Kappa-no-yu, Oku-yagen Onsen, Aomori Pref.

[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.

Aomori (青森), the northernmost prefecture of Honshu Island and Tohoku Region carries many good onsens. My choice for this post is Kappa-no-yu (かっぱの湯) at Oku-yagen Onsen (奥薬研温泉) in beautiful forest of Shimokita Peninsula.

Kappa no Yu on a rainy day in mid summer.(photo: Jul.2006)

It's quite simple. Just park your car, walk down stairs toward Ohata River and you'll see the big open-air bath with changing space, which is divided into two parts. A sign board on the wall says "Don't bring in anything but towels" in Japanese. It means swim suites bathing isn't allowed here.

If it's embarrassing for you, there is a commercially run Meoto Kappa-no-yu (夫婦かっぱの湯), gender separated open-air baths nearby. I' m afraid I don't know details of it as I haven't been there.

The Kappa is one of the legendary monster spirits of Japan. A Kappa is believed to have carried an injured monk here and cured his injury with this onsen in 9th century. That's why there is a small statue of Kappa by the rim of the bath. I saw someone had left offerings of coins and a glass of sake (Japanese rice wine) to the Kappa.

Hot spring water looks green on the photo, but it's transparent, rather hot at 42-43 degrees when I visited in mid summer. The best season to visit is late October. You'd be surrounded with colorful forest of red and yellow leaves.



◆Kappa-no-yu, Oku-yagen Onsen（奥薬研温泉かっぱの湯）

Type: Gender mixed open-air bath. Swim suites bathing and use of soap & shampoo not allowed.

Address: Oku-yagen, Ohata-machi, Mutsu-city, Aomori Pref. (青森県むつ市大畑町奥薬研)

Available hour: Anytime year round (no lighting facilities)

Holiday: None (but Wed. morning is unavailable for cleaning)

Admission fee: Free

Equipment: None except changing space with shelves. There is a camp site nearby.

Access: It's difficult to visit here by public transportation. From Shimokita railway station of Ohminato-line, take a bus to Ohata Bus Center (45 minutes), then take a taxi (15 minutes). If you are going to stay at a ryokan of Yagen Onsen, you can expect discount rate for taxi or your ryokan might offer free shuttle service between Ohata and Yagen Onsen. Oku-yagen Onsen is about 2km away from Yagen Onsen (Oku-yagen means deep yagen).

My rating (out of five): 4

External links:
Map of Kappa no Yu in English (scale changeable)
Slide show of Kappa no Yu with music (click the green "PLAY" bottun)
You can see more photos here (written in Japanese)

[Note] I have difficulty finding a detailed free on-line map of Japan in English. Google map is written in Japanese, and the map of Yahoo.com is useless, too. If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment.

Asakusa Kannon Onsen, downtown Tokyo

[Update] Asakusa Kannon Onsen closed down in June 2016.

Responding to some requests, I'm going to write about an onsen in middle of a tourist spot in Tokyo.

Ladies' bath. Mosaic tile art is beautiful. Board on the wall says "VERY HOT" in red. But it wasn't that hot.(photo: Apr. 2009)

You might have heard about Sensoji-temple（浅草寺） at Asakusa（浅草）, downtown Tokyo. It's popular among tourists and ranked 6th in TripAdvisor's "Top 20 sightseeing spots in Japan" (See my post dated Apr. 7th). But do you know there are two onsens just a stone' throw away from Senso-ji?

One is Asakusa Kannon Onsen（浅草観音温泉）, located less than 100 meters away from Sensoji, near five-story pagoda. It's easy to find this ivy covered old building.

Its classical GETABAKO (shoes rockers) may impress you, but generally it's rundown without a doubt and desperately needs some renovation.

The onsen water is... well, it's transparent by filtering and looks like tap or well water. When I soaked myself, I couldn't recognize the touch of onsen. It was more or less same as a tap water bath for me. And I found several white tablets in the tub for chlorination. Sounds like a swimming pool, doesn't it?


Entrance. Enter from left side door.

But still mosaic tile art on the wall is nice (see the top photo), and you can enjoy atmosphere of 1950's bath house especially in the changing room.

An old lady working there told me this place has about 40 years of history, but I doubt it. A sign board on the wall of changing room dated 27th year of the Showa era, it means 1952. Recommended for antique mania than soak addicts.

 
Inside of the changing room for ladies.

■ Asakusa Kannon Onsen（浅草観音温泉）

Type: Day visit only. Indoor bath, gender separated

Address: 2-7-26 Asakusa Taito-ku Tokyo

Location: 35.714895,139.794996

Business hour: 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM

Holiday: Wednesday. if national holiday falls on, following Thursday

Admission fee: ¥700

Equipment: No complementary soap & shampoo. A hand towel rental costs ¥150 (including ¥100 deposit).

Access: About 10 minutes walk from Asakusa Station of Tokyo Metro. 　

Link: Map of Asakusa Kannon Onsen in English (You can change the scale)

My rating (out of five): 2

 
Shoes rockers.

[Another onsen in Asakusa] Jakotsuyu, Asakusa, Downtown Tokyo (Jun 19, 2011)

Old ryokan to reopen as hostel, Ito Onsen, Shizuoka Pref.

Formar Ryokan Inaba under renovation. (photo: Mar. 2009)

A closed down ryokan in Ito Onsen, Sizuoka Pref. will come back as a backpackers' hostel this summer or later.

The Ryokan Inaba (旅館いな葉）, a three-story Japanese inn built in 1920's is the oldest wooden ryokan in Ito City, registered as a national tangible cultural property in 1998. It went out of business in June 2007 due to business aggravation and aging of the employee. (Photo: Sep. 2007)

But it's under renovation right now and will open again under K's House, the biggest backpackers' hostel chain in Japan. Too early to say "Welcome back"?

[Update] The Ryokan Inaba reopened as "K's House Ito Onsen" on August 1st, 2010.

Travel Tips:
Ito Onsen - located upper east coast of Izu Peninsula, is easy to access from Tokyo by train. Direct Express Train "Odoriko" serves between Tokyo and Ito, taking about an hour and 45 minutes. You can walk to Inaba (K's House Izu Ito Onsen) in about 10 minutes from the Ito Railway Station.

Link:
Official website of Ito Shightseeing Association (in English)

Useful words:
Ito Onsen （伊東温泉）
Izu Peninsula （伊豆半島　pronounce as Izu hantoh）
Express Train Odoriko （特急踊り子　tokkyu odoriko）

Four onsens ranked in "Top 20 Sightseeing Spots in Japan"

The open-air bath for ladies at Takaragawa Onsen, Gunma Pref. There are three gender mixed open-air baths as well. Takaragawa Onsen ranked 16th among top 20. (photo: Mar. 2009)

Four onsens ranked in "Top 20 sightseeing spots drawing interests from abroad", according to a recent survey conducted by TripAdvisor Japan. The survey is based on their websites' page view, visit length, the number of review posted and etc. by their users outside of Japan.

They are Spa World in Osaka (9th), Ooedo Onsen Monogatari (pronounce as Oh-edo) in Tokyo (11th), Spa RaQua in Tokyo (13th), and Takaragawa Onsen in Gunma Pref.(16th).

Spa World of Osaka is a very big complex. It says "Comfortable space of beauty and health. One of the biggest natural hot springs in the world" on the wall. (photo: Aug. 2007)

In spite of recognizing myself as a soak addict and living in Tokyo more than these 10 years, I've never been to Ooedo Onsen Monogatari nor Spa RaQua. I wonder if I deserve blogging about onsen. (^^;

Sakura is Blooming

This post is unrelated to onsen. I love SAKURA (cherry blossoms) as much as onsen. They are nearly in full bloom at my neighbourhood in Tokyo right now. It seems I can enjoy SAKURA longer this year than usual as it has been rather cold for past 10 days or so. (^^)

Sakura trees along Syakujii-gawa(River Syakujii), northern Tokyo.

A closer look.