Annual year-end clean-up at Dogo Hot Spring

A historic hot spring facility in Matsuyama city, western Japan, has undergone its traditional annual cleaning ahead of the busy holiday season.

The Dogo Hot Spring main building, which is designated an important cultural asset, is one of the city's top tourist attractions. The facility receives more than 700,000 bathers a year. During the year-end and New Year holidays, it draws a whopping 6,000 people a day --- triple the usual average.

Every year in December, the building is shut down for one day for a top-to-bottom scouring.

On Tuesday, 80 municipal employees and staff at local inns carried out tatami mats for airing, and dusted the ceiling and lights.
They also cleaned the roof and under the eaves using brooms tied to 6-meter-long bamboo poles.

A tourist from Osaka said she was surprised by the scale of the clean-up, but that she felt lucky to have witnessed an event held only once a year.