Snow Monkey ranked 5th among top 20 popular spots in Japan

Snow Monkeys in Jigokudani / spDuchamp

The Jigokudani Yaen Koen, famous snow monkey park is chosen for one of the top 20 popular sightseeing spots in Japan. No other onsen sites ranked in. 

The survey was recently conducted by TripAdvisor Japan based on their websites' page view, visit length, the number of review posted and etc. by their users outside of Japan.

Among those popular sites in Kyoto and Hiroshima, Jigokudani Yaen Koen in Nagano Pref. ranked in 5th. See the following list for top 10 ranking.

1. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and A-Bomb Dome (Hiroshima)
2. Hakone Open Air Museum (Kanagawa)
3. Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto)
4. Itsukushima Jinzya and Miyajima (Hiroshima)
5. Jigokudani Yaen Koen (Nagano)
6. Kenrokuen (Ishikawa)
7. Niseko Mountain Resort Grand Hirafu (Hokkaido)
8. Kinkakuji (Kyoto)
9. Todaiji (Nara)
10.  Kiyomizudera (Kyoto)

Day-visit Onsen Ranking by Tripadvisor

Open-air bath for ladies at the third ranked Himawari-no-yu.

Tripadvisor Japan recently released "Satisfactory Day-visit Spa & Onsen Ranking 20 " based on users' comments for last two years. This ranking is released for first time as far as I know.

Following is the list of the top 20 ranking. Linked sites are written in Japanese unless otherwise noted.

 1. Healthyland Rotenburo site contains music file (Ibusuki, Kagoshima)
 2. Hottarakashi Onsen (Yamanashi, Yamanashi)
 3. Himawari-no-yu @Shima Spain-mura (Shima, Mie)
 4. Shika-no-yu (Nasu, Tochigi)
 5. Sunaraku English (Ibusuki, Kagoshima)
 6. Dogo Onsen Honkan English (Matsuyama, Ehime)
 7. Zippuku-no-yu (Ueda, Nagano)
 8. Hoheikyo Onsen English (Sapporo Hokkaido)
 9. Tenzan Tojikyo (Hakone, Kanagawa)
10. Takegawara Onsen (Beppu Oita)
11. Kin-no-yu @ Arima Onsen (Kobe, Hyogo)
12. Terme VILLA Chulayu (Cyatan Okinawa)
13. Anakanon-no-yu @ Obuse Onsen (Obuse, Nagano)
14. Tenku-no-yu, Budo-no-oka Onsen (Kousyu, Yamanashi)
15. Yuami-no-shima @ Nagashima Spaland English (Kuwana, Mie)
16. Spa RaQua English (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo)
17. Ooedo Onsen Monogatari English (Koto-ku, Tokyo)
18. Spa World English (Osaka, Osaka)
19. Onsen Cafe (Myoko, Nigata)
20. Hakone Kowakien Yunessan English (Hakone, Kanagawa)

Photo from press release of Tripadvisor Japan.

Animated "THERMAE ROMAE"

I found animated version of popular bathing culture MANGA (cartoons), "Thermae Romae" with English subtitle on YouTube. Below is first episode aired in mid January this year.

Lucius, main character is an architect of Roman baths in ancient Roman Empire and accidentally time warps to present Japan. You can see how SENTO (public bath) in Japan looks like.




A movie version starring Hiroshi Abe will be released on 28 April, 2012. 

Related post: Bathing Culture MANGA "THERMAE ROMAE" (Mar 30 2010)

New Year's Greetings

I know many of you're still in 2011, but Japan is already in 2012 (We're 9 hours ahead of GMT or UTC or whatever it is). So.....


A Happy New Year !! 

Last year was disastrous year for Japan. Many Japanese were suddenly thrust into hell on earth, lost their families, friends, homes, works, and etc.... and still struggling even now. But our "Yamato-damashii" or the Japanese spirit never washed away. We'll overcome these difficulties.

I really appreciate your supports from all over the world after the 311 disaster. Thank you very much for your care.  I wish you many happy returns for 2012!

Onsen Ranking 2011 by Biglobe

Yubatake or Onsen Pond of first ranked Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma Pref. It's not for soaking.

The Biglobe's recently released "Forth Onsen Awards", shows popular onsen ranking as well (As for most popular onsen ryokan/hotel ranking, see my previous post).

1. Kusatsu Onsen (Gunma Pref)
2. Yufuin Onsen (Oita Pref)
3. Arima Onsen (Hyogo Pref)
4. Noboribetsu Onsen (Hokkaido)
5. Gero Onsen (Gifu Pref)
6. Hakone-yumoto Onsen (Kanagawa Pref)
7. Kinosaki Onsen (Hyogo Pref)
8. Kurokawa Onsen (Kumamoto Pref)
9. Dogo Onsen (Ehime Pref)
10. Ikaho Onsen (Gunma Pref)
11. Beppu Onsen (Oita Pref)
12. Atami Onsen (Shizuoka Pref)
13. Gora Onsen (Kanagawa Pref)
14. Nozawa Onsen (Nagano Pref)
15. Wakura Onsen (Ishikawa Pref) no English site
16. Ibusuki Onsen (Kagoshima Pref)
17. Shirahama Onsen (Wakayama Pref)
17. Beppu Onsen-kyo (Wider Beppu area, Oita Pref)
19. Nyuto Onsen-kyo (Akita Pref)
20. Jozankei Onsen (Hokkaido)

You can see top 100 ranking on Biglobe Onsen site (in Japanese only)