Shizuoka Makinohara Onsen

Makinohara, in the central Shizuoka Prefecture on the Makinohara Plateau above the Hamaoka plain, is Japan's largest tea-producing plateau, its broad flat tableland covered in the precisely tended rows of Shizuoka green tea bushes that produce approximately 40% of Japan's entire tea output, the distinctive Makinohara deep-steamed (fukamushi) tea being among the most commercially significant tea styles in Japan. Shizuoka Makinohara Onsen draws on chloride-rich thermal waters from the geological resources of the Makinohara plateau volcanic zone, providing restorative baths in the heart of Japan's most productive tea plateau where the endless rows of green tea bushes, the Shizuoka tea ceremony culture, and the views from the plateau edge toward Suruga Bay and Mount Fuji create an outstandingly agricultural and scenic spa setting. The Makinohara tea plantation tours and tea-picking experiences available from May through October, the Shizuoka Tea Museum on the plateau edge, and the panoramic views toward Mount Fuji rising above Suruga Bay create one of Japan's most scenically spectacular and agriculturally distinctive thermal spa settings on the Shizuoka green tea plateau.