On Sunday I spent the day sightseeing around Kusatsu Onsen town. It is a small town and was completely walk able thanks to the English map the owner of the ryokan gave me!
My day started with a tasty breakfast at the ryokan. Salmon, omelet, spinach, pickles, ham and rice with nori.
After I checked out, I decided to visit the Kusatsu Tropical Dome. It is a dome (surprise!) that is heated with the hot spring water and houses a lot of tropical animals. Pretty neat to visit it when it is covered in snow!
Outside the dome was a group of snow monkeys. They even had their own hot spring to warm up in!
This guy was hoping someone would toss some food his way!
There were a few babies in the group - so cute!
Inside there was a mix of lots of animals. There were some impressive fish...
Lizards just hanging out...
What's up lizard?
Apparently in Japan it's cool to pet the capybaras. This struck me as odd, but this guy seemed to enjoy it!
It is the year of the snake, so in front of the snake tanks a lot of people had left coins. There were a lot of very large snakes, I walked quickly through this section!
I took a turn petting the docile capybara. His fur felt like whiskers - very rough.
There were a few birds. This one was particularly ugly.
There were a lot of little monkeys. This one was so cute!
This one seemed like he was a little annoyed.
After leaving the tropical dome I walked back through the center of town and took some more pictures of the yubatake since it was sunnier than the day before. Here is where the water comes out of the ground, and you can really see the sulfur deposits.
Near the yubatake there was a shrine up a hill. This is one of the more colorful bell structures I've seen. Usually they are a drab brown.
The shrine was very pretty in the snow!
In the center of town there is also this structure where in the warmer months women stir the hot spring water to cool it down while singing the onsen song. I wish this was going on when I visited!
Gnomes also like the yubatake. Taking this picture got me some strange looks for sure!
This guy was giving out onsen manju, the special treat of Kusatsu onsen. They are a steam bun filled with sweet red bean paste - they are sooooo good! He gives them away hoping that people will come into his shop and buy some to take home to their friends and coworkers. His ploy worked, and I bought a box for my coworkers! This practice is almost mandatory in Japan; when you go away you must bring back a small souvenir, usually food. There are shops all over the train stations where you can buy things before you head home!
After some shopping and snacking on onsen manju I walked to a large park nearby, Sainokawara park. It is home to one of the largest rotenburo (outdoor baths) in Japan! On the way I could see the hot water flowing in rivers!
These tori gates were so beautiful in the snow! The steps looked a little too treacherous to climb up though - everything was very slippery here because the steam from the hot springs condenses on the cold ground and freezes!
Here is the back of the rotenburo - it is very private and fenced in. I enjoyed a nice soak here - for ~$5 you can stay as long as you want. The bath is very large and the water gets hotter as you move towards the source, letting everyone find their own happy place!
After the onsen I was very warm again, so I took that opportunity to spend some time walking in the park in the snow. This really got my Christmas spirit going!
It was so beautiful. I love to walk through snow that no one else has walked through yet!
Eventually it was time to go home. But this gnome and I had a great time in Kusatsu, and we enjoyed the train ride back to Takasaki and then the Shinkansen back to Tokyo!
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