the water of the thermal baths of the guesthouse.

The hostel’s management at the time had “falsified documents to make sure the chlorine was added correctly,” Yamada admitted. In a subsequent investigation, conducted by the health authorities, it was found that the percentage of the bacteria was 3,700 times higher than the permissible limit.

The bacteria, which can cause lung infections, reportedly sickened a guest staying at several guesthouses, including Daimaru Besso.