Onsenpunk does not get to be more onsen and more punk than Tamagawa onsen (玉川温泉) in Akita prefecture. A fitting topic to restart this blog in the new year.

Tamagawa onsen is officially the most acidic hot spring in Japan that is still safe to use. The water is transparent and has a slightly greenish colour. When used as it is, it almost burns the skin once you get in the bath. The first few moments feel strange and a little bit painful, but it should not scare any true onsenpunk believer. After one or two minutes you get used to it. Purified to the bones, you look around to admire majestic wooden hall of the main bath.

The facilities of Tamagawa onsen are built directly in the valley where the springs gash out from under the ground. Always covered in the thick layer of steam and gas this place does not joke about the powers of the volcanoes and what kind of horrifying beauty they can create. You walk through the mist to the source of the hot spring and you see boiling fountain of acid which then flows through the pipes to the bath. There are people around lying on the hot radioactive stones breathing in the smoke from the water.

There is a darker side to Tamagawa. They say, the waters can cure cancer and there is some evidence to it, although not conclusive. Many still come, and once you notice you realize that almost every third person is unnaturally thin and many don’t have hair as is usual after chemotherapy. Reminded of death that is ever nearer, you sit in the bath once again cherishing these waters that nurture your body and soul.