Kitami Onsen

Kitami Onsen is a hot spring in Kitami City, Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, in the northeastern interior of Japan's northernmost main island, a city known as the Peppermint Capital of Japan for its historic role as the world's leading producer of peppermint oil during the mid-twentieth century, when the fields of the Kitami basin supplied much of the global market for this aromatic crop. Kitami City is surrounded by the vast agricultural landscapes of the Okhotsk coastal zone, where the Sea of Okhotsk brings drift ice to the shores in winter creating one of the most dramatic seasonal phenomena in Japan, and the onsen provides a warm respite from the severe continental climate of this inland northern city. The hot spring waters of Kitami Onsen offer therapeutic bathing to the residents and visitors of this self-sufficient northern city that has built a distinctive identity around its agricultural heritage and its spectacular natural environment.