The Motonosumi Shrine in Nagato, Japan, has 123 wooden Torii gates. Photo / Booking.Com
Kiwi travellers are looking for authentic experiences, and what better way than to dive into onsen, sacred ponds and deadly fish factories in Japan’s hidden gem? Melissa Nightingale dips a toe.
Getting naked in front of strangers is not a must if you want to experience a traditional Japanese onsen, my fellow, shy travellers.
Japan! The home of the onsen, natural hot spring baths where visitors bare all and soak up those minerals and good vibes in the presence of other, equally naked guests.
When I found out I was heading to a small Japanese city that takes great pride in its onsen baths, I knew I was going to have to give it a try. Some might scoff, but I wondered if I could find the courage to do it.
As it turns out, there are many ways to enjoy onsen, even for the prudish among us.
When our group arrives at our ryokan - a traditional Japanese inn - in Nagato for the night, we are told about the alkaline waters which will leave our skin feeling silky smooth.
At Hotel Yokikan there are several options, including a private onsen experience operating on a schedule, an open-air bath where hotel guests can visit freely, or some of the rooms have a private onsen attached, with a small wooden tub perched near a window overlooking the beautiful Yuya Bay.
The access to onsen is one of this hotel’s major drawcards, but its traditional design is also enticing for travellers wanting an authentic Japanese experience.
The rooms are furnished with tatami mat floors, shoji sliding doors, and the dining area has a low table and zaisu chairs, which I find surprisingly comfortable to sit at. Some of the rooms have western-style beds, while others have a traditional futon, a firm mattress that rests directly on the floor.
The meals here, as in many places we eat around Nagato and the Yamaguchi prefecture, are visually stunning, served in the kaiseki style where they are presented artistically and in many small portions, attractively displayed. Such meals in Nagato are often seafood-heavy, with much of the meal being sourced from the nearby Sea of Japan.
Not many tourists opt for this experience in Nagato. It is only a small city of 32,000 and last year drew just the barest fraction of the country’s nearly 37 million visitors - only about 13,000, in fact. Tourism operators in the area describe it as a “hidden gem”, suggesting people wanting a break from the hotspots of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto can come to Nagato for a more authentic experience.
Booking.com’s Travel & Sustainability Report 2025 found that most Kiwi travellers want to support local businesses and communities, and three-quarters wanted to seek experiences that represent local culture.
Logistically, Nagato is not an easy place to visit. The high-speed bullet train (shinkansen) stops near Nagato, but doesn’t take travellers directly to the city, so those wanting to explore are best to hire a vehicle. Hopping on a private bus at Shimonoseki station, we wind through the misty hills, through dense green forest and past picturesque clusters of homes adorned with decorative curved eaves that are distinctively Japanese.
The beauty of Nagato is that, at any one point, you’re never far from either the coast or the mountains, and can enjoy ryokan, onsen, and fantastic restaurants in both environs.
In the mountains, we visit another ryokan, Gyokusenkaku, which overlooks the quaint hot spring town of Nagato Yumoto Onsen, which is the perfect place to escape to if you want to immerse yourself in onsen culture and try all the different baths. Bonus points if you go when the cherry blossoms are out or the autumn leaves are turning.
Down on the coast, the sights include the Motonosumi shrine, which has a sequence of torii gates leading up the cliffside to the shrine itself, at which guests are encouraged to try throwing a coin up into a box attached to the top of the main torii gate. If you land the coin, your wish will be granted. Alas, my throwing arm remains weak and wishes remain ungranted.
It is a gorgeous spot to appreciate the view of the sea and rugged coastline. It’s not the only place in Yamaguchi to enjoy the outlook - the Tsunoshima Bridge, about half an hour’s drive from the shrine, is the perfect spot for a photo.
For those who love a bit of beautiful scenery, there are regular ocean cruises around Omijima Island in a whimsical, whale-shaped boat that takes you to various sightseeing points and marine caves - some of which the boat can enter on calm days.
But perhaps my favourite place in the prefecture is the Beppu Benten Pond. Never have I wanted to swim in a probably-sacred water source as much as I did there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water so clear and blue. Further downstream, the colour deepens to a rust-red, due to the special algae coating the stones and pebbles on the stream bed.
Locals visit the pond daily to fill jugs of water for free. It’s said that drinking the water from the spring will bring healing and longevity. If I were to believe any claim about magical water, it would be the water from this pond.
On the other end of the spectrum, Yamaguchi is also considered the home of the fugu fish trade, that is, the puffer fish that can poison you if not prepared properly.
Visitors curious about this deathly delicacy can head to one of the prefecture’s fugu factories to see how it’s managed before chancing a taste at a local eatery.
The chef who served fugu to us must have known what he was doing, as nobody in our group dropped dead. Or maybe it was the mystical pond water? I simply couldn’t say.
Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Fukuoka with a stopover in Singapore. Catch the Shinkansen train to Shimonoseki and hire a car to drive from there around the region.
New Zealand Herald Travel was a guest of Booking.com.