Making a creaking sound, the wooden entrance door opens, and Sumie Tamura is standing there with a friendly smile. "Irashaimase" - welcome - she says while bowing gracefully to greet me. Her ...

After visiting Japan for the first time in 2018 with a group of college friends, I was excited to return in September as a travel writer. Having ruthlessly researched everything to do, brushing up on ...

Several Japanese cities are increasing the “bathing tax” for overnight visitors to onsen (hot spring) resorts, in an attempt to deal with rising tourism. This tax has been raised in regions including ...

Soak in the three-Michelin-starred baths of Hyotan Onsen. Learn more about the craft of traditional bamboo weaving by taking a class at the Bamboo Cultural Center. Take a thermal sand bath while ...

Located at an altitude of 700m, the Kurokawa Onsen is one of the most popular and famous onsen spots on the island of Kyushu, Japan. With six main kinds of hot springs, you can expect to relish the ...

It was a cold February day in northern Japan, snow piled high outside the onsen locker room windows as I slipped out of my clothes. Nervously, I stepped into the plumes of steam wafting from the next ...

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the tourism industry hard, including in Japan — ninety percent of ryokan inns in the famous Arima hot spring resort town have been closed since the prefecture of Hyogo ...

TOKYO - Japan’s famous “onsen” hot springs were long considered unexportable, until an idea struck Mr Naoki Mita one day: What if he could condense them like espresso coffee? Mr Mita’s Tokyo-based ...