Nishi-Obihiro Onsen

Nishi-Obihiro Onsen is situated in the western part of Obihiro, the agricultural capital of the Tokachi Plain in southeastern Hokkaido — arguably Hokkaido's most productive agricultural region, a vast and gently rolling expanse of extraordinarily fertile volcanic soil where dairy farming, wheat, potato, sugar beet, and bean production on a scale unmatched elsewhere in Japan has made Tokachi synonymous with Hokkaido's agricultural identity and the superb quality of its dairy products. Obihiro is also home to the unique Banei horse racing — a distinctly Hokkaido form of horse racing in which massive draft horses haul heavy iron sleds up stepped obstacles in a competition of strength rather than speed, a spectacle unlike anything else in the racing world and a direct expression of the agricultural heritage of the horses that once plowed Hokkaido's fields. The onsen here draw on geothermal resources from the Hidaka volcanic chain that flanks the Tokachi Plain, offering silica-rich mineral bathing in the heart of Hokkaido's most productive and culinarily celebrated agricultural region.