If an Osaka company has its way, getting roaring drunk and jumping, or falling, into Dotonbori Canal after either a Hanshin Tigers victory or a wild night out in neighboring Shinsaibashi will be less risky, healthwise, but it will no longer be free.
That's because plans are moving forward to build an 800-meter-long swimming pool in the heart of the canal, the area that runs from underneath Yotsubashisuji street in the west to Sakaisuji street in the east. Scheduled to open in summer 2015, the pool will be, its supporters claim, the world's largest outdoor swimming pool.
The canal sits in the middle of the Dotonbori district, an area known for its nightlife. Over the past decade, the waterway, famous as the preferred place for Hanshin Tigers fans (and statues of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders) to take a dip on those rare occasions they won championships, has undergone a renovation.
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