Gosyonoyu Onsen Odate

Gosyonoyu Onsen Odate is a thermal establishment in Odate City, northern Akita Prefecture, the city universally recognized in Japan as the birthplace of the Akita Inu dog breed and the hometown of the world-famous Hachiko, the loyal Akita Inu who waited at Shibuya Station in Tokyo for his deceased owner for nearly ten years and whose bronze statue there has become one of Japan's most visited and emotionally resonant landmarks. Odate City maintains an Akita Inu Museum where the noble, dignified dogs of this ancient Japanese breed can be met and petted, and the city's rural surroundings preserve traditional Magariya farmhouses, the distinctive L-shaped structures where farmers and their livestock lived under one massive thatched roof through Akita's severe winters, as a living example of the traditional architecture adapted to northern Japan's demanding climate. The chloride spring waters of Gosyonoyu here warm visitors to this proudly dog-loving city in one of Akita's most culturally distinctive and warmly welcoming communities, where the memory of Hachiko's extraordinary loyalty remains a living source of local identity and pride.