just to pass the time: Golden Week 2012 - Kusatsu Onsen 草津温泉

1st May 2012

From Matsumoto city, we rented a car to go to Kusatsu, a place famous for onsen in Gumma prefecture 群馬県. We chose a hilly road to go there to save on toll money, however, the road was so curvy that my friend ended up vomiting. Since we could use the telephone number to locate the place on GPS, I found the telephone number from the website and it brought us to a free parking lot near the Sainokawahararotenfuro 西の河原露天風呂. If we parked inside the town area 西の河原通り (shopping street), we would have to face traffic jam and pay for the parking lot.

西の河原露天風呂 (most famous onsen in Kusatsu)

near the 西の河原露天風呂

西の河原露天風呂 (the male onsen is not hidden, can be seen from the road)

Since I was having my period, I did not go inside the onsen, but according to my friend, the condition was very nice, her comment was "気持ちいい!". However, one down side was there are no bathing service, one just took off the clothes, and dip into the water. I felt that it was kind of uncomfortable. According to the kusatsu onsen website, the water quality of the onsen was very good and even if one dip for awhile only, the effect was there.

After that, we went to the shopping street, 西の河原通り. There were lots of souvenir shops. I was so tempted to buy something. However, thinking of my bag's space, I refrained myself from buying. However, thinking back now, I regretted of no buying! Along the street, there were few open onsen, free of charge for people to dip the hands or feet.

Yuhatake 湯畑 was a onsen water source with long wooden blocks to transport and cool down the water before the water was sent to various onsen and hotels. It was "sulfurish" here, the smell of the water.

eggs cooked using the hot onsen water

Yuhatake Monument 湯畑

Yuhatake 湯畑

After that, we went to 熱の湯 to see the performance of "massaging the onsen water", however, we missed the time, and for the next show was 4pm. We needed to return the car on 7pm, so we couldn't make it. However, there was a experience tour to "massage the water". So, we took it. It was kind of fun. The action was to hit the water with a wooden plank, the aim was to cool down the water. According to a the officer there, back in the old days, when someone went to onsen, he or she have to do it him or herself. However, as the business grew, the onsen operators started to offer this service. Another benefit for this was since the water was cooled down with this action, the quality of the water was maintained since no cold water was added and dilute it.