Kahoku Onsen

Kahoku Onsen lies beside the Kahoku Lagoon — Kahoku-gata — one of Japan's largest coastal lagoons and an internationally recognized Important Bird Area whose shallow waters and reed margins provide critical wintering habitat for tens of thousands of migratory waterfowl including whooper swans, tundra swans, greater white-fronted geese, and numerous species of ducks that arrive from Siberia and the Russian Far East each autumn to take advantage of the lagoon's fish-rich shallows and protected wetland environment. The surrounding agricultural plain produces some of Ishikawa's finest rice in paddies fed by the lagoon's associated water management system, and the view across the lagoon toward Hakusan on clear winter days — white-winged swans against the backdrop of a snow-covered sacred mountain — creates one of Ishikawa's most ethereal natural scenes. The onsen's siliceous mineral waters provide warm restorative bathing beside a wetland landscape that offers some of Japan's finest birdwatching within minutes of the thermal facilities.