Category archives: Experience reports

I have been living in Japan for more than three years and usually we spend Christmas and New Year’s in Europe. This time we stayed in Japan for the first time. What better to do than spend Christmas in an …

Posted in Experience reports, Sento & onsen Tagged christmas in japan, experience, onsen, resort, rotenburo, time

Tennen Onsen Yuan is located in the town of Miki, in rural Hyogo. With a small mountain in it’s back yard and only a small road leading up through a sleepy suburb you are easily fooled into thinking you’ve missed a turn and got lost. But the narrow road soon gives way to a wide parking area.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged colored curtains, sake barrels, water, Yuan

I live in a city with a decent number of sento, but I usually go to the same one every week. This week I wanted to go on Wednesday but my regular sento is closed on Wednesdays, so an excellent excuse to check out one of the others in town.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, osaka

While Yupika is in fact an onsen, meaning the water comes from a natural hot spring, it is mainly used by the people living around the onsen to wash themselves clean on a regular basis. In that sense it has all characteristics of a public bath, rather than a resort.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, hyogo

I live only about a 10 minute bike ride away from this onsen at the foot of the Settsu Gorge in Takatsuki, but until now I did not have a chance to go and check it out. Today though, on an irregular day off I decided to take that ride and experience the dip.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, osaka

I was in Nagoya for a business trip and with a few hours to kill I decided to look for a place to take a soak. I found this place, not near to any form of public transport, but not far from where I was working, so I decided to check it out.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged aichi, experience

A bit of a walk away from Kuramaguchi subway station on the Karasuma line lies the old Funaoka Onsen. By some it’s classified as one of the most unique public baths in Japan, others say it’s the best bath in Kyoto. One of its supporters is the Lonely Planet, listing it in its Japan Guide Book. So I decided to check it out.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, kyoto

I decided to go and check out this sento, not too far from where I live. Immediately upon arrival the building struck me as 50′s abstract. The atmosphere of the building was not what I generally prefer in a sento. But, don’t judge a sento by its building, right?

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, osaka

Spaworld is undoubtedly one of the largest public baths in Japan, located right next to the infamous Festival Gate. The building counts an impressive eight floors.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, osaka

On an idle Saturday afternoon I decided to go and check out HAT Nagisa No Yu in Kobe’s Chūō ward, just east of Sannomiya. The building of this bath is nicely located in a small park on the harbour.

Posted in Experience reports Tagged experience, hyogo