Aomori-shi

Aomori city (with a population of 300'000) is located at the northern part of the Honshu island (the main island of the japanese archipelago). The city is covered by snow in winter: it is usual to have more than 2 meters of snow in winter. Aomori-shi is also famous for its fish market.

Seiko and I arrive in Aomori the 30th of December 2004, having decided to spend the New Year at her grand-parents' home in this prefecture. Before joining them, we however wanted to visit some of the onsen of the Hakkoda area, which was also recommended by JP.

Hakkoda Onsen

Our first stop, Hakkoda Onsen, is located about 1 hour south of Aomori city, very close to the Mount Hakkoda. This area is even more snowy than Aomori city. This onsen is segregated, however, the owner very nicely told us that if we would like so, we would just close the women's bath, so that we could enjoy it just the two of us! No need to say we gratefully accepted.

The access to the outside bath is really impressive, as the bath is almost completely hidden by the snow. The water, typical in this area, is highly sulfurous. There is also a CO₂ bath.

Sukayu Onsen

We also stopped in Sukayu Onsen, an old and famous ryokan. The road to reach that place was terrible - there was so much snow falling, that even at a speed of 10 km/h, it was almost impossible to see where the road was exactly going.

The onsen is known for its 1000-persons bath, a large wooden building comprising two large mixed baths made entirely of japanese cypress. 

(picture from the web site of the ryokan)

Nurukawa Onsen

Finally, we headed for Nurukawa Onsen, a much quieter place at the dead end of the road, where we only met another couple of customers. Even at this busy time of the year, the crowd did not reach this seriously isolated place, where we had a fantastic evening.

The rotenburo - again a mixed one, as most of the baths in Aomori-ken - was located just in front of the ryokan, surrounded by frozen trees and a river.

Aoni Onsen

We also visited Aoni Onsen, which is even in a more isolated place: to reach the ryokan, it is impossible to use your car, you need to be brought there by the ryokan's staff. There used to be no electricity there until recently, and people relied on oil lamp for the lightning. Now, electricity is available, but lamps are still lighted every evening, which gave the name "Lamp no yado" to the ryokan.

Its baths - both outside and inside - where nice, although quite cold at this time of the year! Not surprising considering the huge amount of snow found around the springs...