Sitting atop a rocky outcrop on Japan’s Izu Peninsula, the pool at Kuroneiwa-buro is so close to the Pacific that the waves are only just out of reach as they crash onto the boulders nearby. The hot ...

On a recent concert tour in Japan, I had the chance to visit several thermal baths and to chat with people about the tradition of bathing. I was fascinated by their differences with American spas.

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 ...

Six hot spring resorts in the Tohoku region were among the top 10 of a major travel website’s list of “most recommended onsen ...

I wrapped my yukata, a cloth kimono, around my naked body, pulling the left side of the fabric over the right, as instructed, and tied the obi sash securely at my waist. The hotel provided these robes ...

Steam rises from the earth in Beppu, exhaling through the city’s skin. It seeps from street vents, curls through cracks in ...

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 ...

It’s 5am and I’m naked on a mountainside. Night still holds sway over the sky, the air is thick with steam, and a single bead of sweat runs slowly down the back of my neck. The onsen (hot spring) I’m ...

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 ...