The day following Joanna and Axel's arrival in Japan, Seiko and I decided to bring them to... an onsen (how surprising, isn't is ?). We choose Nasu Kogen area, which is nested in the far end of Tochigi-ken mountains, close to the border with Fukushima-ken. Immediately after leaving the Kanto plain and starting to climb, we had a nice view of the Kanto area - one of the flattest area in Japan, since most of the country is really mountainous.

Note the interesting car we got...

We also enjoyed walking a little before reaching the first onsen.

Then, we visited two onsen. The first, Oomaru Onsen, is a nice, modern ryokan with several mixed baths. The onsen is formed directly by a river of hot water!

The second one, Kita no Yu, is one of my biggest disappointment! The ryokan is really old and quite dusty. The large konyoku is, indeed, really large, the size of a swimming pool. On a pamphlet, it looks nice, but when you go there you realize that the path leading to the ryokan is next to the bath - convenient for your modesty - and that the temperature is so hot you barely can enter it! We finally were packed next to the arrival of cold water... The other inside bath are slightly nicer, but not worth it neither.