Kumamoto, Japan Apr. 28 Sun 1:38PM
A Picturesque Hot Spring Town
Kurokawa Onsen is a beautifully picturesque hot spring town in Kumamoto, Kyushu. The town has a traditional feel, and the town and prefecture work hard to keep it so- the buildings are made of natural materials and colors, stone stairways leading up street paths, and a river flowing through the town center.
Kurokawa Onsen is an excellent place to go to relax after sightseeing and hiking in Kyushu or elsewhere in Japan. The streets are lined by traditional Japanese inns, or ryokan, public bath houses, cafes, traditional shops, and bridges. You can often see visitors from the town's ryokan walking the streets in cotton kimonos called yukata, and traditional Japanese wooden sandals called geta, which are provided by the inns.
Along with the beauty of the town, the outdoor hot spring baths, called rotenburo, are also one of Kurokawa Onsen's claim to faim. Many of these baths are located in ryokan right beside the river, where bathers can enjoy the sound and view of the river from a wooden bath. Many visitors explore the baths during the daytime and do a bath-hopping tour of the different public baths and ryokan baths. A wooden pass (tegata) is sold in the town for less then $10 USD and provides admission for three different ryokan baths (visitors can choose from over twenty different ryokan). Baths can also be entered one by one for less than $5 USD per person. There are two public baths in Kurokawa as well, the Jizoyu Bath Hosue, which has gender-separated bathing, and the Anayu Public Bath, with mixed- gender bathing.
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