Minabe Onsen Wakayama

Minabe, in southern Wakayama Prefecture, is nationally acclaimed as Japan's most important plum-producing area, with over seventy thousand plum trees blanketing the hillsides and producing the famous Nanko plum that forms the basis of Japan's prized umeboshi pickled plum, a culinary staple for over a thousand years. Minabe Onsen Wakayama draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters from the geothermal heritage of the Kii Peninsula, offering restorative baths in a setting saturated with the fragrance of plum blossoms in February and March when the hillsides transform into a sea of white and pink flowers. The nearby Inami Woodcarving district, where craftsmen produce elaborate wooden sculptures on traditional workshop streets, and the ancient Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route add significant cultural richness to this aromatic Wakayama spa town.