Goshogake (Hot Spring - Volcanic)

The last stop during this weekend was Goshogake. This was a 2 hour bus trip from Tazawako. Not many people have heard of this area, but it is known for it's volcanically active hot spring (onsen). I chose this destination for 3 reasons...

1. It's volcanic and there is steam coming up from the ground
2. There would be some good hiking.
3. There is hot spring there where I could relax

The 1st point was certainly true and did not disappoint. Oh yeah, you could tell it was a real hot spring becasue it smelled of sulfur.


This log is burnt from just being there.
Due to time restaints there was not much time to walk/hike around. There was a 2 km path around this hot spring where I snapped all the cool photos of nature's activity.

This is photo of the building housing the hot spring.
As is turned out, the hot spring was not what I expected. Unlike the Tanigawa Onsen (Minakami), this was more of an old man bath house and almost completely inside. This did not take away from the experience though.

When I got inside, I stripped down as the sulfuric water would have bleached my bathing suite. Inside the bath room, let's just say that I was the youngest by at least 20 years and definately the only non-Japanese.

So in these type of onsens, men will sit in the hot water and relax for a bit. After this, they proceed to shower. However, the shower experience is not one I have ever partaken of. There were no shower heads and no "stalls". Here's how is works...

• Sit on a bucket next to many other people.
  
• There is a soap dispenser and another bucket in front of you to fill up with water.
• There are also 2 faucents (about a foot from the floor) in front of the sitting bucket. One is hot water and the other is cold.
• So, I sat with the old men and bathed.
  
• It was quite an experience. I am now half-Japanese old man.

While the indoor scenary was not what I expected, the experience was still relaxing.

Off topic, random creature.
All in all, I spent 4 hours on a bus to see this place and was only there for 2 hours. It was worth it though.

After here I returned to Tokyo.

See more pictures here.