"There's Nothing to Do but Soak, and That's the Point": What Japanese Regulars Say About Shima Onsen, the Quiet Answer to Kusatsu

What Japanese visitors said — picked from the top 196 of 216 comments

• I'm from Shima Onsen. Thank you for putting this video up. There used to be five amusement parlours on that Ochiai street, and of course there were shops standing on the plots that are empty now. These days there are new, stylish places to eat too, and you can see the effort the locals are putting in. Even so, I don't want big changes. I want it to be somewhere you arrive and feel "oh, this takes me back" rather than "wow, this has changed." The colourless, clear water hasn't changed and can't change, so I'm sure Shima will go on being lovely 😊

  四万温泉出身者です。動画をあげて下さり感謝致します。その落合通りの遊技場は昔5軒ありましたし、空き地になっている場所にも勿論お店が建っていました。今では新しくお洒落な飲食店も増え、地元の皆さんの頑張りが手に取るように分かります。それでも大きな変化は望みません。訪れた時に「ずいぶん変わったなぁ」ではなく「わぁ懐かしい」と感じられる場所であってほしいです。とはいえ無色透明なお湯は昔も今も変わりようがなく、ずっと素敵な四万温泉であり続けることでしょう😊

  — @chansatomi3885111 likes

• I used to live there! Thank you for covering Shima Onsen. It's true that a lot of inns have closed for want of a successor, and the number does feel much smaller than when I was little, but because the old streets haven't really changed, plenty of visitors come for the nostalgia of it. Nakanojo, the town Shima Onsen belongs to, holds an art festival across the whole town every two years, the Nakanojo Biennale, and it brings visitors who come for the art. This year was the ninth one, so the next is the year after next. If it interests you, do go.

  元地元民です！ 四万温泉を取り上げて頂いてありがとうございます。 たしかに後継者不足で廃業する旅館も多く、私が小さい頃に比べると旅館の数はだいぶ少なくなったようにも感じますが、昔からの街並みが大きく変わっていないこともあって、ノスタルジックな雰囲気を楽しむために訪れる観光客も数多くいらっしゃるようです。 四万温泉のある中之条町は２年に一度町を上げて行われる芸術祭（中之条ビエンナーレ）が行われていて、アート鑑賞で訪れる観光客も増えています。 今年が９回目の開催でしたので次回は再来年の開催となりますが、興味のある方は行ってみてはいかがでしょうか。

  — @Fioh_L77 likes

• It's not busy the way Kusatsu and Ikaho are, and I thought that faded feel was lovely in its own right. The outside of Sekizenkan is the place said to be the model for Spirited Away, isn't it!

  草津や伊香保のような賑わいと違ってひなびた感じも素敵だなと思いました。 積善館の外観は「千と千尋の神隠し」のモデルになったと言われているところですね！

  — @マリノブ62 likes

• It may be in decline, but the scenery is beautiful and the air tastes good. The hot spring is superb, so I honestly recommend it. I think it's perfect for resting up.

  衰退気味とはいえ景色も綺麗だし空気も美味い。 温泉も最高だからマジでおすすめ。 静養にうってつけだと思う。

  — @ギンペン-w2y62 likes

• Shima is one of my favourite hot spring towns. A nicely faded spa town in the hills, on a scale that's neither too lively nor too dead. I've used Tamura, Sekizenkan, Yamaguchikan and others, and the water above all is just good. Soak too much and it wears you out. I haven't been able to get out that way lately, but I'd like to go again when I get the chance.

  四万温泉は、大好きな温泉地のひとつです。程よい山あいの鄙びた温泉地、賑やか過ぎず、寂れ過ぎずの規模、たむら、積善館、やまぐち館など利用したけど、温泉がとにかく良いです。入り過ぎると疲れます。最近、あちらの方面には、行けなくなりましたが、また機会ができたら、行きたいです。

  — @嶋村らんらん34 likes

• Living in northern Saitama it's close and easy for me to get to, so I used to go often. The water quality is outstanding and you can take it easy, it's the best. Very restorative. Lately, though, room rates have shot up since covid and it's out of reach. I'd like to go back. I've stayed at Sekizen of course, and Tamura, and Yamaguchikan.

  埼玉県北人である私の居住圏からは、近くて行きやすいため、頻繁に行っておりました。湯質は抜群で、のんびりできるので最高です。とても癒されます。ただ、最近ではコロナ後に、宿泊費が高騰してしまい、手が出せなくなりました。また行きたいのですが。。。積善はもちろん、たむら、やまぐち館、なども宿泊したことがあります。 新しい配信ありがとうございます。またお願いします。

  — @たつりんりんたつ26 likes

• I used to go and stay at Sekizenkan and places like it. It is a good hot spring, but... if you drive and have a licence that's one thing, but getting there on public transport is awkward.

  昔積善館とか泊まりに行きました。良い温泉ではあるんですけどね・・。 いかんせん自家用車とか免許持っていて車運転できる人なら未だしも公共交通機関で行くってなると行きづらいんですよね。

  — @okoge505025 likes

• I visited Shima Onsen recently as a tourist. Compared with other hot spring resorts there are few large accommodation buildings and it felt small in scale, and now I know there's a historical reason for that. I came to really like how well the old wooden buildings and the concrete ones sit together.

  四万温泉を最近観光で訪れました。他の温泉観光地と比べて大型の宿泊施設が少なくてこじんまりとした印象でしたが、そういう歴史的な理由があったんですね。古い木造の建物と鉄筋の建物がうまく調和している所がとても好きになりました。

  — @バナナ無い21 likes

• I haven't been, but the video got across what a good hot spring town it is. The long history, and the fact that it hasn't been developed into something strange, are perfectly solid attractions in their own right and they should push them harder. Kusatsu gets plenty of foreign visitors too, but for a foreign visitor there may well be more appeal here than in a Kusatsu that's been turned into a tourist attraction.

  行ったことはないけど良い温泉地だなあってのは伝わったし理解できました。歴史が長く、変に開発されてないって点は十二分に客観的な魅力になるのでもっとアピールするべきでしょうねえ。草津温泉にも外国人観光客は沢山訪れているでしょうが、外国人観光客なら観光地化されてる草津よりこちらの方を魅力に感じる人は多いかもしれない。

  — @ssbh731417 likes

• Shima Onsen is a lovely place! There's a direct bus from Haneda now, and I hope it picks up while keeping that hidden-away feel...

  四万温泉良いところですよねー！ 最近羽田から直通バスが走るようになりましたが、あの秘境感を残しつつ、活気づくといいな…。

  — @ずんこ-o8b16 likes

• I go to Shima Onsen every year. Oku-Shima Lake and the river, the Shima Blue, really are a beautiful colour, and the water suits me, so I can put a walk and a soak together and take my time. That said, as the video says, compared with other tourist hot spring towns it does feel a bit lonely, and for better or worse there isn't much beyond getting in the bath. It's a hot spring town I love, so I hope things start working for it.

  四万温泉、毎年通っております。 ダム湖の奥四万湖と川の四万ブルーは本当にきれいな色で、温泉も自分に合うので散策と湯楽をセットにゆっくりできます。 ただ動画の通り、ほかの観光温泉地とは異なり比較的寂しい感じがあり、良くも悪くも温泉につかるほかはなかなか厳しそうですね。 好きな温泉地なのでうまく回るようになって欲しいと思います。

  — @Yuuki_Wakamatsu14 likes

• The water is far gentler than Kusatsu and perfect for a long soak. There are closed-down inns, but that's the same in any hot spring town. There are quite a few upmarket places, and in the holiday season the car parks fill up and it's very lively.

  草津よりずっとお湯はやさしく、長湯にはもってこいです。廃業旅館はありますが、どこの温泉地でも同じ。高級志向の宿が結構あって、行楽シーズンは駐車場はいっぱいで大変な賑わいです。

  — @gkk952613 likes

• Shima is a good place I keep going back to. There are fewer foreign visitors than in Kusatsu, hardly any really, so you can spend your time in peace.

  四万温泉は何度もリピートしてしまうよい場所　外国人も草津に比べたら少ない、いや、いないぐらいなので静かに過ごせる

  — @araara05145 likes

• I like Shima Onsen and go often. I've stayed at several of the inns, and the water really does differ. Going by train, the bus connects with the limited express on the way there, but on the way back the times don't line up, and on the way there almost everyone rides to the last stop so it's packed. I'd like that fixed.

  四万温泉好きで、よく行ってます。 何か所の旅館に泊まってますが、ほんと泉質違いますよね。 電車で行く場合、行きは特急にバスが接続されているのですが、帰りはずれてるとか、 行きもほぼ全員終点まで乗るのにギュウギュウ詰めとかは改善して欲しい。

  — @ひらのり-z5y3 likes

• About 60 years ago my grandmother used to go for long spa cures, taking her own rice with her. I think it was the Onsenguchi end. I go for day baths now and then and stay maybe once every three years. There seem to be more young people lately.

  60年ぐらい前に祖母が米持参で長期に湯治に行ってましたよ 多分温泉口の方だとおもいます 私は時々日帰り入浴と3年に一度位で泊まりに行ってます 最近は若い方が増えたようです

  — @猫なぁ2 likes

• It's a good place to relax in the bath. But when you want something to do, you really are stuck. There's no width to it either, so the terrain may make it difficult... a tunnel might be interesting?

  温泉にゆっくりするにはいいところなんですよね ただ遊ぼうと思うとほんとに困るんですよね 横の広がりもないですので地形的に難しいかもしれませんが…。トンネル出来たら面白いかも？

  — @ジルコン3 likes

• I went in late autumn six years ago and nearly all the shops on the street were shut. It felt very desolate, with barely anyone walking about, though the hotel had a few guests. The hotel I stayed at was fairly large, but it hadn't been cleaned, and one step off the main areas there was dust and a lot of dead insects. That's the sort of thing that tells you about a place's standards.

  6年前にの晩秋に行きましたが、商店街もほとんど閉まっていました 凄く寂しい雰囲気でしたね 歩いている人もまばらでホテルは、多少の観光客がいました。 宿泊したホテルは、案外大きいホテルでしたが 清掃がされていないので 一歩奥に入ると、ほこりと虫の死骸がたくさんでした こういう所が、そのホテルの品位とか感じるところです。

  — @レブル2502 likes

• Kashiwaya Ryokan is good. I haven't been for a while, but I used to go often because they take single guests. There are three private open-air baths and a small indoor bath as well, and everything they serve is delicious. It's on the river but quiet, and you can take your time. The soba at Nakajimaya is delicious, I especially like the mushroom soba. Even if you don't drink, the hanamame beans the landlady brings out are lovely.

  柏屋旅館いいですよ。最近はご無沙汰していますが１人でも泊まれるのでよく行ってました。貸し切り露天風呂が3つあり小さいながらも大浴場もあり、食事はどれも美味しいです。川沿いですが静かでゆっくりできる旅館です。お蕎麦屋さんの【中島屋】さんのお蕎麦が美味しくて特に私はきのこ蕎麦が好きです。お酒を飲まなくても女将さんが出してくれる【花豆】が美味しいです。スーパーボール屋のおばちゃんがお茶とかりんとうをサービスしてくれたけど、ご主人が亡くなった後おばちゃんも病気をされて物忘れが激しくなったとおっしゃってみえましたがお元気かな？

  — @美恵-f5m1 likes

• I've been to Shima Onsen once, and I was glad to see the shooting gallery and smart ball parlour Yanagiya, and Sekizenkan, and the potholes in the river. If you've come by car, going a little upstream to the dam gets you Oku-Shima Lake, a reservoir dyed an unbelievable turquoise, the Shima Blue, and that's a draw too.

  なるほど、と納得できる考察とひねりの利いた解説、楽しませて頂きました！ 四万温泉は一度行ったことがありますが、射的・スマートボールの遊技場「柳屋」や積善館、甌穴などが映っていてうれしくなりました はクルマで来た人なら少し上流の四万ダムまで行くと信じられないようなターコイズブルー(四万ブルー)に染まったダム湖「奥四万湖」が見れるのも魅力です(●´ω｀●)

  — @Ephemeris_YouTube1 likes

• Brings it back. I went often until about ten years ago. As the video says, it's a long, thin hot spring town, and the Onsenguchi end at the front and Hinatami at the back have completely different faces. Every one of the inns has its own character, so it's worth working through the small places carefully. Personally I prefer Shima to Kusatsu.

  懐かしいです、10年前くらいまでは頻繁に行ってました。動画にありましたが縦に長い温泉地で、手前の温泉口と奥の日向見では全然別の顔です。１つ１つの旅館宿泊施設が個性溢れてますので、小じんまりした施設を丁寧に回ってみると良いと思います。個人的な嗜好は草津より四万です

  — @内田釣具店34 likes

• I've been to Shima Onsen twice. I've been to Kusatsu and Ikaho as well, but Shima, with its nature through the seasons, is my favourite. Personally I like the Hinatami district, because it has the old buildings and it's close to Oku-Shima Lake. In winter it's cold, but an open-air bath under a clear night sky full of stars is the best there is. From Tokyo there's a direct bus, so it's easy enough to get to.

  僕は2回ほど四万温泉行きました。 草津、伊香保も行きましたが、四季折々の自然豊かな四万温泉が1番好きです。 個人的には、日向見地区が古い建造物や奥四万湖に近いので好きです。冬は、寒いけど澄んだ夜空の星見ながら入る露天風呂が最高です。 東京からだと直通バスも出てるから行きやすいですけどね。

  — @タクミ08236 likes

• Oh, welcome to my town! We took the family to Seiryu-no-yu just the other day. Something I heard more than ten years ago: there was supposedly a plan, or maybe not, to link Naeba and Shima Onsen by road. If it had happened you could have had a hot spring on the way back from skiing. As it is, it's certainly a dead end and awkward to reach. So you stayed at Sekizenkan. It's been on television here and there lately, so a lot of people take photos on that bridge. Please keep looking after Shima Onsen!

  おぉ！我が町へようこそ！つい先日も家族で「清流の湯」へ行ってきました。 もう10年以上前に聞いた話で、苗場と四万温泉を道路で繋ぐ計画があったとか無かったとか。もし実現していれば、スキー帰りに温泉なん事ができたのかも。今では確かに、どん詰りで行きづらいですけどね。 積善館に泊まられたのですね！最近ちょいちょいテレビにも出てるので、あの橋で写真を撮ってる方が多いですよね。 これからも四万温泉を宜しくお願いします！w

  — @東大塚4 likes

• SaveSekizenkan Honkan↗積善館本館Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  The wooden inn on the red bridge that nearly every commenter names, and the one people photograph. Its own site dates the main building to 1691 and calls it the oldest surviving wooden hot spring inn building in Japan, designated an Important Cultural Property by Gunma Prefecture. One visitor who stayed several nights says the water is gentle where Kusatsu's is harsh.

  Sources: sekizenkan.co.jp — checked 2026-08-24

• SaveShima Tamura↗四万たむらShima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  One of the three inns a repeat visitor lists by name, along with Sekizenkan and Yamaguchikan, with the note that the water here is so good you can overdo it and tire yourself out (34 likes).

• SaveShima Yamaguchikan↗四万やまぐち館Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  Named in the same list, and used as a landmark by a commenter who says the wooden former Third Elementary School is up the slope behind it and is at its best in autumn.

• SaveKashiwaya Ryokan↗柏屋旅館Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  The inn a solo traveller in the thread used to book regularly, for taking single guests, three private open-air baths and a small indoor one, and quiet despite sitting on the river (1 like).

• SaveKawara-no-yu (public bath)↗河原の湯Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  Free public bath in stone, down at the meeting of the Shima and Shinyu rivers, open 9:00 to 15:00 all year. This is the kind of bath the commenter means who remembers wandering between free and near-free baths and being asked by a local where he had come from.

  Sources: nakanojo-kanko.jp — checked 2026-08-24

• SaveShima Seiryu-no-yu↗町営 四万清流の湯Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  The town-run day bath a local says the family had just been to. Open 10:00 to 20:00, closed the fourth Wednesday.

  Sources: nakanojo-kanko.jp — checked 2026-08-24

• SaveOku-Shima Lake↗奥四万湖Upstream of Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  The dam lake a couple of commenters send you to for the turquoise called Shima Blue, one of them noting you really want a car to get up there.

• SaveYanagiya Yugijo (smart ball parlour)↗柳屋遊技場Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma

  The retro amusement parlour two commenters tell you not to skip, one saying the woman who runs it is still going. Smart ball is ¥500 for 45 balls, and a shooting gallery was added in 2022 at ¥500 for eight shots; open 10:00 to 22:00.

  Sources: nakanojo-kanko.jp — checked 2026-08-24

Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.

Is Shima Onsen worth visiting?

Yes, if you are coming for the bath and the quiet. Japanese visitors keep saying the same three things: the water is far gentler than Kusatsu's and made for long soaks (13 likes), the scenery and the air are worth it even in a shrinking town (62 likes), and there are so few foreign visitors compared with Kusatsu that you can spend the time in peace (5 likes). If you want a town to wander, weigh the counterweight first. A regular who goes every year says that for better or worse there is not much beyond getting in the bath (14 likes), and one visitor's group wished they had picked Kusatsu.

How do you get to Shima Onsen from Tokyo?

There is a direct highway bus, which is the answer several Japanese visitors give. The Shima Onsen-go leaves Tokyo Station at 8:50 and reaches the Shima Onsen stop at 12:20, about three and a half hours, with services also linking Kawagoe and Haneda Airport Garden. The rail route is a limited express to Nakanojo on the JR Agatsuma line and a local bus from there, and one regular warns that the outbound connection is timed but the return is not, and that the bus fills up.

Sources: nakanojo-kanko.jp — checked 2026-08-24

Is Sekizenkan really the model for the bathhouse in Spirited Away?

Japanese visitors say it is "said to be" one of the models, and that is as far as anyone should go. The inn's own site does not mention the film at all. What it does claim is older and more checkable: the main building went up in Genroku 4, that is 1691, is described as the oldest surviving wooden hot spring inn architecture in Japan, and is designated an Important Cultural Property by Gunma Prefecture.

Sources: sekizenkan.co.jp — checked 2026-08-24

Can you bathe in Shima Onsen without staying the night?

Yes. Kawara-no-yu, the stone bathhouse down where the Shima and Shinyu rivers meet, is a free public bath open 9:00 to 15:00 with no closing days, and the town runs a paid day bath, Shima Seiryu-no-yu, from 10:00 to 20:00, closed the fourth Wednesday. Several inns also open their baths to day visitors. One regular remembers a time when guests could use free or near-free public baths all over town, and another still goes to the one highest up the hill.

Sources: nakanojo-kanko.jp · nakanojo-kanko.jp — checked 2026-08-24