Raicho Onsen

Raicho Onsen—Ptarmigan Spring—takes its name from the raicho, the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta japonica) that is both the official bird of Toyama Prefecture and the iconic highland bird of the Japanese Alps, whose white winter plumage and stubborn alpine survival at extreme elevations have made it a beloved symbol of mountain resilience and the enduring beauty of Japan's highest volcanic terrain. Located in Toyama Prefecture in the shadow of the Tateyama volcanic range—one of Japan's three sacred mountains and the site of the dramatic Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route—this sulfurous spring exists within one of Japan's most dramatically high-altitude accessible volcanic landscapes. Sulfurous waters carry the volcanic potency of Tateyama's active geological systems in a spring whose ptarmigan name celebrates the most perfectly adapted and enduring of Japan's alpine wildlife.