In Japan, onsen are hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 onsen establishments use naturally hot water from these geothermally heated springs.
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and are still widely read.
A ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear nemaki and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. during the Keiun period, which is when the oldest hotel in the world, Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, was created in 705 A.D. Another old ryokan called Hōshi Ryokan was founded in 718 A.D. and was also known as the world's second oldest hotel. Such inns also served travelers along Japan's highways.
Kinosaki was a town in Kinosaki District, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
Arima Onsen is an onsen, or hot springs in Kita-ku, Kobe, Japan. This Onsen is still a hidden treasure of modern Kobe, behind Mount Rokkō. It attracts many Japanese who want tranquility with beautiful natural surroundings and yet easy access from the busy cities in the Kansai metropolitan area including Osaka. Arima Onsen was named in the Heian-period The Pillow Book as one of the three famous springs in Japan. It was selected as the most prestigious hot spring during the Edo period.
Yuzawa is a town located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 July 2019, the town had an estimated population of 7,926, and a population density of 22.2 persons per km2. The total area of the town was 357.29 square kilometres (137.95 sq mi). The town is famous for its hot springs.
Snow Country is a novel by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. The novel is considered a classic work of Japanese literature and was among the three novels the Nobel Committee cited in 1968, when Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Palm-of-the-Hand Stories is the name Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata gave to 146 short stories he wrote during his long career. The earliest stories were published in the early 1920s, with the last appearing posthumously in 1972. The first Japanese edition to collect these stories appeared in 1971. The title refers to the brevity of the stories – many of which are only two to three pages long – which would "virtually fit into the palm of the hand".
The Shinano River, known as the Chikuma River in its upper reaches, is the longest and widest river in Japan and the third largest by basin area. It is located in northeastern Honshu, rising in the Japanese Alps and flowing generally northeast through Nagano and Niigata Prefectures before emptying into the Sea of Japan. It is designated as a Class A river.
The Sound of the Mountain is a novel by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, serialized between 1949 and 1954, and first published as a standalone book in 1954 by Chikuma Shobō, Tokyo.
Hōshi (法師) is a ryokan founded in 718 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It has been owned and managed by the Hoshi family for forty-six generations and was thought to be the oldest operating hotel in the world until Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, founded in 705, claimed that title.
Tamagoyaki is a type of Japanese omelette made by rolling together several layers of fried beaten eggs. It is often prepared in a rectangular omelette pan called a makiyakinabe or tamagoyaki. The word "tamago" means egg in Japanese, and the word "yaki" means to be cooked over direct heat.
Kusatsu Onsen (草津温泉) is a hot spring resort located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, northwest of Tokyo. It is a popular tourist destination.
Nanae Aoyama is a Japanese fiction writer. She has won the Akutagawa Prize, the Bungei Prize, and the Yasunari Kawabata Literary Prize. Her work has been translated into Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, German, French, English and Italian.
Shirō Toyoda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed over 60 films during his career which spanned 50 years. He was denoted for his high-quality adaptations of works of many important twentieth-century Japanese writers.
Sakan Ryokan or "Hotel Sakan" (ホテル佐勘) is an historic ryokan located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The inn is over 1,000 years old, and is located within the spa resort named "Akiu Spa," which has four communal onsen (baths) that are supplied by natural hot springs. The hot springs are one of the three oldest ones in Japan, and are located near the Natori River. The inn was originally started by a man named Kanzaburo Satoh, whom the inn is named after. Ownership of the inn has been handed down to Satoh's descendants for 34 generations. It is located next to the 400 year old Iwanumaya Hotel.
Tosen Goshobō is a historic 20-room ryokan in Arima Onsen, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The location has a history spanning over 800 years as a place for lodging and has onsen (baths) that are supplied by natural hot springs.
Hoshino Resort Co., Ltd. is a Japan-based international operator of ryokan with its head office in Karuizawa, Nagano. Founded in 1904 by Kuniji Hoshino as a forestry business in Karuizawa, in the Japanese Alps, it opened its first hot spring resort in 1914.
Sengokuhara (仙石原), sometimes called Sengokubara, is a district in Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan.
Tōgō Onsen (東郷温泉) is an onsen in the town of Yurihama in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It was the second most popular onsen area in Tottori Prefecture during the beginning of the Shōwa era.
