Hiranai Onsen Aomori

Hiranai, a coastal town on the eastern shore of Mutsu Bay in Aomori Prefecture between Aomori City and the Shimokita Peninsula, is internationally recognised as one of Japan's most important wild swan wintering sites, with hundreds of whooper swans gathering on the tidal flats and shallow bay waters each winter in a spectacular wildlife phenomenon drawing photographers from across Japan. Hiranai Onsen Aomori draws on chloride-rich thermal waters from the marine geological formations of Mutsu Bay's eastern shore, offering warming maritime baths in a coastal community whose winter swan gatherings attract wildlife enthusiasts to the icy shores of northern Aomori Bay each year. The Hiranai Swan Observation Centre, the traditional shirako cod milt cuisine of the Mutsu Bay fishing tradition, and the views across the bay toward the brooding volcanic cone of Mount Iwaki create a distinctively atmospheric coastal thermal destination on the winter shores of Aomori Prefecture.