Shimotsuma Onsen Ibaraki

Shimotsuma, in the central Ibaraki Prefecture plain between Mito and Tsukuba, is an agricultural city set in the fertile Ibaraki lowlands known for its traditional Kanto natto soybean cultivation and the Shimotsuma area's contribution to the regional dried sweet potato (hoshi-imo) production that has made Ibaraki Prefecture the source of over 90% of Japan's dried sweet potato supply. Shimotsuma Onsen Ibaraki draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters from the geological resources of the central Ibaraki plain, providing restorative baths in an agricultural community whose natto and hoshi-imo heritage, the flat Kanto plain landscape, and easy access to both Mito and Tsukuba on the Kanto-Shinkansen corridor create a practical and unpretentious spa destination. The Ibaraki Prefecture hoshi-imo dried sweet potato farms and processing tradition, the Shimotsuma agricultural cooperative markets, and the cycling paths through the flat rice paddy and field landscape of central Ibaraki create a pleasantly agricultural backdrop for thermal relaxation in this productive Ibaraki farming community.