When you visit Japan, I highly recommend spending one night at an onsen ryokan to relax and understand Japanese culture better. Onsen 温泉 means hot spring and ryokan 旅館 is a traditional Japanese inn, a place where you can experience genuine Japanese omotenashi おもてなし hospitality. A stay at an onsen ryokan will include dinner and…
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Tsuru no Yu is the onsen I wanted to visit most in Akita Prefecture; it is a unique onsen mainly because of its milky white water found only at a few other onsens in Japan. Tsuru no Yu means “hot spring of cranes” in Japanese, and apparently, it got this name from a legend of an injured crane who was seen bathing in here.
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Have you ever heard of monkeys who like bathing in onsens (hot springs)? You might have seen photos of the famous monkeys at Jigokudani Monkey Park (地獄谷野猿公苑, Jigokudani Yaen Kōen) in Japan. Photos of the so-called snow monkeys can often be found in Japan travel guidebooks, so, visitors from all over the world come to see…
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One of my Japan travel goals is to see all of its prefectures, 47 in total, and I am almost halfway to this goal, yaay. For Christmas, I wanted to go on a short getaway, preferably to a destination with snow, that is why I chose Gunma prefecture, which is not so far away from…
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Hakone, the onsen (hot springs) town, located less than one hundred kilometers from Tokyo, is one of those must-see places that most tourists have on their Japan travel list. It is a popular day trip destination from Tokyo for both foreigners and Japanese alike. However, last time I was in Japan, I somehow managed to…
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