Great Hot Springs In Japan's Snowy Regions

Snow Macaques of Jigokudani Onsen live in the moment. Photo by Peter Locke.

 

The contrasting actions of walking barefoot on ice in subzero temperatures and submerging one's body into hot mineral  water stimulate mindfulness through immersion in physicality. Shocking sensations awaken the slumbering neurons drained by living in a digital world. Rub your body with snow, watch the steam drift off your skin, and soak again: This is healthy living in Japan's snow country!

My recommendations for hot springs surrounded by snow

Fukiage Onsen

Fukiage Onsen in Tokachidake, Hokkaido, is one of my favorite outdoor hot springs in Japan. Disrobe by the snowbanks. Men and women bathe together in the two mixed-sex, konyokuburo, stone baths on the side of a mountainous forest. Meters of snow surround  the small baths in winter. The air is crisp and clean. In spring, summer, and fall, sunlight filters through layers of colorful leaves. Distant vistas appear between gaps in branches or spaces between trees. Breezes carry earthy forest aromas.

 

Ryuounkaku, Hokkaido

Though the water in the outdoor bath is 40℃, icicles descend within inches of the iron-rich mineral water in this bath on the side of a mountain inn. At an elevation of approximately 1,300 meters above sea level, Ryuounkaku is a  ryokan for addicts of extreme winter sports. This Japanese inn has many positive points: The family that owns the hotel is friendly, and the Japanese meals are hearty and delicious. The windows from each room and the outdoor hot springs offer unbeatable winter vistas. Almost immediately after exiting, you can feel isolated in nature. The downside was that the rooms were not as clean as those of most Japanese ryokans. But the guests are usually not fastidious travelers; they're winter enthusiasts. For more information, read this article. Fukiage Onsen, mentioned above, is a short drive away. 

 Unkai Hotel

The photograph above shows a small section of the bathing area at Unkai, a hotel with an outdoor bath that faces mountains, valleys, and the stars above Tokamachi, Niigata. Unkai, written 雲海 in kanji, means cloud sea. When weather conditions are just right, the hotel seemingly floats on a sea of clouds (click on the link above to see photographs). When I visited, the sky was cloudless; instead, I was treated to a daytime panoramic view of snow-capped peaks, snow-decorated villages, and ski resorts, and a nighttime sea of stars.    

The Tokamachi Snow Festival is one of Japan's best winter festivals, yet few people outside of Niigata know about this celebration of snow. If visiting Japan in winter, you should not miss this extraordinary festival that combines art, food, winter sports, and much more. Come and enjoy the nearby ski resorts, snowshoe trails, and (most importantly) Japanese hot springs!

 Kusatsu Onsen

 

Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma Prefecture is consistently ranked as one of Japan's top traditional hot spring areas. Within this hot spring village, my favorite outdoor bath is at Sainokawara Onsen. The hair on your head freezes while you are comfortably soaking in the natural thermal waters. The sensation is amazing. Temperatures were close to ten below zero Celsius during my last winter visit.

Shirahone Onsen

Bone-white is the color of the hot thermal water, and White Bone Hot Spring is the translation of Shirahone Onsen (白骨温泉), one of Japan's best small hot spring villages. Located deep in a ravine that cuts through the Japanese Alps, Shirahone requires high-level driving skills to reach in mid-winter, when the one snakelike route from Matsumoto, Nagano, is slick with ice and snow. But, God, is it ever worth it.

Outdoor bathing with friends

 

For twenty-five years, I have been bathing my way around Japan in search of the ultimate hot spring experience. The renowned hotel, remote location, unique mineral water, and abundant snow pushed my winter trip to the village of Shirahone Onsen into the ranks of my top onsen experiences. I stayed at the remote but luxurious Japanese inn named Awanoyu. Photographs of this outdoor bath are often published in magazines and books, extolling the beauty of Nagano onsens. Within Japan, this bath is famous, but few foreigners know about Awanoyu. Now, you do.

Aoni Inn

When people learn that I have bathed in about 600 hot springs in Japan, they usually ask about my favorites. At the end of March, 2019, I stayed at Aoni Onsen.  Now, my answer is that this onsen is one of Japan's most unique. It has everything that I want in an onsen. Significantly, it also lacks something that almost all hotels provide and that most people cannot imagine being without. A part of the allure of Aoni Onsen is that guest rooms lack electricity and WiFi. Disconnection from SNS, email, and other internet options elicits a calmness you may have forgotten that you once knew.

Photograph courtesy of Aomori prefecture

 Sukayu Onsen

Everyone should bathe at Sukayu Onsen at least once in their lives. The experience is an interactive history and culture lesson that leaves your body feeling as relaxed as a noodle. Sukayu Onsen is a hot and wet time machine. You'll float back to an era when people were more comfortable with their bodies. Staying in this onsen hotel, I remembered what I had learned about Japanese customs in the years before indoor plumbing became ubiquitous. Neighbors would bathe together, and vacations in Japan used to center around trips to hot springs with distinctive characteristics. Like Aoni Inn (above), Sukayu is located in Aomori prefecture. Although the bath in the photograph is indoors, the snow depth outside was around seven meters. One can snowshoe out the front door, or ski at the nearby Hakkoda Ski Resort.

Safe and Warm Mixed-Sex Bathing in Japan      Photograph Courtesy of Sukayu Onsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese hot spring addicts who want to combine bathing with snowshoeing and other winter sports may want to read posts about Tainai, Myoko, Hokkaido, Tsukioka, Renge, Zao, and Jidokudani.

 

Most Incredible Hot Spring of 2017-2018 Winter

Bone-white is the color of the hot thermal water, and White Bone Hot Spring is the translation of Shirahone Onsen (白骨温泉), one of Japan's best small hot spring villages. Located deep in a ravine that cuts through the Japanese Alps, Shirahone requires high-level driving skills to reach in mid-winter, when the one snakelike route from Matsumoto, Nagano, is slick with ice and snow. But, God, is it ever worth it.

Men and women share the outdoor bath.

For twenty-five years, I have been bathing my way around Japan in search of the ultimate hot spring experience. The renowned hotel, remote location, unique mineral water, and abundant snow pushed my winter trip to the village of Shirahone Onsen into the ranks of my top onsen experiences. I stayed at the remote but luxurious Japanese inn named Awanoyu. Photographs of this outdoor bath are often published in magazines and books, extolling the beauty of Nagano onsens. This bath is famous in Japan, but few foreigners know about Awanoyu. Now, you do.

Walk through the curtains to the hotter indoor baths.

The forest and I face each other. 

The meals were superlative. The chefs prepared vegetarian meals for two of my companions. I tried the local delicacies, including basashi, shown below. Basashi is the sliced raw flesh of a horse. This unusual variation of sashimi is popular in Nagano, Kumamoto, and a few other Japanese prefectures. 

To learn more about the extraordinary environment of Shirahone Onsen and neighboring Norikura Kogen, please click on this link to the first of a three-part story that I wrote about my joyous winter holiday. During this holiday, I bathed, climbed mountains, and visited frozen waterfalls while surrounded by pristine snow.

White mineral deposits

Even the desserts were unique.

Relax in the same-sex bath with friends.

One of the frozen waterfalls in Norikura Kogen

Gorgeous winter hiking trails

For more on beautiful winter hot springs in Japan, here are links to other posts about winter bathing spots in Japan: The Cloud Sea Bath, Hot Springs for Swallows, Zao Onsen, Intercultural Bathing in Hokkaido, Various Winter Springs, Black Onsen Water in Myoko Kogen, and Tainai, Niigata. 

Please write comments and give suggestions. Thank you.

Awanoyu did not pay me for this positive review. 

Rust-colored Onsen Water in Unique Yamagata Ryokan

Visits to remote Japanese ryokans (旅館), or traditional Japanese inns, become windows from which you can observe Japanese culture. A visit to a ryokan named Miyoshisou in Oguni, Yamagata, will introduce you to the culture of Japanese mountain communities. The ryokan feels like a natural history museum. Miyoshisou has a unique bath, called Awanoyu, which Japanese onsen connoisseurs love for its rusty-iron-colored thermal water.  The slightly carbonated water is thick with mineral deposits, yunohana (湯の花), which are visibly floating in the bathwater shown in the picture on the left.

Many novices to hot-spring bathing may feel uncomfortable submerging in what appears to be dirty water, but the water naturally flows from the earth in that condition. It is unfiltered, so it is rich in minerals and good for your skin. Mineral content affects the turbidity.  Some hotels filter their hot spring water. Another unique aspect of this bath is that the temperature is around 38 degrees Celsius. Most range in temperature between 40 and 42 degrees Celsius. Many Japanese hotels heat the water entering their baths. One of my fellow bathers visits Miyoshisou several times a year. He believes that lower water temperature takes longer to warm his body, but he feels that he stays warmer afterward. On the contrary, another bather expressed disappointment because he was expecting a hotter bath. Luckily for him, Ryokan Miyoshisou has another bath that is filled with spring water that the hotel has heated and filtered. Both bathing areas have glass windows facing a river, hills, trees, and fields.

Visitors should savor the local, seasonal specialties in the tiny restaurant on the premises. Freshly gathered mushrooms and other "wild" vegetables, along with river fish, are included in tempera, noodle, and rice dishes.  The restaurant, like the hallways and almost all of the walls of the building, is "decorated" with an eclectic collection of knick-knacks, furs, and photographs that can teach you about both the lifestyles of people in the region and the quirky tastes of the hotel owner.

 

To learn about another fascinating hot spring that is only a few kilometers from this hotel in Oguni, Yamagata, follow this link. If you are curious about the various colors of hot spring water, read this post.