Mikata Onsen; Kirara

Mikata Onsen Kirara is a hot spring facility in Wakasa town (若狭町), Mikatakaminaka District, Fukui prefecture, Japan, in the Wakasa Bay region on the Sea of Japan coast known as 'Obama-kaido' — the road of sea-of-Japan seafood that historically supplied the Kyoto imperial court with freshwater fish and Pacific coast marine products, earning the Wakasa region the poetic designation 'The Pantry of the Imperial Court.' The Wakasa area's hot spring tradition draws on the geothermal resources of the Japanese Sea coast mountains, where the convergence of deep-sea fish, ancient Shinto and Buddhist heritage, and warm mineral springs creates a destination of rare natural and cultural completeness. Mikata Onsen Kirara's bathing facility provides simple mineral spring waters in the setting of Wakasa's extraordinary natural heritage — the five interconnected Mikata Lakes (three fresh, one brackish, one saline), the ancient Jōmon sites, and the clear Japan Sea coast — making the onsen experience part of the rich ecological and cultural tapestry of Fukui's Wakasa coast.