Wouldn't they have taken every little care to cradle their young ones in the bath, ensuring the temperature of the water was just right for their offspring's soft skins? Having lived through two generations, they are old today, and as dependent as little babies themselves. But do the very children they bathed feel they can do the same for their parents?
That was the insight that triggered the creation of a unique bathing tub for old people - one where they could just wheel-in their chair, saving them painful physical movement, and preserving their dignity.
Developed by Mitsuru Haruyama, a businessman crippled by muscular dystrophy, and retailed at almost US$50,000, this ultrasonic bath, nicknamed 'human washing machine', is amazingly simple to operate.
The user sits in a chair that is rolled backward into place. The sides of the machine then close like a clamshell, forming an instant tub with the person's head sticking out the top. It then automatically soaks and rinses the body. The bubbles produced are great massaging agents for aching muscles and bones too. Who better to provide it than Sanyo, the company whose name means 'three oceans'?