"Trick Art" where the picture moves on a smartphone screen. Visitors can also take photos of AR mixed with reality (Sagano Onsen Tenzan no Yu, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto)

"Trick Art," or an intriguing type of painting that visitors can enjoy using AR, or Augmented Reality, technology, has debuted at the bathing facility "Sagano Onsen Tenzan no Yu" in Ukyo Ward, Kyoto. The picture starts moving when seen through a smartphone. The location has been gaining popularity as a photo spot for Instagram, a photo-sharing app.

A large mural, measuring roughly two meters high by four meters wide, was installed on the wall near the parking lot to commemorate the facility's 13th anniversary. The mural depicts Maiko, or apprentice geishas, relaxing at a tea house in Arashiyama, and a proprietress enticing customers to her shop.

When visitors view the painting through a smartphone with a special app downloaded on it, they can see the mural moving. They can watch short stories such as a proprietress tugging at a samurai's clothing, a hot spring gushing out, and so on.

Visitors can also take photos with the characters and landscapes that appear in AR, which attracts young people searching for anything "instagrammable." The facility is offering a discount on admission fees for those who have photographed the "Trick Art" and posted it on SNS, or social networking services. The offer is valid until the end of January 2019. A representative of the spa said, "The time has come when bathhouses also promote themselves through SNS. We would like visitors to enjoy not only the facility, but also the 'Trick Art'."