Kamegawa Onsen

Kamegawa Onsen is one of the celebrated Beppu Hatto—the Eight Spring Zones of Beppu—in Oita Prefecture, Japan's thermal spring capital where more hot water flows from the earth each day than anywhere else on the planet, and where eight distinct spring zones each carry their own mineral personality and neighborhood character built around the act of communal bathing. The Kamegawa zone, named for the Turtle River flowing through this area of Beppu, contributes its distinct mineral character to the city's extraordinary diversity of thermal experiences, from the famous hells (jigoku) of colored boiling pools to the neighborhood sento-style public baths that serve daily bathing needs. Bathing in one of Beppu's eight spring zones means participating in a thermal resort tradition unlike any other on earth—a city where the spring is not the exception but the organizing principle of all urban life.