Kosaka Onsen

Kosaka Onsen is found in Kosaka Town in northeastern Akita Prefecture, a community whose identity was shaped by the Kosaka Mine, one of Japan's most productive silver and copper mines during the Meiji industrial era when foreign engineers first introduced modern hard-rock mining technology to the mountains of northern Honshu. The town preserves the magnificent Kogen Theater, a beautifully restored Meiji-era kabuki and entertainment hall designated a National Important Cultural Property, which once served the miners and townspeople who built Kosaka's brief but brilliant industrial prosperity. The thermal waters here offer quiet reflection in a former boom town that has transformed its mining heritage into a museum landscape honoring the pioneering spirit of Meiji-era Japan.