Halfway through out 2017 trip, we left Tokyo and went up into the mountains to a tiny hot springs town (and I mean TINY!) called Shima Onsen.
And friends…
It was spectacular.
The water was actually *that* blue, and most of the town was squished into two streets along the river and up the side of the mountain. Though there wasn’t all that much up there except an abandoned school-turned-art-exhibit(?) that was DEFINITELY NOT HAUNTED NUH-UH.
We had THE BEST food here, both in the town’s little restaurants and at the Ryokan we stayed at, which also had a private hot springs bath on the balcony. I wanted to live in that bath tub, y’all.