Otaki Onsen; Yumuyumu no Yu

Otaki Onsen Yumuyumu no Yu — 'Yumuyumu Hot Spring of Otaki' — is a thermal bathing facility in Ōdate city, Akita Prefecture in northern Tohoku, Japan, in the city celebrated as the ancestral home of the Akita Inu — the famous large, dignified Japanese dog breed made internationally known by the story of Hachikō, the loyal Akita who waited at Shibuya Station for his deceased owner for nine years. Ōdate lies in the Omonogawa River basin at the edge of the Ou Mountains, surrounded by the cedar and beech forests of northern Akita where hot spring resources emerge from the volcanic and hydrothermal systems of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park region to the south. The simple mineral spring waters of Yumuyumu no Yu provide the characteristic warm bathing experience of northern Tohoku's onsen culture in the city most associated with Japan's most beloved dog breed, offering the domestic warmth and mineral-rich waters of the Akita hot spring tradition to the city's residents and visitors.