Kamikoani Onsen Akita

Kamikoani, a remote village in the deep mountains of northern Akita Prefecture, sits within the pristine beech forest landscape of the Shirakami Sanchi UNESCO World Heritage Site periphery, whose ancient primeval forest covering the Shirakami Mountains represents one of the last intact beech forest ecosystems in East Asia. Kamikoani Onsen Akita draws on bicarbonate-rich thermal waters from the geothermal resources of the Shirakami mountain volcanic zone, offering restorative baths in a village whose traditional Akita farming and forestry culture has remained remarkably intact amid the deep mountain wilderness of the prefecture's far northern interior. The Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage beech forest trails, the Juniko Twelve Lakes turquoise forest lakes whose extraordinary cobalt blue reflects the silica content of the surrounding geological formations, and the deep snow winter culture of northern Akita make this one of the most scenically magnificent thermal destinations in the Japanese mountain wilderness.