[update] Kappa-no-yu reopened in April 2011. It's no more gender mixed onsen. Available for men from 7AM to 9AM, 11:10AM to 1:00PM, and 3:10PM to 5:00PM. As for wemwn, from 9:10AM to 11:00AM and 1:10PM to 3:00PM. Available until 11:00AM only on every Wednesday.
The Kappa-no-yu, at Oku-yagen Onsen in Aomori Prefecture (see my post dated May 1, 2009) is unavilable now, closed down by the end of March according to a recent local newspaper's report.
Infringement of the public bath law was mentioned in the article. It was an open-air mixed bath without gender separated changing rooms. It said the officials were planning to build gender separated changing rooms, separated baths, and screens to block watchers to reopen the Kappa-no-yu in the future.
I guess increase of WANIs (as for WANI, see my post dated Jan. 23, 2010) in recent years is part of the reason. A friend of mine and I met five or six WANIs there in the summer of 2006, when we were to leave.
The Japanese traditional mixed baths are decreasing. The rotenburo (open-air bath) at Yunokami Onsen, Fukushima Pref. closed down about a year ago (see my post dated May 14, 2009), and swim suites bathing introduced at the Funsenchi, Gero Onsen in Gifu Pref. (see my post dated Jan. 17, 2009) recently.
so pretty! I use a lot of japanese bath salts to have an onsen in my bathtub :)
ReplyDeleteHi Onsen soaker
ReplyDeleteThis one of the onsen i have not yet visited
avery time you put photo of that place you give me the motivation to go there
I plan this summer to take one week to visit the north of Japan
Anata no onsen friend
Dreny