Japanese people have loved onsen since ancient times for the comfort they bring to mind and body. (See Soaking up the Benefits: Japan’s Hot Springs Tradition). Here are 12 of the best. The naturally ...

Japanese people have loved onsen since ancient times for the comfort they bring to mind and body. We introduce the beauty benefits and anti-ageing effects offered by hot springs while examining the ...

In Japan, bathing is more than just a way to get clean—it’s an ancient tradition elevated to an art form. Long regarded as both a physical and spiritual experience, communal bathing has historically ...

Japan’s more than 25,000 naturally-occurring mineral hot springs help power 3,000 spa resorts across the country. Thanks to its location in a volcanic zone, Japan is a hotbed -- quite literally -- of ...

I wholeheartedly concur with the folk song that originated in Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma Prefecture: “Kusatsu Yoitoko Ichido wa Oide” (Kusatsu is a good place, come here at least once). There are hot ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Some time when I was 10 or 11, my English teacher asked the class to write a haiku around the theme of ...

Making a creaking sound, the wooden entrance door opens, and Sumie Tamura is standing there with a friendly smile. "Irashaimase" - welcome - she says while bowing gracefully to greet me. Her ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

TOKYO: Japan is proud of its bathing traditions. For many Westerners, though, the fact that these traditions involve being naked with strangers is awkward at best, even though men and women bathe ...