Kawaguchi Onsen Ouu Sanso

I had a great stay, especially thanks to the food. It was excellent, and seemed to be handmade with local ingredients. They also have all-you-can-drink Lake Tazawa beer. The public bath is dated, though it’s kept very clean. As others have mentioned, day visitors can be pretty inconsiderate.

The bath has body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and basic skincare, so you can arrive without toiletries. Bring a towel if you’re only visiting for the day. My hair felt dry afterward, maybe from the hot spring water or the products. The shampoo and conditioner contain horse oil, so I’d bring my own if that might bother you. The place is a nice middle size, and although the Showa-era building is old, it’s clean and that doesn’t bother me. I picked the one-hour all-you-can-drink Tazawako Beer plan. You can choose a mug or glass, which makes it easy for women to sample all six types.

The rooms and facilities are old, but they seemed well cleaned. I stayed in March and had chosen a room without meals because I thought there was a restaurant on site. The cafeteria was closed, with no plans to reopen for a while. In that case, I wonder why it was still listed on the website and booking site. Staff were a mixed bag too, some polite, others brusque.

The food had some good ingredients, and the warm chawanmushi was delicious. Still, several dishes arrived cold. The tempura needed reheating over the little burner, carefully and a few times, since it turns bitter if it burns. The grilled fish was cold too, so I shredded it into the pot, where the dashi made it tastier than the fish thigh. The shrimp and other dishes were quite good, and the rich soba broth was nice poured into a small dish from the pot. I ordered rice early, but the soba then arrived cold. Adding hot sake to the pot and using it to warm the noodles made dinner more enjoyable. Tempura matcha salt brought out the flavor of the Akita Komachi rice. The whale sashimi was frozen and hard, so I warmed it over the fire like the tempura. I hope the kitchen can get new insulated equipment and the floor staff can heat dishes before serving, so the tempura, fish, and whale come out hot. Whale isn’t a local specialty and is served frozen, so whether you like it or not, I’d rather see delicious local chicken in the pot instead of meatballs.