salt's cation — pairs with chloride to make the water salty.
Chloride Cl⁻
table-salt anion — coats the skin and holds heat in.
Known good for
Warmingcold sensitivity
Smooth skindry, rough skin
Cutsminor wounds
A sodium-led chloride spring with a bicarbonate sub-type — a salty, heat-retaining water softened by a bicarbonate layer. Weakly alkaline and gentle on the skin, with 7.1 g/kg of dissolved solids that leave a noticeable mineral film. The source is a low-temperature spring (under 34 °C), so it is reheated before bathing.
Sampled at wellhead·Analyzed Sep 18, 2022·和歌山県環境衛生研究センター·Cert no. 温泉部 1106号
667. Nanki-Shirahama Nagomi-no-Yu Kachofugetsu, Shirahama, Wakayama
Stayed overnight. I ordered the one-person meal, kaiseki, and it was tasty. European-style room with a small balcony overlooking the town. With the windows closed, there was no problem with insects getting into the room. They sell a stamp for the 12 onsen of Wakayama.
Because of translation difficulties, the staff arranged a car for me in a clumsy way, not a car for visiting multiple spots, just a regular car booking. I had to arrange the details with the driver myself.
It was my first time trying this kind of place. It is sort of a hipster guesthouse, post-ryokan. The place feels like a mix of a good modern guesthouse with rooms and a partial ryokan format. In the end, you get:
- a price with meals like a ryokan in Shirahama;
- European-style rooms with a view of the town/ocean;
- an emphasis on having onsen, here private baths in the rooms, no public baths;
- yukata available, with a casual chance to wear them;
- the awkwardness of a ryokan has been removed, the atmosphere is chill, like a guesthouse;
- kaiseki in ryokan style with service;
- many young guests;
- Japanese staff, with little English;
- a lounge area with drinks, ice cream, noodles, snacks, and a microwave.
The bath in the room had clear water, and the temperature was 39. The wooden bath was generally in good condition, but there were a few small areas with traces of mold. It was fine to breathe inside, there are windows and you can air it out, but you should be careful in the evening, since in Shirahama a lot of insects can fly in toward the light.
Either this kind of place is not really my thing, or I did not fully appreciate it on the first try, but it did not really click with me. At the same time, I did not feel any specific negativity toward the format itself.
07.11.2025 08.11.2025
