YAMANOBE, Yamagata Pref.: Cold face masks are being sold via vending machines in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Yamagata, at a time when demand for regular face masks remains high in the country amid the new coronavirus outbreak.

The cloth face mask with two pockets to put an ice pack in each of them is priced at 1,300 yen. The product, which comes with four ice packs, are available for purchase at two vending machines in the prefecture or via the internet.

The mask is manufactured by four sewing companies in the prefecture.

"I think the cold mask would be useful to prevent not only coronavirus infection but also heatstroke," said Katsuyuki Goto, managing director at a knitting company in the town of Yamanobe, Yamagata, that developed the product.

The company started selling usual face masks via vending machines in March after its sales of knit products declined partly due to cancellations of exhibitions amid the pandemic.

In late April, the company started placing advertisement flags saying: "Now offering cold face masks," after finding out that the masks happened to be cooled as they were sold via vending machines for cold drinks.

The flags helped boost mask sales and led the company to come up with the idea of creating the face mask that stays cold longer.

The product was developed through a lot of trial and error, according to the company.

"It would be great if we can make social contributions, even only slightly, by offering various choices of face masks," Goto said.

JIJI Press