Kanto, Japan · Mountain
One of Japan's most celebrated hot spring towns, with the steaming Yubatake ("hot water field") right in the town centre, source of much of the country's largest natural thermal flow; the yumomi ritual (stirring the water with wooden boards to cool it without diluting it, performed for the public), Sainokawara Park with its large free open-air bath by the river, and its own ski resort in winter.
Train — Joetsu Shinkansen Tokyo-Takasaki (¥4,810, ~50min) + JR limited express to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi (¥1,170, ~50min) + JR Bus Kanto to Kusatsu Onsen (~25min, ¥780), roughly ¥6,760 total and ~2h. The final bus leg IS covered by the National JR Pass (jprail.com confirms this explicitly), an unusual case in the catalog — though NOT covered by the regional JR East passes.
Kusatsu's steaming heart: a wooden channel in the centre of town carrying much of the more than 4,000 liters per minute of hot-spring water that make this Japan's largest natural spring source, lit up at night.
A bathhouse with five wooden tubs from 38 to 46 degrees that you work through in order, raising the temperature little by little: the traditional method for handling Kusatsu's water.
A bath rebuilt in Edo style next to the Yubatake, with two waters from different sources and new timber that smells of cypress.
Since 1980, every August the village fills with classical music, with international teachers giving classes and concerts in an auditorium set in the forest.
Founded in 721 and one of the three great temples of the healing Buddha of the hot springs, alongside Arima and Yamanaka; it unveiled a five-story pagoda in 2023.
Around fifteen bakeries compete for the best filled bun in the village, and many hand out a warm sample at the door to win you over.
A riverside park on the edge of town with a large free, mixed open-air hot-spring bath (rotenburo), surrounded by volcanic scenery and steaming rock formations.
An Edo-period tradition still practiced: exactly three minutes submerged in water above 45 degrees, everyone at once and on a leader's call.
Kusatsu has some eighteen free communal baths scattered through its streets, but only three (Shirahata, Jizo and Chiyo) are open to visitors: the rest are for residents only, and that should be respected.
At dusk the steam and the light change the village completely; in winter a tree of lights is added over the spring itself.
A traditional demonstration in which women in period dress stir the spring water with long wooden boards to the rhythm of a song, cooling it without diluting its mineral properties, ending with an audience-participation round.
A very rare moss that thrives only in strongly acidic water covers the rocks of a thermal stream in an almost fluorescent green.
Several free ashiyu right in the centre, ideal for a rest between walks without undressing.
Blown glass and coloured beads taking the emerald green of the thermal water as their reference, with short sessions to make your own piece.
Two days in August to give thanks for the thermal water, descended from the old ritual bath held before dawn.
Cider made with spring water and several local craft beers, the alternative to sake after the bath.
The town's own ski resort in winter, with slopes for all levels and the added bonus of soaking in the town's onsen after skiing.
A volcano just outside the village with the Yugama crater, a sulfurous blue lake; hiking is available from mid-April to early November in normal years, but check the state of access before going, since volcanic activity closes the summit and the parking lot fairly often (closed, for example, in 2026).
A high-mountain scenic road that, when it opens in May, runs between walls of snow several metres high on both sides.
The village shrine among cedars, set high above the Yubatake and almost always empty despite being two minutes from the centre.
A guided winter crossing among beeches and fumaroles, for when the normal trails are closed by snow.
The square, the paving and the monument around the hot water field were designed in 1976 by the artist Okamoto Taro: the village's iconic image is in fact a work of contemporary art.
The tradition of staying for days or weeks to treat ailments with Japan's most acidic water; some inns still keep the format and the long-stay rates.
The two arteries running down from the Yubatake, full of wooden shops, arcade game stalls and people strolling in yukata and geta.
High-altitude peat bogs protected under the Ramsar Convention, half an hour from the village, with wooden boardwalks and absolute silence.
Bath salts gathered by hand from the Yubatake itself, with a limited output of a few thousand packets a year: the village's real souvenir.
A small museum devoted to the German doctor who studied these waters in the 19th century and put Kusatsu on the European scientific map.
The village appears in several series and takes part in the 'Onsen Musume' character campaign, with themed rooms at some lodgings.
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