Kurokawa Onsen❤

4 young Hijiori Ryokan owners and I were invited to one of the most famous and successful Onsen in Japan, "Kurokawa Onsen" in Kumamoto pref. Kyushu!!  


Kurokawa Onsen was just one of the regular Onsen towns. But now it is one of the most famous Onsen with Roten-buro or Open Bath in almost all the Ryokans. What's amazing is that the Ryokan owners built the open bath with their own hands!



Minami Oguni-town is also registered as  "One of the Most Beautiful villages in Japan". We found a gorgeous bus stop with thatched roof. Guess what? These bus stops were built with the financial contribution from the locals!!! One of the villagers told me " If we ask our municipal government to build a bus stop, they will make a cheap looking bus stop. We didn't want that".  


Kurokawa Onsen is so beautifully and carefully decorated. Ryokan colors are unified, almost all the buildings and bridges and even the vending machines are either black or dark brown. 


The piece of wood in the picture above is like a ticket for taking a bath. You can buy this "Tegata" in any Ryokan. It costs 1,200yen, and  you can go to any of the Ryokan and enjoy their bath. This system was so successful that Kurokawa became one of the most popular hot springs in Japan!   Many other Onsen towns imitated the system including Hijiori but it wasn't a success. It is extremely important that every Ryokan owners and workers truly understand the concept and the purpose of the "Yumeguri" system. Otherwise it won't work. 


2nd day rain was poring in Kurokawa Onsen. We had a meeting with Minami Oguni-machi mayor and Kurokawa Onsen union leader. They both told us about the history and current agenda of Kurokawa Onsen.  



We had such lovely lunch at local "Farmer's pension"!


The picture above on the left is "The Most Embarrasing Onsen In Japan!" "Manganji Onsen". The bath tub is literally in the river where everybody can see! The rain was so hard and there was nobody bathing this day :-b, but it was the coolest Onsen I've ever seen.   



At night, Kurokawa Young Ryokan owners invited us to a local bar and we drank lots of beer, Sake and Shochu :-) and talked about our future~~~



Kurokawa Onsen is such a lovely place with enthusiastic people. It gave me an opportunity to observe and deliberate the problems Hijiori is facing. Kurokawa Onsen is having a big success and we can learn so much from them. But at the same time, this trip made me realize how special Hijiori Onsen is. It is not as popular as Kurokawa, but doesn't mean that it is not as attractive :-)


Long History is one of the special characteristics of Hijiori. July 14th is Hijiori's 1204th Birthday!!!