Hey, who loves onsen ryoukou? I think one of the pinnacles of my life was drinking Denshu (very fancy sake) in a private onsen in the dead of winter surrounded by snow and overlooking Fuji-san with my girlfried of the time. CHOICE.
Where is your favorite onsen or your number one onsen expereince?
Where is your favorite onsen or your number one onsen expereince?
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SF Bay Area
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 2:36 AMIts not my favorite but definitely the most memorable onsen trip.
I'm 9 yrs. old and living in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi-ken. Mom, dad and I check into a small ryokan for one night. As I'm getting ready, mom tells me that this onsen is little different from what I'm used to, that this ryokan has a private onsen for families to bathe TOGETHER.
Needless to say, I didn't take a bath that night. I may have been only nine, but still old enough to realize the years of therapy I would have required if I saw my dad *naked*.
Sorry, I guess this could be the most memorable non-onsen experience.
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 7:29 AMFirst of all, let me say: www.kashikiri-onsen.com/
(it's a website listing and reviewing private or reservable onsens in Japan)
During winter vacation my boyfriend and i went to a place in Gunma . We drank a nice bottle of wine in our private cypress bath on the balcony and watched the snow fall into the river below. Very nice place! There are nearly a dozen private onsen (mostly rotemburo) in that hotel; if the door's open, just walk in and lock it, and it's yours as long as you like.
This is the place we stayed: www7.wind.ne.jp./shimakan/ and i'm happy to suggest it!
The main rotemburo at the place is mixed-bathing, but my boyfriend told me that girls usually stay covered up in mixed baths.
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 10:41 AMi've yet to have a memorable onsen. i haven't been to one yet. but laurgs and i are going to take onsen ryokou and then bath next to monkeys with tenugui on their heads. if i have done that then i have achieved my goal in life and have nothing to regret. -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 11:31 AMmonkeys, yes! that will be our goal in life.
my family used to go to hakone every year when i was a kid. i don't remember any one specific ryokan or onsen that was the best, but the overall experience was fun, and something we all looked forward to. and we would usually go in a large group so there were other kids to play with.
and there's nothing better than drinking the ichigo gyunyu aftewards!! it's a must to put one hand on your hip and drink it down in one gulp. -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 12:45 PMI can't remember any onsen stories, because I think most of the ones I've been to I was too young to remember anything. Someday I wanna take an onsen/ryokan ryoko w/ my mom, as we both talk about it whenever we're watching some program on tv about onsen. I even miss the smell of basukurin, not that that has to do w/ onsen, but... I also miss Japanese shampoo products - they just smell so damn good!
I too, would like to onsen w/ the monkeys in the snow. We should make a "yobo yobo babas onsen w/ the monkeys" tour to Japan. -
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"yobo yobo babas onsen w/ the monkeys" tour
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 1:10 PMoh genius! that'll be super marketable!
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 1:37 PMmost recently at an onsen town called Shiobara, in Nasu area in Gumma-ken. about 1.5 hours from Tokyo on Shinkansen, then a 40-minute bus ride.
there is an outdoor picnic park for families there, where they had a rave party called Anoyo. they even have onsen within that property. SF Bay Area-based band Sound Tribe Sector 9 performed their during their first-ever Japan tour, which i tagged along, and it was an awesome experience of partying and enjoying onsen.
onsen is said to have many healing properties - though "scientifically not proven" in terms of Western medicine. there are plances in Japan just to heal your health issues at a cost as low as $25 a night - you have to bring your own food and cook or pay bit more if food is to be served. nothing fancy, because healing is the main agenda. -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 2:57 PMI've unfortunately never done the onsen thing, and that's only because I have too much ink. -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 4:55 PMThe joy of the private onsens is that no one is going to see your skin! So you just keep quiet about it, and there's no problem! :) -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 19, 2004 - 5:07 PMYeah, I need a good hook-up on that when I'm not totaly broke. -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Fri, February 20, 2004 - 10:29 AMThere is a fun little onsen in Kurama near Kyoto in which you can sit and watch the mountains - its quite lovely, not a great onsen, but not much in kansai.
Shirahama onsen is right on the ocean - it is wonderful to sit there and watch the waves come in naked on the rocks. Beware: there is an observation deck nearby and if you go out too far, as I did, you'll hear school girls yelling "Gaikokojin!" -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Wed, February 25, 2004 - 9:19 PMI haven't been there in years, but Hoshi Onsen was undoubtedly the best Onsen experience I had in Japan.
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 26, 2004 - 2:22 PMwhat are the "de facto" books written in English that introduce non-Japanese travellers to Japanese hotspings?
i searched for such books on Google and Amazon. there seem to be two fairly popular books:
Japan's Hidden Hot Springs
by Robert C. Neff
Classic Japanese Inns and Country Getaways
by Margaret Price
does anyone know other books? like, "cult favorites"? -
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Re: ONSEN FUN
Thu, February 26, 2004 - 9:43 PMThere was one written back in the 1980's by Anne Hotta and Yoko Ishiguro, called the Hot Springs of Japan. (or something like that) I had found it a bit more informative than Robert Neff's book.
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A Hot Springs Resource
Mon, February 11, 2008 - 9:00 AMThis might be a good resource beyond the Price book (which is excellent). Jens K Olsen's Free and Other Hot Springs of Japan:
www2.gol.com/users/jolsen/onsen/
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