In Japan, city sponsored marathons and as well as mountain climbing and touring by bicycle are very popular. This has lead to a heightened awareness of fitness. The number of people leaving fitness clubs, however, has increased since the Lehman Shock. The Saitama gas distributor Fukushima O-two was approached by a fitness club looking to create an edge which would enable it to win out over its competitors. Fukushima O-two developed Fit-O2 on its own, an oxygen supply system for use in fitness programs which it has been selling for the past 3 years. According to the company, there had been a strong demand to set up an oxygen charging corner as a new facility at fitness clubs. It was also anticipated that athletes would get numerous positive effects through a supply of high density oxygen.

All of this led the company to develop the system. Nobuyuki Fukushima, a senior managing director who actually developed the system, became aware of the numerous effects that exercising with oxygen has. He found that it improves the cardiopulmonary function, as well as the ability to take in oxygen. It decreases the active oxygen in the body, and promotes health by preventing adult diseases and also decreases neutral fat and body fat. It is effective in promoting recovery from fatigue. Fukushima therefore went ahead with development of the system. “Health and sports have great potential as a new field for oxygen. Fit-O2 is a powerful system for this field. I am going to be developing various applications for it,” he noted, brimming with enthusiasm.