Happo Onsen Akita

Happo, in northwestern Akita Prefecture along the Sea of Japan coast south of Aomori, is the location of the Happo Wind Farm — one of Japan's largest onshore wind energy installations — whose turbines spin above coastal rice paddies and fishing villages where the cold Tsugaru Strait winds that power the turbines also create some of the most productive fishing grounds on the Sea of Japan coast. Happo Onsen Akita draws on chloride-rich coastal thermal waters from the marine geological formations of the Akita Sea of Japan coastline, providing warming maritime baths in a coastal community that combines renewable energy innovation with centuries-old fishing culture in a distinctive Akita coastal landscape. The Happo Wind Farm observation area, the Noshiro cedar craft tradition of the greater Noshiro coastal area, and the fresh hatahata sandfish cuisine unique to Akita Prefecture — the prefecture's iconic food culture served in the winter season — make Happo an appealingly authentic coastal thermal destination in northwestern Akita.