North Gunma · MinakamiNo.1120★★Open in map →
Minakami Onsen
A hot-spring town packed onto the cliffs of the upper Tone, under the southern face of Mount Tanigawa. The town runs its own bathhouse halfway along the street, and a riverside promenade begins a short walk downstream.
- FromJomo-Kogen Station
- ~25 minKan-Etsu bus from Jomo-Kogen
- Get off atMinakami Station (JR Joetsu Line)
- From there
- Minakami Onsen
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden town. Minakami has been one of Gunma's best-known spring resorts for the better part of a century, and its station sits on a main line. What is quiet is the daytime. The town's rhythm is set by check-in and check-out, so the streets between late morning and late afternoon belong to whoever is walking them.
Where it is
20 more notes in Gunma · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Minakami Station turntable plazaa turntable yard just beyond the platforms, with a D51 steam locomotive on display
- The Yubara onsen streetsshop fronts, lanterns and inn walls on the terrace above the river
- Fureai Koryukanthe town-run bathhouse halfway along the street, with a tourist counter inside
- Michi-no-Eki Minakami Mizukikokana roadside station at the mouth of the gorge, with a foot bath and a freshwater fish hall
- Suwakyo promenade and Sasabue Bridgea railed walkway cut into the rock above the Tone, and the suspension bridge that looks up to Tanigawa
How to actually get there
- Jomo-Kogen Station to Minakami Station on the Kan-Etsu bus, Minakami line.
- From the station, look in at the turntable yard, then walk south-west into the Yubara onsen streets.
- Carry on downstream to the roadside station and the Suwakyo promenade, and take the bath on the way back.
- Kan-Etsu bus from Jomo-Kogen Station
- Jomo-Kogen is the Joetsu Shinkansen stop for this part of Gunma, and the Kan-Etsu bus on the Minakami line runs from the station forecourt to Minakami Station in about 25 minutes. It is a timetabled service rather than a frequent one, so match your train to the bus before you leave.
- Getting back out
- Buses for Jomo-Kogen leave from the stop in front of Minakami Station. If you plan to carry on north by local train instead, note that Minakami is where the Joetsu Line breaks: services towards Echigo-Yuzawa are few and the last one goes in the evening. Southbound trains to Takasaki are the dependable way out.
About the place
The town is built on the walls of a gorge. Inns stand shoulder to shoulder on the cliffs above the upper Tone, and the river runs loud below them. Minakami is the central spring of a wider cluster spread across the southern foot of Mount Tanigawa, and after the war it expanded on the strength of an easy rail connection. That scale was built for parties staying the night, which is why a day visitor's options look thin at first glance. The one that is simple to use is the town's own building in the middle of the street, with a tourist counter inside it.
How to enjoy it
The bathhouse was listed as opening at 11:00 when checked, so the natural order is to walk first and bathe afterwards. Allow about an hour for the promenade itself, and roughly the same again if you stop at the roadside station. Autumn colour is the busiest stretch of the year in this valley.
Background & history
The founding story has a priest named Kaio spotting steam that rose from the cliff beside the Tone, and channelling the water for the villagers. For centuries the place went by the name of the hamlet, Yubara, and that name is still used locally today. Minakami Station opened in 1928, and the bathers who began arriving from Tokyo turned the hamlet's springs into a resort that grew to rival Kusatsu and Ikaho.
Before you go
- Cash
- The bus operator states on its own site that fares are paid in cash or with a transport IC card. Bathhouse admission has been revised and the figures on the town's listing and on travel sites do not agree, so treat the board at the door as the current one and carry coins.
- Before you go
- The promenade is cut into a rock face and sections are closed after rockfall; the tourism association has posted exactly that, so check before you set out. Winter brings snow down to the valley floor. The bathhouse has published irregular closing days on top of its weekly one.
- Another way
- The JR Joetsu Line runs up from Takasaki to Minakami without a change, which suits anyone already holding a rail pass. By car it is the Kan-Etsu Expressway to the Minakami interchange, then Route 291 up the valley.
- After you get off
- From Minakami Station the onsen street runs off to the south-west, and the town's bathhouse is about twelve minutes on foot along it. The station square holds the tourist counter, the taxi rank and the inn shuttles.