A paid web magazine, chosen by one editor on foot · Issue 01
Japan's finest onsen and sauna, in 65 places.
Japan has thousands of onsen and sauna, and every list looks the same. Where do you spend a trip you may only take once? From the places I bathed in myself and those I chose through my own reporting, I kept only the ones I would go back to — and introduce them one by one.
Full magazine $14.99 · one payment · reads on your phone
Foreword
I want to visit again. Only the places that made me feel that way.
Japan has countless hot springs and saunas.
Some places are well known, while others are still little known. Deep in the mountains, by the sea, and in the middle of the city, there are hot springs and saunas of many different kinds.
But if you are traveling through Japan, I do not think “anywhere is fine.”
If you are taking the time to visit Japan, I want you to do more than just bathe in a hot spring and experience a sauna.
I want you to have an experience you will never forget.
I created this magazine for that reason.
I love hot springs and saunas, and while traveling all over Japan, I have visited countless facilities.
Some places I visited because they were famous. Some I went to on recommendations from others. Some I found by chance.
But not all of them stayed with me.
There are many wonderful facilities.
And yet,
“I want to come back here once more before I die”
there are very few places that make me feel that way from the bottom of my heart.
The moment my body sank into the hot spring.
The moment I stepped out of the sauna and was wrapped in the breeze.
The time I spent doing nothing while gazing at the mountains or the sea stretching out before me.
Even after leaving the facility, that experience remains somewhere in the body.
And even years later, it returns in a sudden moment.
Those are the places I chose for this magazine.
For every facility featured here, I have personally gone there, actually bathed in the hot spring, and experienced the sauna.
Not a single place was chosen based only on photos or reputation.
I went there in person and experienced it with my own body, and then kept only the facilities where I could truly think,
“The time spent here is something I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
That is why I can confidently introduce these places to you.
This magazine is not simply a collection of “good hot springs” or “popular saunas.”
The scenery you can see only here.
The hot spring you can taste only here.
The quiet you can feel only here.
We have chosen places where, only when the land, the surroundings, and the facility come together, can you have an experience that can be had nowhere else.
If you truly want to experience Japan’s finest hot springs and saunas, If you want to create time during your travels that will stay in your heart for a long time, then this magazine will surely be able to help you.
As you turn the pages and look at the photos,
places you want to visit will surely keep increasing, one after another.
Before long, you will find yourself imagining that you are inside the photos.
Imagining yourself soaking in this open-air bath.
Imagining yourself stepping out of this sauna and looking out at this scenery.
Imagining yourself breathing in the air of that place and feeling the breeze.
And if you actually go there, experiences that photos alone cannot fully convey will be waiting for you.
If this magazine can connect you with the 65 facilities featured here, there would be nothing happier.
I hope that, years after your journey has ended,
“I am truly glad I went to that place”
at least one experience from this collection will become something you remember that way.
Contents
- Yulax · Kumamoto
- Kanigoten · Saga
- Saga no Yudokoro KOMOREBI · Saga
- Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel · SagaFree in the preview
- OND SAUNA · Saga
- OND HOTEL · Saga
- Wellbe Fukuoka · Fukuoka
- Iyo No Tojiba Kisuke no Yu · Ehime
- Shimanami Onsen Kisuke no Yu · Ehime
- Golden Time Takamatsu · Kagawa
- Takamatsu Pokapoka Onsen · Kagawa
- Naruto Natural Hot Spring Aratae no Yu · Tokushima
- Tosa Mochizuki Onsen Himewako no Yu · Kochi
- Hotel Kawakyu, Nanki Shirahama Onsen · Wakayama