Kusatsu Onsen Travel Guide
Located deep within the mountains of Gunma prefecture, Kusatsu Onsen is a hot spring resort town that has waters rich in mineral content said to cure everything but love sickness!
It is an easily do-able side trip from Tokyo, and I highly recommend coming if you are interested in experiencing local onsen, hot spring, culture. Kusatsu Onsen shows you onsen culture that is unique to the town. From the yubatake, hot water field, that stands majestically in the middle of the town square, to the opportunities to try different bathing styles, and the slight scent of sulfur wafting from the geothermic hot water pools scattered throughout the town.
Kusatsu Onsen is a getaway town for both locals and adventurous tourists. Kusatsu Onsen fully understands its legacy as a historic onsen town and wholeheartedly embraces its touristic identity. So let go of that gotta search for that “hidden gem” attitude and enjoy everything and anything that Kusastu Onsen has to offer! Go take that picture with the cut out mascot! Eat all the street food! Take all the baths! Be a dang tourist!
Google Maps
If you’d like to skip the write-ups, I’ve made a map and starred of all the places listed in the blog post! Feel free to use it as your personal guide!
Get there
Bus: This is the most convenient way to get to Kusatsu Onsen from Tokyo.
From Shinjuku Expressway bus station, you can take the JR highway bus directly to Kusatsu Onsen Bus Terminal. The trip costs 3300yen one way and it will take about 4 hours. However, the bus might be delayed, and it took about 5 hours for us to get to Kusatsu Onsen from Shinjuku.
You can refer to the JR Kanto bus website for an updated schedule, fares, and reservations: http://time.jrbuskanto.co.jp.e.wn.hp.transer.com/bk03010.html
Train and Bus: If you prefer to take the train, you can take the train to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi station, but you’ll have to transfer onto a bus to get you to the Kusatsu Onsen. The easiest way is to take a limited express train from Ueno station to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi station which will take about 2.5hours and 5000 yen. It is possible to take local trains up to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi station by transferring at Takasaki station
Once you get to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi station, you can board a bus to Kusatsu onsen which will take about 30 minutes and 690 yen.
I’d only recommend the train and bus combination if you have a JR Rail Pass as the train and JR bus are covered by it. The train fare (not the bus fare) is also covered by other passes including: JR Tokyo Wide Pass*, JR East Nagano Niigata Area Pass, JR East Tohoku Area Pass, and the JR East South Hokkaido Pass.
If you live in Japan, or can’t get your hands on one of these coveted passes, take the bus!
*The JR Tokyo Wide Pass is available to foreign residents of Japan! It is available to holders of a non-Japanese passport.
Get Around
Explore Kusatsu on foot! It’s a compact town and has lots of lovely little paths to stroll around.
Do
See the Yubatake
The yubatake is the ultimate symbol of Kusatsu Onsen and is located directly in the town center. The literal translation for the yubatake is “hot water field,” and that is exactly what it is. Highly mineralized hot spring water from nearby Mt. Shirane is pumped to the yubatake where it is then directed into the local onsens and ryokans.
The yubatake is an amazing sight to behold as it gushes out about 5000 litres of sulfur scented hot water per minute and the minerals in the water also create otherworldly pockets of chalky, milky deposits called yu no hana, or sulfur flowers. About four times a year, these mineral deposits are harvested to make bath salts that are said to mimic the experience of bathing at Kusatsu Onsen.
Don’t worry about missing out on the glory of the yubatake as it is at the center of Kusatsu Onsen town, but make sure to not miss it in the evening after sunset as the night view is just as amazing as the daytime view.
Yubatake
〒377-1711 Gunma Prefecture, Agatsuma District, Kusatsu, 草津町Kusatsu, 28
https://goo.gl/maps/v6ZTG2TcuzG2
Experience Yumomi
The hot spring water that gushes out from Mt. Shirane and down into Kusatsu Onsen is extremely hot. The base temperature hovers between 65-70 degrees Celsius which is way hotter than any bath you should be taking! So if you can’t get into the water because it’s hot as hell – what can you do?
Well, of course you could add cold water to the hot water, but this would mean diluting the health properties of the onsen waters… now what to do… you can do yumomi!
Yumomi was introduced during the Meiji era as a means to cool down the hot spring water without diluting the benefits of its high mineral content. During yumomi, large paddles are used to stir up and swirl around the water swiftly and aggressively so as to lower the temperature of the bath. There are also traditional folk songs that are sung during the ritual that are said to also promote abdominal breathing and aid a bather’s tolerance to the hot water.
During the 1960s, yumomi became a tourist sensation as performances of the ritual were popularized at the Netsu-no-yu building. The Netsu-no-yu building still stands and you can watch a yumomi performance and even have a chance to participate in the ritual if you’re lucky!
Netsu-no-yu Building
414 Kusatsu, 草津町 Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/xo8tv1FzQA22
- Tickets are sold as timed entry, so buy a ticket in advance and return back to the building to watch yumomi.
- If you participate in the yumomi experience you’ll receive a commemorative gift at the end!
Night Stroll
Kusatsu Onsen is a town perfect for strolling around as the city center is very compact and there are easy nature paths in the surrounding area. It is super beautiful in the day time for a walk, but I personally loved the town most during the night. The thoughtful lighting of the yubatake and the town center at night made it seem like I had been transported into a Studio Ghibli movie.
Bathe
Of course when you are in a hot spring town, you must make time to bathe! Kusatsu Onsen is a great place to take an onsen vacation as you have the opportunity to try different styles of bathing. Here are the different types of bathing you can experience in Kusatsu:
Ashi-yu (Foot bath)
Ashi-yu are foot baths and you can find a few of them scattered around Kusatsu Onsen town. They are usually free to use and are a great way to warm up if you find yourself in Kusatsu during the winter time.
Try: Ashiyu at the Bus Station
〒377-1711, Kusatsu, Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/WkeykyTRVYG2
Advice: Keep a small towel with you at all times so you can dry your feet off after. Also make sure you are wearing pants that you can roll up to your knees or you’ll end up walking around with wet pant hems!
Awase-yu
The awase-yu style of bathing has several baths at incremental temperatures that allow the bather to get used to the hottest temperature. You can experience awase-yu at Otaki no Yu which is about a 15 minute walk east from the yubatake. At Otaki no yu, you can try bathing in five baths starting at 38 degrees Celsius, which feels like a really nice lukewarm kiddy pool, to the hottest tub at 48 degrees Celsius, which felt the devil’s bathtub. Even after working my way up each incrementally hotter tub, I could only dip my foot in for about a few seconds without cringing in pain.
Try: Otaki no Yu
Kusatsu, Agatsuma District, Gunma Prefecture 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/QVomH2G1fAG2
Advice: you don’t have to do the hottest one if you don’t want to! It’s totally cool to stick to your favorite temp!
Soto-yu (Outdoor Bath)
Soto-yu means to bathe outside. This is my absolute favorite way to enjoy onsen. It feels amazing to be naked, outdoors in nature, in a steaming hot bath. It’s especially fantastic in the winter time as the biting cold winter air is a nice break from the hot water.
Try: Sainokawara Onsen
521-3 Kusatsu, Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/YRrFxxFXkr12
Advice: Most onsen will have a rotemburo area where you can bathe outside, but you should really just go enjoy soto-yu in Sainokawara National Park. It’s really the best place.
Jikan-yu (Timed Bath)
The waters at Kusatsu are highly mineralized and said to be very beneficial in curing most ailments, so get ready to feel like a whole new person by the time you leave Kusatsu.
However, the highly mineralized water is also very hot so it’d be a real feat to try all the bathing styles in an overnight trip! We were there overnight and managed to dip into three places for a bath. Our skin was peeling by the time the trip was over from the acidic sulfur infused waters. Don’t let that scare you though! It was more like all the dead skin had been stripped away from our bare bods and we had been transformed into fresh skinned babies.
If hot and intense is what you’re after, though, you should give jikan-yu a try. Jikan-yu is timed bathing and this is the most intense way to bathe. To experience jikan-yu, the water is hovers around 48 degrees Celsius and the bather takes orders from a leader to hop into the water for 3 minutes and then scramble out of the water after time’s up! In the Meiji era, they would do jikan-yu in large groups so as to cool down the water.
This is definitely for the most daring of bathers!
Try: Jizo no Yu
〒377-1711 Gunma-ken, Agatsuma-gun, Kusatsu-machi, 草津町草津299
https://goo.gl/maps/s9DfhDWq76N2
- You have to make a reservation in advance to try jikan-yu at Jizo no Yu.
Advice – don’t forget the body lotion or moisturizer! You’ll definitely want it after a dip in the hot ass super water!
Eat
Onsen Tamago
Food that is cooked in the onsen water that you can also bathe in! Alright, it doesn’t sound so appealing when I say that but there is something so visually appealing seeing eggs in their shells in little woven baskets, nestled in naturally sourced hot water. When you crack open these hard shelled delights, the most delicate whites and gooey yolks slide right out. To me, it’s like magic – an alchemy of water and life in a little Styrofoam cup. 
Eat it here: https://goo.gl/maps/uMUtSq8gWhF2
- It’s in front of the glass museum/shop!
Monjayaki
Monjayaki is okonomiyaki’s Kanto cousin. Where the Osakan okonomiyaki is firm and steadfast in its identity as a delicious savory pancake-esque delight, monkayaki is a delicious shapeless feast. Monjayaki is cooked similarly to okonomiyaki, but it doesn’t come together as concretely in a pancake shape like okonomiyaki does. Its final form is a liquid savory mess and you are urged to eat it with the very utensils you used to create it.
I was surprised to find monjayaki in Gunma prefecture as it’s known to be more of a Tokyo delicacy but the joint we spotted in Kusatsu made a delightful monjayaki recipe that included bacon, cheese and milk in its base for more creaminess.
On the menu, they also had a lot of other cast iron grill delicacies such as takoyaki (they had a cast iron takoyaki grill on the table!), yakiudon, yakisoba, and of course, okonomiyaki.
Eat it here: 106 Kusatsu, Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/cMA7UQehS9r
Yakitori and Yakionigiri
We found these delightful treats on the route towards Sainokawara park and I highly urge you to try both of these out when you go to Kusatsu Onsen! This was one of the best yakitori skewers that I’ve ever had because you were really chomping down on some high quality juicy chicken. The shop owner uses actual cuts of chicken thigh which means you are eating as sizable amount of meat that has been slowly smoked and charred over charcoal coals.
The yaki onigiri is also slowly grilled over charcoal and had one of the crispiest exteriors I have ever eaten. It felt like I was eating half a freshly made senbei rice cracker and the softest, fluffiest well-cooked rice in the middle.
Eat it here: 草津-486-2 草津町 Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken 377-1711
https://goo.gl/maps/RzXKbPz16xk
Stay
Seishukan
Seishukan is one of the best deals that I found on booking.com for accommodation in Kusatsu Onsen.
We went in mid-February on a weekend and paid about 9500 yen for a night for two people in a large private Japanese style room. We were given super fluffy futons, lots of bedding, and a kotatsu table to keep warm in the cold winter nights. Bathrooms were shared with the other guests.
I recommend Seishukan as a top tier budget accommodation. It is not as fancy as any ryokan but the owner is super kind and goes out of his way to make you feel comfortable. There are also two private onsen baths pumping out hot spring waters from the yubatake. If you feel a bit shy to bathe with others, you can use the onsen at Seishukan privately and at your leisure!
Also, the cutest dog, Sosuke, lives at Seishukan. Dogs, private onsen, large room – all good with me!
Kusatsu Onsen || Rejuvenation
I urge you to check out Kusatsu Onsen for yourself! It is an amazing onsen town experience that allows you to indulge in relaxing and being a tourist! Kusatsu Onsen urges the visitor to drop all pretenses of being “too good” for enjoying touristic activities and wants you to engage in their onsen culture and just have fun. It’s a fantastic place, and I can’t wait to go back!
