Awaodori Onsen Tokushima

Awaodori Onsen Tokushima is a thermal facility in Tokushima City, the capital of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku's Pacific coast, a city whose entire identity is defined by the Awa Odori, Japan's largest and most exuberant folk dance festival held each August for four days when over 100,000 dancers in traditional happi coats and straw hats perform the distinctive two-beat awa odori dance through the city's streets and venues in an event that draws 1.3 million spectators to one of Japan's greatest celebrations of communal joy and artistic tradition, dating to at least 1587. The Naruto Whirlpools in the Naruto Strait between Tokushima and Awaji Island create one of Japan's most spectacular natural phenomena, where tidal flows between the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea generate massive rotating water vortices reaching 20 meters in diameter that can be observed from glass-bottom boats and the Uzu no Michi walkway extending over the swirling waters of the famous Naruto Bridge. The chloride thermal spring waters of Awaodori Onsen invite relaxation in a city where the electrifying energy of Japan's most dynamic folk dance festival and the extraordinary natural spectacle of the Naruto whirlpools create a setting of unique excitement and natural drama appropriate to Tokushima's vivid cultural personality.