Tsuruya Ryukan Onsen

I wonder how the Japanese manage to have such good skin? One ingredient in the recipe is definitely the visits to the onsens.

Here in Yamanouchi, hot water flows from the ground everywhere, heated by the surrounding volcanoes. The residents take advantage of this by redirecting the water into beautiful stone pools where guests and locals can bathe.

Usually, onsens are strictly separated by gender. Fun fact: in the past, the Japanese bathed together regardless of gender. It was only a few hundred years ago, under Western influence, that the separation was introduced.

We treated ourselves to a private onsen so that we could bathe together. The ritual goes like this: wash, get into the water, sweat, cool down, get in again, and so on.

The water was so hot that we could hardly stand it for more than 5 minutes at a time. At the same time, the experience was extremely relaxing. All the stress from the city melted away and we truly reached a state of relaxation.