{"id":85476,"date":"2021-10-15T17:31:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T08:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=85476"},"modified":"2021-12-02T20:54:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T11:54:52","slug":"aoni-onsen-aomori-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/aoni-onsen-aomori-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Unique Onsen Experience at Aoni Onsen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am definitely late to the Japanese onsen appreciation party, and Aoni Onsen located in the remote woods of the Aomori region<\/a> (\u9752\u68ee) deserves all the credit for my recent conversion to becoming an onsen enthusiast. After living in Japan for two years and having visited the country numerous times before calling it my home, until recently, my onsen behavior was still strange enough to shock my otherwise admirably polite Japanese friends. My odd onsen behavior consisted of sitting briefly in the water for a minute before jumping out, dressing quickly, and fleeing the premises as if running from my worst enemy. Furthermore, my behavior was incomprehensible as one hailing from Turkey, with its own famous bathing culture where we willingly enter suffocatingly hot common baths and agree to a not so gentle body scrub from a stranger who scours us off as if their lives depended on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Aoni Onsen, I have an entirely different outlook on the public bathing experience. A hike does not feel like a hike unless it ends with a visit to an onsen, and I seek out these places at every new destination I visit. My conversion story started in the fall of 2020 when I took advantage of the JR Tohoku Rail Pass<\/a>, which is available to the residents of Japan with a foreign passport for a limited time. The 5-day unlimited train travel pass pays for itself (20,000 Yen) with a one-way Shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Aomori city (regular ticket costs 17,470 Yen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aoni Onsen: A Japanese Hot Spring Hidden in the Remote Forests of Aomori<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aomori and the entire Tohoku region is famous for onsen, and I needed a full day off from my busy hiking-focused itinerary to experience and photograph the famous autumn colors of Tohoku<\/a>. Aoni Onsen first caught my attention as it was accepting solo travelers without charging them the minimum price of two people per room as many ryokan and onsen in Japan tend to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Morning light in Aoni Onsen made me almost miss the return shuttle.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Aoni Onsen (\u9752\u8377\u6e29\u6cc9, also known as \u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u306e\u5bbf Lamp no Yado) \u2014 established in 1929 and located by a mountain stream \u2014 is not packed together with numerous other hotels like many typical onsen towns. It is an independent establishment hidden deep in the atmospheric forests of Aomori. In my experience, the high concentration of onsen facilities in small towns often leads to an industrial atmosphere that takes away from the charm of otherwise unique baths. The remote location of Aoni Onsen and the lack of surrounding facilities and infrastructure are what make the stay at Aoni Onsen a truly unique Japanese onsen experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n