Mitate Onsen Mitate no Yu

A tiny community-run onsen in a 36-household village in Iwate, one indoor tub, three wash stations, the kind of place where you end up chatting with whoever happens to be there. The water is colorless and odorless, a simple alkaline spring heated from a cooler source, but it has the silky smooth quality that alkaline waters tend to produce. Hot enough to warm you through properly.