Togari Onsen

Snow-country ski resort village with 13 free public bathhouses (sotoyu) maintained by the residents themselves.

Nine-area onsen group along the Yokoyu River. Shibu's nine outer baths, Edo-period townscape, and proximity to the snow monkeys of Jigokudani are the draws.

Japan's highest onsenchi, at 1,800 m on the slopes of Mt. Shirane in Gunma. Strongly acidic milky-white sulfur waters (pH 2.5) from one of the country's most active geothermal fields, with rotenburo open to alpine views year-round.

Two inns and a foot bath at the mouth of the Kiyotsu gorge, counted among the three great gorges of Japan for the columnar rock walling it in. The sulfur water at Kiyotsukan is said to have been located through a vision of Yakushi Nyorai, and the inn belongs to the association that keeps Japan's hidden hot springs. Most visitors come for the gorge tunnel, whose far chamber holds a shallow pool that mirrors the cliffs.