Kinugawa Onsen: A dilapidated hot spring town in Tokyo's backyard
Kinugawa Onsen may have had its heyday in the 1980s, but this retro hot spring town still has plenty to offer Tokyoites looking for a weekend getaway close to home.
Hot-spring resorts debate allowing tattooed tourists ahead of Rugby World Cup
With Japan expecting approximately 400,000 overseas visitors for the 2019 Rugby World Cup set to begin in September, hot-spring resorts across the country are faced with the ever-present issue of how to handle customers who have tattoos. According to a 2015 Japan Tourism Agency survey, ...
Japanese director of hot-spring consultancy handed 15-year prison sentence in China for spying
A Japanese man convicted of spying by a Chinese court was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday, Sino-Japanese sources revealed the same day. The man, in his 50s, was also fined 100,000 yuan (about ¥1.6 million) by the court in Hainan Province for having ...
Beppu hot springs may accept tattooed visitors during Japan's Rugby World Cup and beyond
Local hot spring operators see the event as an opportunity to appeal to foreign tourists.
Onsen: A great way to get the kids to take a bath
To many Japan newbies, the thought of bathing with strangers at a hot spring public bath seems off-putting — especially with kids. Yet for millions of residents, it's an ideal way to warm up and spend time together on a winter afternoon. Here are ...
In tattoo-taboo Japan, new website offers helping hand for those with ink
In tattoo-taboo Japan, those who are inked-up have received a helping hand — in both English and Japanese — with the launch of a new website that offers information about tattoo-friendly hot springs and other locations nationwide. Launched last week, the Tattoo Friendly website lists ...
Rafaela Takeshita: This conservationist certainly doesn't monkey around
Brazlian primatologist on her research methods, where to soak in a hot spring like a Japanese macaque and ecotourism.
Decompress from Tokyo in picturesque Ito
An ideal trade-off between city and nature, with its rich history, relative ease of access from Tokyo and abundance of hot springs, Ito is a go-to spot for respite from the hyper-hustle of Tokyo city life.
Thawing out on the stove train through Tsugaru
In his 1944 semi-autobiographical "Return to Tsugaru," Japanese author Osamu Dazai (1909-48) revisits his native Tsugaru, a peninsula in northernmost Aomori Prefecture and, apart from praising its people, has mostly unflattering things to say about the place. Forty years later, British writer Alan Booth ...
Asakura hot spring hotels offer free entry to disaster victims, volunteers
As he watched the deluge in the disaster-hit Fukuoka city of Asakura on TV on July 6, the day after the deadly rains began, Tetsuya Morooka, who runs a traditional inn called Yaguruma So, wondered if there was anything he could do. The 46-year-old then ...
Oita aims to heat things up with video of Olympian synchronized swimming in onsen
Famous for its onsen (hot springs), Oita Prefecture has posted a promotional video featuring former Olympians performing synchronized swimming in geothermal pools in a bid to "heat up" momentum for an upcoming international aquatics sports competition. The video, posted Monday by the prefecture's official YouTube ...
Dipping into Hakone's more unusual hot spas
"I love red wine, it's my favorite thing!" These are perhaps not the words that a mother particularly likes to hear from her young daughter — especially when she is only 4 years old. But this was precisely what my daughter told me when we ...
