A paid web magazine, chosen by one editor on foot · Issue 01
Japan's finest onsen and sauna, in 64 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 $20 · one payment · reads on your phone
Foreword
There are far more facilities that were not included.
To you, who come to Japan for hot springs and saunas.
The candidates are countless. Rankings and reviews are all much of a muchness, and even AI is astonishingly unreliable when it comes to hot springs and saunas. You cannot judge the quality of a hot spring or sauna without entering it.
That is why, for a hot spring or sauna you may experience only once in your life, you have no choice but to design it yourself rather than line up someone else's recommendations. I wanted to give you one reliable book to serve as material for that design. That is what this magazine is.
I included only 64 places that I can say without hesitation are worth coming to Japan just for them, chosen from places I entered myself and places I verified through reporting. I did not keep them because they are famous or because they are luxurious. I kept only the places my body remembers, the places that make me want to soak in that hot spring again and step into that sauna again.
Yurakkusu in Kumamoto, Miharu Yamaguen Hotel in Saga, Karumaru in Ikebukuro, Kitakobushi in Shiretoko. One double-page spread per place. I wrote about the photos, what I felt there, and why I want to go back. So that when you finish reading, you can decide whether to go or not. If one of these places makes it into your itinerary, then this magazine has done its job.
At the end of the book, I also select the very best of sauna, cold plunge bath, and hot spring from these 64 places, and I disclose the criteria as well.
There are no ads and no placement fees in this magazine. Not a single facility paid to be included, and only the places I thought were good are featured. So that you can entrust that judgment to your own journey.
Editor-in-Chief Junpei Onishi
Contents
- Yulax · KumamotoFree in the preview
- Kanigoten · Saga
- Saga no Yudokoro KOMOREBI · Saga
- Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel · SagaFree in the preview
- OND SAUNA · 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
- Aridagawa Onsen Hikari no Yu