THE SHIROYAMA TERRACE TSUYAMA VILLA

The eighth floor of this Tsuyama hotel holds a full onsen bathing floor: an open-air rotenburo roomy enough to sink in up to the shoulders, an indoor bath, a reclining tub, a jet bath, a dry sauna and a cold plunge, all filled with local spring water long used here as a skin-softening bath. Both the indoor and outdoor baths look out over Tsuruyama Park and the ruins of Tsuyama Castle, which stay lit after dark, and a lounge just past the baths keeps the same view over a cup of tea. The hotel itself opened in 2019 in the old castle town of Tsuyama, part of the Hotel New Awaji group, and guest rooms on two of its floors, including a dog-friendly one, come with their own open-air tubs fed by the same spring.