An oshibori(おしぼり or お絞り) or hot towel in English is a wet hand towel offered to customers in places such as restaurants or bars in Japan and in Japanese restaurants worldwide. Oshibori are used to clean one's hands before eating, and have long been a common sight in Japan. Cold oshibori are used in summer, and hot oshibori in winter. In mah-jong parlors, the words atsushibo and tsumeshibo, from the Japanese words atsui(熱い), hot, and tsumetai(冷たい), cold, are sometimes used to refer to hot and cold oshibori respectively.