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September 19, 2025
 

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ONSEN

Redevelopment plans for Kawayu Onsen have hit some snags — an example of how bringing tourists back to declining rural communities is far from easy work.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 6, 2025
In rural Hokkaido, the stops and starts of tourism revival on full display
A new luxury resort might halt the decline of Kawayu, but only if locals and businesses can agree on how to move forward.
With graffiti now covering the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths in one of Europe's oldest spa towns, a group of young architects hopes to restore the picturesque Romanian resort.
WORLD / Society
Aug 19, 2025
The volunteers battling to save Romania's famed thermal baths
The picturesque Baile Herculane spa town's baths have fallen into an advanced state of decay.
Local authorities in Tokyo are resorting to unconventional measures to raise voter turnout, including partnering with public bathhouses amid Japan’s ongoing sauna boom and collaborating with high school students to create promotional materials.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 16, 2025
Tokyo teams up with bathhouses to boost voter turnout for assembly election
The previous election in 2021 showed a much lower turnout rate among younger demographics.
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
Located deep within Kyushu’s Shimabara Peninsula, this hot spring town offers dramatic scenery worth the effort it takes to get there.
Local authorities on Tuesday confirmed the deaths of three hotel staff members who went missing in the city of Fukushima on Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025
Three hotel staffers found dead after going missing in Fukushima mountains
The three men were found collapsed in the snow near the hot spring source at around noon on Tuesday.
Ginzan Onsen hot springs in Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Dec 23, 2024
Picturesque Japan hot spring town limits day trippers
Authorities in Ginzan Onsen have become fed up with a rise in road problems, quarrels and other nuisances.
Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Nov 25, 2024
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat
The modern sauna experience is more than just taking a seat in some steam — whisking, aufguss shows and spectacle all play a part.
After almost a decade of traveling around the world, a working holiday during the 2019 ski season in Nozawa Onsen was to be Rowie Geraerts’ last hurrah before she settled down in Australia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 25, 2024
How a solo yoga teacher built a wellness community in the Japanese Alps
A budding entrepreneur from Australia, Rowie Geraerts has created Shizen Collective in Nozawa Onsen — a new home for herself, locals and visitors.
Washing stations at a hot spring bath at Hoshinoya Tokyo, operated by Hoshino Resorts, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024
Luxury Japan hot springs brand to open first U.S. location in New York state
The president of Hoshino Resorts had made it his personal goal to bring Japanese hot spring resorts to North America.
A total of 65 stores in Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai offer various food and drinks, with many that incorporate fresh ingredients from the Toyosu market.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2024
New Edo-inspired venue near Toyosu market offers more than fish
Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai hosts restaurants and an onsen area that uses water sourced from popular hot spring towns in Kanagawa Prefecture.
David Joiner’s books all share a detailed focus on local arts and crafts . In his latest book, “The Heron Catchers,” "kutaniyaki" ceramics of Yamanaka Onsen, Ishikawa Prefecture, take center stage.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 12, 2023
Location is everything in 'The Heron Catchers'
Author David Joiner ties the local crafts and literary history of Ishikawa Prefecture's Yamanaka Onsen into his new novel.
Single-use bathing wear that comes in the form of a blouse or a dress
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 6, 2023
Breast cancer survivors face tough time at public baths
It is customary in Japan not to take clothing or towels into the water at public baths, and some facilities make it a rule for hygienic reasons.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2023
Struggling hot spring resorts get boost from Chinese investors
Many Chinese buyers of inns and hotels are willing to pay twice the market price to take them over, according to sellers and industry sources.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 8, 2023
A long and winding visit to 'secret' Ubayu Onsen
Secluded and remote hot springs are yet another example of Japan's deep bathing culture.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2023
Hot springs block Japan's geothermal potential
Geothermal is a renewable resource that harnesses heat from deep below the Earth's crust — a seemingly attractive option for energy resource-poor Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2023
'Yudo': A heartwarming ode to a good, old-fashioned soak
Masayuki Suzuki’s film pays tribute to the neighborhood public bath with a rush of nostalgia and feel-good laughs.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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