This Book Sanitising Machine Proves Japan Is Living In The Future

In Japan, cleanliness is not limited to personal space, it¡¯s a very serious public etiquette - one that is being looked upon with great admiration in the COVID-19-ravaged world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the daily cleanliness regime drastically in many parts of the world - from basic habits like hand-washing, to the more rarely practiced like wearing masks and face shields. While people are still adapting to this ¡®new normal¡¯, the same has been a lifestyle in Japan for years.

Image Source/Tik Tok AsianSkills

It is a part of the Japanese culture to wear masks and maintain ¡°utmost¡± cleanliness during routine life. Apart from this, the country is also way ahead of many others when it comes to innovative technology that ensures public hygiene.

@asianskills

my people def coming from the future ##japan ##japanfacts ##ilovejapan

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Take for instance this book sanitising machine at a public library in Japan. While book-worms in the pre-COVID-19 world could simply strut into a library and pick a book to read, the same action comes with caution in the post-COVID-19 world. Now, one has to think ten times before reaching out for anything that¡¯s not sanitised.

But Japanese people already have things covered. A TikTok user recently shared a video of a machine, that sanitises books.

The video posted by a user named ¡®Asianskills¡¯ shows the machine sterilising the book page by page and he wrote,¡°My people def coming from future.¡±

It shows the book is kept in an electronic compartment. As soon as the start button is pressed, the book goes through the sanitizing process. This is to remove the fomites from the object and making it clean.

For those unaware, even before the pandemic, the idea that books could spread diseases has been around. According to Smithsonianmag, a librarian at the Omaha Public Library, is said to have contracted tuberculosis from a book and subsequently died from it.

¡°The death of Miss Jessie Allan is doubly sad because of the excellent reputation which her work won for her and the pleasant affection which all librarians who knew her had come to feel for her, and because her death has given rise to a fresh discussion as to the possibility of infection from contagious diseases through library books,¡± the Library Journal, published by the American Library Association, wrote in October of 1895.

Source/guidable.co

According to Guidable, a Japanese information media for foreign residents, "Antibacterial wind flows under the books and cleans between the pages by getting rid of any dust: peoples¡¯ hairs or dandruff. The book sterilizer sterilizes and disinfects inside the books by applying ultraviolet rays to the opened books."

The website adds that there are more than 3,000,000 book sterilizers installed in public libraries throughout Japan.