Shikabe Onsen Hot Spring Inn Yoshinoyu

Yoshinoyu is a small, family-run inn in Shikabe, a fishing town in Hokkaido. The single indoor bath is filled with hot, slightly salty spring water; there is no rotenburo or sauna here, and the water leaves skin feeling smooth after a soak. Day visitors are welcome to bathe alongside overnight guests. Rooms are simple, separated from the corridor by a single sliding fusuma (襖) door, in the style of an old-fashioned minshuku (民宿), with a shared toilet down the hall. Some rooms look out over the fishing port, and mornings start with the sound of gulls. Meals center on fresh local seafood, and locals from around Shikabe sometimes drop by just for a soak alongside the people staying the night.