Michi

This day-trip hot spring facility, located at the Johon no Sato Roadside Station, was once ranked second in the national Roadside Station Grand Prix. The reddish-brown water is one of the few hot springs in the prefecture, along with the Koganegawa Onsen "Shiratoriso" in Zao Town, that is high in iron. It is a hypertonic sodium-calcium chloride spring with a dissolved solids content of over 1000mg, leaving you feeling warm and cozy. What's more, this hot spring contains 22mg of iodine, making it a rare iodine spring, a type of spring that only emerged about 10 years ago. Its quality is so authentic you'd never guess it was located at a roadside station, and hot spring lovers will want to stop by at least once. While there is no open-air bath, there are large and small indoor baths, a sauna, a footbath, and a cold bath where the cold mineral spring water flows directly from the source. And the cold bath, straight from the source, is also very refreshing. After getting hot in the bath, you cool down in a cold bath and then soak in the bath again - this match-pump routine really does freshen up your body. The Kahoku Interchange on the Sanriku Expressway is just a stone's throw away, making it easy to access from far away, and the price is quite reasonable for a day-trip hot spring facility in the prefecture, at 650 yen on weekdays and 780 yen on weekends. Also, in Sendai, East Japan Express sells a "round-trip bus ticket between Sendai and Jojin no Sato, including bathing" (departing from the former Sakurano-mae) for 2,200 yen, so I sometimes take the bus from my local Sendai to come and soak in this hot spring on a day trip. (It's become common for the bathing fees at super sento in the Sendai area to easily exceed 1,000 yen, so if you're someone who uses public transportation to go to a super sento in the Sendai area, you might want to come here to soak in the hot springs and get a little vacation vibe. You can also buy local vegetables at the roadside station, which is cheaper.)

This is a day-trip hot spring facility located within the Johon no Sato roadside station in Ishinomaki City. There's a free footbath near the facility entrance, which is plenty to enjoy on its own, but I personally recommend taking a full-body bath as well. The hot spring's reddish-brown water is quite salty, so it has excellent heat retention and you can warm up more than enough even with a short bath. Even though the water isn't particularly hot, it can feel quite hot after 30 minutes. The water has a strong pigment, so it's a good idea to bring a dark-colored face towel like black or red. Character towels, for example, will turn the water red and look cloudy, which would be a shame. This hot spring was a favorite of a now-deceased friend I became close with in Onagawa during my 10 years of traveling around the Tohoku disaster-stricken areas. Relaxing here and remembering my friend, I found myself feeling warm not just in my body but deep in my heart.

I went there for a day trip to the hot springs. It's located at Roadside Station Johin no Sato along Route 45. The facility is spacious and clean, with a front desk, shop, souvenir shop, food and drink, massage, a large rest area, a bath, and an outdoor footbath. The admission fee is 650 yen (780 yen on weekends and holidays), and shampoo and body soap are provided. There is a washing area with 18 seats, two indoor baths (large and small), a sauna, a cold bath, and benches for outdoor bathing. The water is brown and has excellent heat retention. The outdoor bath felt great. It was a great way to cool down my body, which had been heated up in the hot springs and sauna. I felt refreshed.

I went there during the holidays, but it was super crowded and over capacity. Of course, there was a line at the food court, so I gave up on eating right away. I thought maybe I should go to the convenience store next door, but then I happened to look at the farm-fresh section and saw some prepared foods. I had some fried mackerel, which looked just like something you'd find at a supermarket. It was so delicious! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I guess this is an area with great food after all...

We visited on our way to and from stand-up paddleboarding (SUP). They have a wide variety of vegetables and also sell fresh fish. We had an early lunch at the eat-in area run by a local diner. The style is to choose between ramen and rice in a two-tiered lantern-shaped bento box. It was quite a large portion, but delicious! On the way back, we had tomato soft serve ice cream. It really tasted like tomato and was very refreshing.