MATSUYAMA, Ehime Pref. – The inn association at Dogo Onsen hot spring in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, submitted a petition to the city Monday seeking an end to the use of chlorine to disinfect the water used at the area’s most famous bathhouse.
At issue is the chlorine the municipal government is using to treat the water at Dogo Onsen Honkan (Main Building), a three-story structure built in 1895. It is also famous as the setting for “Botchan,” one of Natsume Soseki’s best-known novels, and some 1 million people bathe there every year.
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