Harazuru Onsen (原鶴温泉)

Category: Onsen

Entrance: Likely Expensive
Tubs: Many and luxurious

Harazuru is a small, hard-to-find little town in the north of Kyushu, on the banks of the River Onga. I stayed for one night at the very plush "Reisenkaku" Hotel, an establishment once visited by no less a celebrity than the Emperor himself. Hmmm, impressive, eh? It is an upmarket stopover, and one at which I spent not a single solitary yen. I came here on our school trip, 3 days of exhaustingly hard work, dragging 250 14-year-olds round sites of special interest, when all the kids want to do is drink, smoke, and be as unruly as possible.
The bath itself, though, is something special. A jungle bath, to be exact, complete with (real) palm trees, an assortment of different pools, water slides etc. However, it is hard to appreciate when you're in charge of 130 boys, tweaking each others dicks, comparing non-existant pubic hair and so on. Thus, I had to sneak back down at 3:00 am in order to get a feel for the place. I enjoyed. Very plezz indeed. I dread to think how much this place costs to say. I didn't ask. Simply being able to boast that the Emperor is a former customer is carte blanche to double the prices. People fall for that here. I'm also not sure if non-staying guests can pop in for a dip.

Kyushu Onsens - mjryoung