[Access] About 10 minutes by car from Aibetsu IC
[Webpage] Yumoto Kyowa Onsen
I was looking for a good hot spring near Higashikawa town, where I was staying. And I heard that there was a carbonated spring that tasted like cider in Aibetsu town, relatively close to Higashikawa. Yumoto Kyowa Onsen is famous for its mushroom dishes, so I wanted to stay, however, I decided to take a day trip this time due to time constraints.
I just liked this good old-fashioned atmosphere when I entered the building. Everything was perfect, from the postage mark to the Morinaga refrigerator with coffee milk underneath. When I paid 500 yen for onsen at the entrance, the staff said, “Please feel free to go ahead”. However, I couldn’t find the location of the bath and just wondered around… then she said, “It’s over there”. It seemed that there were only locals, and I could not find day-tripper like me.
The first thing that struck me when I entered the bathroom was the octagonal pillar washbasin. Each side of the octagonal pillar has a faucet. However, there are also usual washing area with a shower near the wall. So no one was using this impressive octagonal pillar washbasin today. The baths are spacious, with a jet bath next to a narrow tub filled with brown hot spring, two regular indoor baths, a water bath, and a sauna.
The brown hot spring is the carbonated cold mineral spring water. In the photo, the carbonated cold mineral spring is poured from a hose, and hotter water is added from underneath it. Apparently, they don’t heat it directly, but mix with hot water to prevent it to go flat.
When I hold this carbonated cold mineral spring in my hand and tried to drink it, I could feel the carbonation and it tasted bit like cider. Indeed it was interesting and would accidentally drink too much.
The amount of this carbonated cold mineral spring is so small that it is poured into a small tub for one person. There were a few locals in the tub today, but they were taking turns in a few minutes each, which was nice. It was relatively lukewarm, but after taking a bath, my body felt warm and fuzzy. It seemed to help me recover from fatigue.
In Toma Town, a neighboring town to Aibetsu, there is a limestone cave that is only about 130 meters long. However, it has many interesting features. The stalactites in this cave are mostly white or pale yellow with transparency. And there are also long, thin, tube-shaped macaroni stalactites that are very rare in the world (I saw some thin stalactites, but unfortunately I couldn’t figure out which ones were macaroni stalactites…).