Japan Navigator

As Eric Talmadge writes in Getting Wet, Japan not only aims to get more tourists to its shores through the Visit Japan Campaign, but also wants more foreigners splashing around in its onsen. Although we now have Talmadge’s enthousiastic account, this is not so easy as it sounds.

For one thing, the full onsen experience can be off-puttingly expensive. One night’s stay in a classy onsen hotel can easily set you back 30,000 – 50,000 yen per person. This includes two meals, but is still an outrageous price. If like most Japanese this one onsen weekend is all the traveling you do in the whole year, it may still be bearable, but it can be a problem if you are traveling two or three weeks around Japan.

Next, not all onsen are that interesting. On the contrary, the large towns with huge hotels that cater to group tours are right-out garish. The high-rise hotels spoil the scenery and the noisy groups spoil your fun if you come as a couple or family. These places are more suitable to tours with colleagues from work than private visits – and that is how most Japanese travel there.

My advice is therefore to search out the hito, the so-called “hidden hot springs,” the smaller and often rustic onsen of only a handful of modest hotels – or even only one single ryokan hidden away in the mountains. Often (but not always!) these hidden hot springs are less expensive – for example, 10,000 a person – , and on top of that, you are not bothered by concrete piles or noisy groups. In these smaller onsen, also the Japanese travel as families or couples.

(The most economical way of visiting is to make only daytrips and experience the waters through the public baths which often exist in major onsen towns and which will only set you back a few hundred yen).

Seeking out hidden hot springs is a hobby among the Japanese and many websites are dedicated to this purpose. There is not much information in English (although Robert Neff’s Japan’s Hidden Hot Springs can get you started), however.

Here are my three favorite onsen:

• Yunomine Onsen, Wakayama. One hour by bus from Shingu in the direction of the Kumano Hongu Shrine, this onsen sits squarely on the Old Kumano Road. It is only one street in a narrow valley, with some 15 ryokan and minshuku. The public tsubo-yu is famous from the legend of Oguri Hangan – as Oguri was nursed back from the dead, the hot spring must be quite powerful! There is also a nice old temple, Tokoji. I visited last in September this year and remember sitting at the open window of our hotel, listening to the singing of the autumn crickets while dusk gathered. Combine with visits to the three Kumano shrines: Hongu near Yunomine (in fact, pilgrims in the past came to Yunomine to cleanse themselves before proceeding to the sacred temple), the Hayatama Shrine in Shingu and the Nachi Shrine at the splendid Nachi waterfall.

[Yunomine Onsen is just one street in a valley - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

• Bessho Onsen, Nagano. Not really a hidden hot spring, but nonetheless a compact small town with no real highrises, close to nature, and only 30 min. from Ueda which is a stop on the Nagano Shinkansen. Bessho is fun because of the many important temples scattered through the town and its surroundings: Kitamuki Kannon, Anrakuji, Jorakuji and further afield, Zenzanji, Chuzenji and Daihoji. Two of these own beautiful pagodas which have been declared National Treasures. From Zenzanji to Bessho there is a nice hiking route. Combine with Ueda and its Kokubunji Temple, castle ruin and haiku stones by Shirao.

[Kitamuki Kannon Temple is an atmospheric place in the center of the onsen town - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

• Jigokudani, Yudanaka Onsen, Nagano. Famous for its monkeys bathing in the snow, but you don’t have to join them (in fact, I advise you not to as they are very agressive). In winter, when the scenery is at its best, the rustic ryokan sitting in the middle of nowhere is usually quiet. Involves a hike of 40 minutes from the nearest bus station or parking lot, but is still only 2.5 hrs from Nagano. We stayed in Februari when we had to plod through a thick layer of snow, but it was worth it. The monkeys were very photogenic!

[Photo © Ad Blankestijn]