Kusatsu Onsen is absolutely among the top 5 famous Onsen places in Japan, and this Onsen hot springs has been sung as songs by many tourists in the history, that’s why many Japanese know this Kusatus onsen through those folk songs of Japan.

Kusatsu onsen area is a little far from express way junction so that you need to drive across the country side for about 60 kilometers from the nearest junction, Shibukawa Ikaho inter-change junction.

Staying in Kusatsu is not that exciting because the main and only entertainment here is probably the hot springs. Other than that, there certainly are some nice Japanese style restaurants or interesting souvenirs, but for us Japanese or at least for myself, enjoying them does not always satisfy my relaxing days.

But this area is actually far from my hometown.  Karuizawa is within 1 hour drive from Kusatsu onsen.  I’ve never been to Karuizawa, a very famous resort town of Japan, for a long time, this unexpected evacuation tour gave me the chance to trip to Karuizawa.  A few days ago, I went to karuizawa and visited a popular OUTLET mall there.  It seems crowded all the time but all because of the disaster time of Japan, travelers or customers I saw there were small numbers.

My idol, John lennon used to visit here in Karuizawa around 1974 to 1978 iwth Yoko Ono if my memory was correct.  Before I leave this area, I need to visit the Hotel Manpei, where John stayed all while his stay in Karuizawa then.

As a good news, today in Kusatsu, tourists are coming back.  People began to travel again !

Anyway, Roten Buro means Outdoor bath. Why Buro, not Furo ?  Japanese pronunciation often changes in obedience to the combination of words to make us easy to pronounce.  For the Japanese, it’s easy to say Roten Buro rather than Roten Furo, so it’s correct to say Buro here.  You can’t say Buro when you simply want to say Bath, it’s Furo.

Sorry for the long prologue.

Now it’s close to Winter in Japan.  We love Onsen or Hot Springs, and we often enjoy the outdoor onsen, Roten Buro.  As photo, bath is outside and we stay there lookig at the Sun or stars.  Maybe most of us prefer night time Roten Buro to daytime.  Night time Roten Buro is more emotional and tasteful for Japanese spirit.

Often I asm asked if we feel cold there in Winter.  Yes, of course when we walk to the bath, it’s terribly cold.  But in the bath, we feel alright.  people can’t take a bath for a long time, sometimes we get fainted in a long time bath.  But in the Roten Buro, the head is cold enough to be sober all the time althought the body is always hot. That’s why we often stay longer there, and so people feel more comfortable in Roten Buro.

If you ever travel to Japan, it would be a nice experience for you too.  As a note, be careful you need to take the bath without your clothes…Naked.  So the girls need to do the same as the photo.  Please don’t msiunderstand it. Male bath and female bath are separated, so can’t join in the same bath in naked !

However,a  long time ago , we, male and female used to take the same bath.  There certainly are some public bath or onsen places where men and women take the same bath, mybe it’s hard to find but it’s up to your efforts.  Again it’s not promised to experience the mixed bath ( konyoku ) even if you find and go there because recently women don’t like it ( of course !) , also it’s so rare that people don’t choose that type.  

Maybe it’s a dream bath living in our memory only….although some still want it. 

For Hot Springs or Onsen Rryokan ( Onsen Hotel ) seach, next link is usuful.

Hotels and Travels in Japan