Originally Posted by
hailstorm
There are plenty of public pools all over Tokyo for a small fraction of that price, though you'll have to put up with silly rules like "everyone out of the pool for 10 minutes every hour, so you can rest and so we can re-check the water quality"
I've been thinking about that ridiculous rule, and I think there is more to it than the reasons they give, which are oh so Japanese. I think they do it to manage pool capacity. If you are forced to get out of the pool every hour for 10 minutes, the likelihood of you staying for more than 50 minutes is probably reduced dramatically. Of course, some people wait it out and then get back in, but most people just leave rather than wait 10 minutes to get back in, cooling you off and taking the willingness to get back into the pool out of you.
I think this is a classic case in Japan of "more than meets the eye."