Explore hot springs and villages in Hokkaido, Japan

“Seeing and smelling all the wonderful sulfurous waters, I developed a strong desire to immerse myself completely in one of Noboribetsu's hot spring baths. So, I headed to the Takimotokan, the ryokan with the best baths in town. While the average onsen ryokan's baths offer one or maybe two different hot spring waters, the Takimotokan's feature as many as seven, all differing in character and benefits. The quality comes with a price, though: 2000 yen for a daytime visit.”

“On our approach to Noboribetsu Onsen, we sighted the 18m tall and 18 tons heavy “Welcome Demon Statue” pointing us in the right direction. An unmistakable sulphurous odour pervades the atmosphere here and it gradually seeped into our car cabin creating the ‘stink bomb’ or ‘rotten egg’ effect. If you did not know any better, you would have thought someone did something rude in the car!”