The Japanese capybara hot spring

If you have seen the photo of a capybara with her eyes closed in hot water and a yellow fruit on her head, this is where she is from.

The tradition started in 1982 at the Izu Shaboten zoo in Shizuoka: a keeper was hosing the enclosure with hot water and found the capybaras would not leave. The bath became a winter attraction, with yuzu — a Japanese citrus — floating in the water, as in the solstice bath Japanese families take at home.

That is the origin of the capybara-with-fruit-on-her-head image, which is half accident and half habit: the fruit floats, the head sits at water level, and now and then the two meet. No other photo explains better how this animal became a symbol of calm.

In the game

The deliberately slow level, with no predator at all. Stay in the hot bath, balance the yuzu on your head with tiny nudges, and resist the urge to get out. Anyone who spent the game fleeing jaguars has to unlearn the hurry. Finish well and the fruit comes with you to the other levels.

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