This could be a variation on the traditional Japanese bath. The way that works is you fill up a tub and use this big ladle thing to pour water over yourself and wash up outside the bath. (The whole bathroom floor is tiled and has a drain in the middle.) Then, once clean, you can climb into the bath and warm up.

I remember thinking when I was in Japan that you could replace the ladle with some sort of pump that draws water out of the tub and runs it through a shower head. Then you can take a short regular shower before climbing into the bath. But now, if you cleaned up and then stepped into the bath with the shower head dumping into the tub, you would effectively have “shower thoughts mode” right?