Japanese attraction: food and hot springs
It’s a hot spring or a Japanese restaurant!
Surprisingly, many Japanese don’t know this.
How to choose a hot spring
You have to decide on the quality of the hot spring, and find a 100% pure hot spring.
There can be various objections such as comfort, appearance, atmosphere and history of the facility, but the essence of a hot spring is its quality. In other words, you have to choose a hot spring that flows from the spring!
- Choose a hot spring that flows directly from the source
- Check the spring quality (simple hot spring, radium spring, etc.) Spring quality guide.
- You should be interested in the concentration (pH) of hydrogen ions in the hot spring.
Smaller is acidic, larger is alkaline - Alkaline removes sebum, acidity removes dead skin cells
What is a 100% pure hot spring
A real hot spring is that does not have chlorine disinfection and therefore does not reuse hot water.Most hot springs are recycle type which can be reused, so that the hot water that the previous customer is sterilized and reused.
And there is no basically addition of water from the source (except addition of temperature adjustment). In other words, a pure hot spring. It’s like a food without chemical seasonings and additives. However, it seems that the pure hot springs in Japan is around 1%.
*Although it is unavoidable to disinfect the pool with chlorine, it may be counterproductive to go to the hot springs with chlorine for health reasons.
So which hot spring should I go to?
Introducing HP to various people.
Please search by prefecture from the link below.
For example, it is Sukayu onsen (酸 ヶ 湯 温泉).
Please search
And if you are not Japanese and want to go to real Onsen, you must know the some words of onsen which is Hot spring. As follows.
| Japanese | Pronunciation | Explanation |
| 温泉 | Onsen | Onsen Definition is here. |
| 源泉掛け流し | Gensen Kakenagashi | 100% natural hot spring without any filtration or additives or Flowing from the source. |
| 循環式 | junkan shiki | Circulation type. Reusing hot spring. Most fake hot springs use this method and chlorine for sterilization. That’s why you must check the word “Wake up the source”, when you go to Onsen(hot spring). Chlorination |
| 泉質 | Senshitsu | Spring water quality. Please check this site. e.g. Chloride… |
| 水素イオン指数 | Suiso ion sisu | Potential of hydrogen. pH. If the pH value is high, the alkalinity is strong, and if the pH value is low, the acidity is high. |
| 硫黄 | Iou | Sulfur |
| 日帰り温泉 | Higaeri Onsen | Day trip to the hot springs. or drop in hot springs. The price is about 200 to 2000 yen, and you can stay for about 2 hours. |
| 料金 | Ryokin | The Price, fee |
| 露天風呂 | Roten Buro | Open air bath or Outdoor bath |
| 大浴場 | Daiyokujo | public hot spring baths |
| 打たせ湯 | Utase Yu | water fall bath |
| サウナ | Sauna | Sauna |
| 美肌効果 | Bihada Koka | fair skin effect |
Alkaline removes sebum, acidity removes dead skin.
Strong alkalinity e.g.
- pH value: 11.3 Tokigawa onsen, Saitama
- pH value: 11.3 Iiyama Onsen/Motoyu Ryokan (Kanagawa) / Iiyama onsen, Kanagawa
Strong acidity e.g.
- pH value: 1.05 Tamagawa Onsen (Akita Prefecture) Tamakawa onsen,Akita
- pH value: 1.2 Higashi Onsen, Kagoshima Ioto
Hot spring map (Onsen map) Site e.g.
Recommended Japanese restaurant (Tokyo)
| Japanese | Prononciation | Explanation and access |
| 寿司（鮨） | Sushi | |
| 鮨 太一 | Sushi Taichi | Reasonable sushi restaurant for lunch at Ginza |
| 鮨 真 | Sushi Shin | Modern sushi restaurant Roppongi |
| 天ぷら | Tenpura | |
| 山の上 | Yamanoue | A dish loved by generals in the Edo era Near the train station Ochanomizu |
| 居酒屋 | Izakaya | |
| 松濤はろう | Shotoharo | A little far from the station Shibuya |
| 三是 | Mikore | Cheap and delicious seafood. Near Shinjuku |
Japanese sake （What you can buy as a souvenir）
| Japonais | Prononciation | Explanation and access |
| 田酒 | denshu | Elegant fragrance Near Ikebukuro. Masushin Shoten |
| 雪の茅舎 | yukinobosha | Magnificent fragrance Many Hasegawa stores in Tokyo |
| 勝山 | katsuyama | Datemasamune! Shogun. Many Hasegawa stores in Tokyo |
Delicious japanese sweets
| Japonais | Pronanciation | Explication et accès |
| 京はやしやのふぃなんしぇ | kyo hayashiya financier | Many Kyo hayashiya stores in Tokyo Near Shinjuku |
| Higashiya | higashiya | Near Ginza |
| 自由が丘ロール | Jiyugaoka Roll | The pastry chef of the genius of Japan, winner of the World Cup Near Jiyugaoka |
