Hiroo Onsen

Hiroo Onsen is found in Hiroo, a small Pacific coastal town at the southern edge of the Tokachi Subprefecture in southeastern Hokkaido, a community set between the broad agricultural plains of Tokachi and the wild Pacific coast near Cape Erimo — the dramatic windswept headland at the southern tip of the Hidaka Mountains that juts into the Pacific and is consistently among the windiest locations in Japan, with average wind speeds that have made Erimo-misaki synonymous with Hokkaido's untamed coastal weather. The surrounding coastal waters are rich in marine life including harbor seals, sea lions, and various Pacific seabirds that breed on the rocky islets and sea stacks of this productive cold-water coast. The onsen here draw on geothermal resources from the Hidaka volcanic belt, offering silica-rich mineral bathing in a coastal community where the agricultural tradition of the Tokachi plain meets the wild Pacific frontier of Hokkaido's southeastern shore.