新庄山屋温泉

Price: 500 yen for adults, 300 yen for children. A little pricey. No regional or age discounts. Opening hours: 8am-8pm (last orders at 8pm?). You can go after work. Location: On top of a mountain in the Yamaya area. Above the seminar house and the welfare facility. At the end of an uphill slope. Parking: It's rough. And the space to park is really narrow. Entrance: Clean. Store attendant: Not good at Japanese (?). I found a bed, TV, tea bottles, etc. scattered in the back room. Lobby: To put it badly, it's deserted. To put it nicely, it's clean. Dressing room: It's ridiculously spacious. And clean. But it's cold (bath date: November) Number of lockers: 35 + 15. Toilet: The entrance is narrow. For some reason, it's spacious at the back. One toilet. A locked iron door next to the toilet. Washing area: 3 seats + 3 seats. A bit worn out. Lackluster. The shower has no power. There is a lot of dirt in the bathtub. Shower: Not functioning. Storage. Shower: There are two at a low level. There are no chairs as it is a shower space. There is only one mirror in the middle of both showers. What is this design? Public bath: Just spacious. And not deep enough to immerse up to the neck. If you lie on your back to immerse up to your neck, it is unstable due to the slimy spring water. But it is slimy. Some of the floorboards of the bath are wobbly. There are floating pieces of dirt here and there. Temperature: Slimy. Feels like 35-37 degrees. (The source is hot, but the bath is too large and the water is only trickling in, so it cools down.) Water quality: Slimy. The source is hot. Open-air bath: None. Waterfall bath: There is a space but it doesn't function. No entry allowed. Sauna: There is a space but it doesn't function. No entry allowed. Ceiling: There is a ceiling in the bathroom and washing area, but above the waterfall bath you can see the steel beams and the underside of the roof. It's terrible, even though it just opened. The entrance is good, but the most important part is empty inside. It's like an ad for a smartphone. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a scam.

I'd always wanted to try this day-trip hot spring facility in Shinjo City. When I got there, I found it in a dreary, deserted area, making me wonder, "Is this even open?" The bathing fee was 380 yen. After purchasing a ticket from the ticket machine and putting it in a basket, I headed to the hot spring at the back. In the fairly spacious changing room, there were free lockers with keys, two sinks, and a fan. There were also two hair dryers. I headed straight to the hot spring. There were six washing areas in total, and the showers had good power, but the temperature didn't rise very quickly, so it might be a bit difficult in winter. Shampoo and body soap were also provided, which was nice. The bath was reasonably spacious, and the temperature was a slightly high 42 degrees. (I checked the bath thermometer.) Still, the temperature varied throughout the bath, so it didn't feel too hot, and since I had it all to myself, I enjoyed the slippery spring water to my heart's content. However, the sauna is out of order and the facility as a whole is in disrepair, giving it a very abandoned feel. They don't sell milk for after your bath and the drinks in the vending machines are all sold out, so you'll need to bring your own drinks. The lobby is spacious and has a decent number of chairs and tables, but I don't think the room temperature is controlled between summer and winter, which is a bit disappointing. Finally, unlike a typical day-trip hot spring, there are no souvenirs and it lacks atmosphere, charm, or bustle. In the sense that you just want to soak in the hot springs to your heart's content, warm up, and then go home, I think it's a sufficient hot spring facility. The opening hours are until 8pm, so it's a bit scary as there seems to be a black creature with a crescent moon pattern on its chest that might appear in the parking lot.

It was 380 yen for adults and 300 yen for children. (April 19, 2025) It seems to have reopened on April 1st. I bought a ticket from the ticket machine and went in. There was no one there. It was deserted. There were no vending machines or TVs. There were chairs and tables. The shower had good water pressure. There was no water for the shower, just water. There was a hose and other items stored there. The tiles were cracked and there was no sauna. It seemed like they had left the broken parts as they were, except for the necessary parts. The changing room was spacious and there was a hair dryer, which was nice. It seems that only bathers can use the strength training machines for free. I'm not an expert so I don't know, but there were a fair number of them. It felt similar to a simple hotel public bath where you just wash your body and soak in the tub.

It was such a terrible hot spring I've ever experienced. It said that it could take 3-4 minutes for the shower water to get hot, but it never got hotter than that, and when it finally did, the water was very low and would sometimes stop. The hot spring water was not at an even temperature; it was very hot at the top but lukewarm at the bottom. I felt like I would get burned if I stayed still, so I got out quickly. One of the nettings (what appears to be a mesh) on the floor of the bathtub had been removed, which was dangerous, so first-time visitors might want to be careful. It was the winter rate, costing 480 yen for adults. It said the sauna was open after 5pm, so I think it's best to go after that. Also, the training room is free for bathers only, so it might be a good deal if you go just for that.

In a way, this is a very distinctive facility. You could even call it unique. I've been to quite a few public hot springs, but its uniqueness stands out even among them. As many reviews mention, there's no sign of staff. The reception area is like an unmanned shop, and there's no sign of anyone cleaning. There are vending machines, but they don't sell anything. The bath itself is relatively large, and the showers have plenty of hot water. Shampoo and body soap are provided. However, the cleaning is not thorough (there's simply no one there). Now, regarding the 380 yen adult fee, if you consider it simply as using the showers and baths, it's not expensive. This hot spring facility has unique characteristics not found in other facilities, and "in that sense," it might be worth visiting at least once.