[Access] About 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
[Webpage] Unkai Yakushi Onsen

The cute sign in front of the building says, “Yakushi Onsen, the birthplace of Uchimaki Onsen”. I twisted my arm a little when I landed on the ground during a paragliding experience with my child, and the pain was pretty bad. So I tried to find a hot spring as soon as possible nearby to see if it would ease the pain.

The temperature of the source was 44 degrees Celsius and the smell of iron was in the air. The bathtub had turned reddish-black due to the high iron content, and the slightly muddy greenish-brown hot spring seemed to be effective. I put my body in the hot spring, hoping that it would ease the pain in my arm. The ingredients list, which was hand-written and displayed on the wall, said that the total amount of ingredients was 1716 mg/kg, and it also said that radon was contained.

The operation of the paraglider itself is not complicated, but the experience of floating in the air and approaching the ground from the sky was of course first time for me. And I couldn’t land standing and fell on my butt when I landed on my first try. I think I twisted my left arm lightly. With the pain still lingering, I did it twice, then drove the car, took a hot spring bath, and flew back home. I was surprised to find out later that I had broken my arm. I wondered if the reason I was able to manage to get to Kumamoto airport, including the driving, was because of this hot spring in the Unkai Yakushi Onsen 🙂

Watanabe manjyu is located right in front of the Unkai Yakushi Onsen. I bought one steamed sweet dumpling to eat there, and this pack of five as a souvenir. Yes, they were very delicious!