Kinosaki Onsen

After lunch, we boarded the train from Himeji Station to Kinosaki Onsen. It was supposed to be an 1.5 hour train ride. For the first and only time in Japan, we encountered a train delay. The train that we were on stopped at a few stations for quite some time, and while announcements were made over the train’s PA System, they were made in Japanese (which we didn’t understand). We used Google Translate but our mobile wifi was flaky as we were in the middle of nowhere.

We tried our best to ask a nice old couple next to us what was happening by showing them translated Japanese Text from Google Translate and we found out was that something cropped up ahead.

Everyone got frustrated and passengers alighted from the train and walked around the platform while waiting for the train to depart. The entire journey was delayed by almost 2 hours and by the time we got to Kinosaki Onsen, it was already getting dark.

After checking in at Tsukimotoya Ryokan, we changed into the yukata before heading out to our first onsen. We wore the wooden slippers provided by the Ryokan and walked out into the streets. Balancing yourself while wearing the slippers is definitely a challenge. Almost everyone in the town had the yukata and wooden slippers provided by each individual Ryokan on. Clucking sounds of the slippers echoed through the whole town as everyone strolled down the streets holding either a small basket or plastic bag with their bath towels inside.

Prior to our trip we researched on which onsens we wanted to visit, and the first onsen we visited was Goshono-Yu. Upon entering the onsen, you will have to scan the onsen pass given to you by your Ryokan. All seven onsens in Kinosaki has gender-separated baths. The first place you will enter the the lockers area. Here, you will have to take off all your clothes and place them into the lockers provided. Take only the small towel with you and not the big one. Enter the bathing area, and look for the rows of shower heads along the side of the wall. Clean your body roughly thoroughly before entering the the pools.

At Goshono-Yu, there are two main pools that you can choose from. One is indoor and the other outdoor. The outdoor pool has an artificial (rock) waterfall. There is also a sauna that you can use.

While it is my first public bath experience in Japan, I have previously visited an onsen in Taiwan before. The onsen culture of walking around with only your small towel didn’t really surprise me much. The naturally-heated waters in the onsen was certainly very refreshing against the chilly weather outside, especially late into the night.

We soaked in both the indoor and outdoor pools and took a shower before we headed back to our Ryokan for dinner.

After a very satisfying meal, we headed back onto the streets as we wanted to visit another onsen before resting for the night. We walked down the streets and walked into some shops before going into Ichino-Yu.

The main attraction of this onsen is a small, outdoor pool within a man-made half-cave.

After leaving Ichino-Yu, we walked towards Kinosaki Onsen station as I had originally planned to reserve our train tickets for the following down. However when we got to the station, the ticketing counter was closed.

Located next to the station is the Satono-Yu. The best onsen out of those that we visited. The onsen is divided into two floors. The first floor consists of the indoor pool with a few pools of varying temperatures while the rooftop is the outdoor pool. There is also an ice-bath inside the indoor pool.

Peace blanketed the town as darkness descended late into the night. While the town is not very crowded by (as compared to Tokyo), the clicking of the slippers on the floor brought a certain sense of unison in the atmosphere that I find it hard to describe.

Note though, while some of the onsens operate until 2300hrs, most of the shops are closed pretty early in the night. There is only one major convenience stall in the town (Family Mart), and it doesn’t operate 24-hours like most other places. It closes at 1am.