Onsen Yado Misuzuso

The bath here is a milky white sulfur spring that runs kakenagashi (continuously fed with fresh source water) day and night, with separate indoor tubs for men and women plus an outdoor rotenburo split into a cooler pool and a hotter one. A private, reservable outdoor bath sits in its own wooden building for guests who want the place to themselves. Misuzuso is an old-school, unpretentious ryokan on the Norikura Kogen plateau. There's a wood-stove lounge to warm up in after a soak, and dinner centers on mushrooms the owner forages himself, cooked into a hot pot alongside local horse sashimi. On a clear night guests linger in the open-air bath just to look at the stars.