Michinoku Onsen Michinoku Onsen Ryokan

A small, rustic inn on the eastern flank of the Hakkoda mountains, on the road between Aomori and Akita. The spring is a carbon dioxide mineral water (nisan-katan-sen, 二酸化炭素泉), which gives the water a slightly fizzy quality and turns it a murky milky green. There are both indoor and outdoor baths; the outdoor one is a small rocky pool, cooler than the indoor, good for alternating. The inn has been here in one form or another since 1983 and has the unhurried, lived-in feel of a place that was never trying to be a resort.