Japan

Nasu: The Healing Forest

Your flights are booked, your accommodation confirmed. Bags, well… they’re far from packed. Soon, you’ll gaze out the window, wine in one hand, chopsticks effortlessly balanced in the other, with headphones on, you’ll be gliding along in your very own music video, the sun setting below you and definitely not a single loud tourist on board. Now that it’s locked in, you can tell your mates about it, your family, your dog. Maybe even your boss.

“Ah!” they’ll exclaim, “Arigato gozaimasu,” with a bow.

This, along with “Moshi-moshi,” are probably the first phrases you’ll learn. And they are useful ones… but I’ve got a secret for you: a much better, much more useful word. You can thank me later. Hai dozo, the word is “Onsen.”

Ah, onsen… A word that has become sacred to me. But we will get to that soon.

The hustle and bustle, the sensory overload of neon and noise. Cities that never sleep, a place where technology and tradition vie. Where tourists parade around on rails like an endless sushi train going round and round (and round!). Talking toilets, a million vending machines. Vending machines selling talking toilets… These are usually the first thoughts of Japan.

The streets flow like rivers into sardine-packed trains. Wonderful scents grab you by the nostrils, pulling you gently down backstreets, tiny under the towering skyscrapers. It’s a lot, and it demands all your attention. “How do they do it?” you might wonder, watching the locals zip through the crowds, finishing bowls of ramen faster than you can say “tantanmen,” and navigating the labyrinth of underground train lines like they aren’t a tangle of ramen noodles. The Japanese lifestyle has a famous reputation for being extremely hardworking over anything else…

But, dear stranger, I think we’ve uncovered a secret. It goes along the oxymoronic lines of “Work hard, play hard,” but it’s more “Work hard, relax hard.”

A cruisy 70-min ride on the Shinkansen bullet train brings you to the wonderful highlands of Nasu, in the Kantō region. One of the first towns on the footsteps of the Nasu mountain range. Locals know it, locals love it, we love it, and my futuristic Japanese-speaking toilet says you will love it too. Even the emperor and royal imperial family (who can holiday wherever they wish, keep in mind) stay here annually! Nasu is everything Tokyo is not; quiet, calm, natural, and without a tourist trap in sight. It is the balance against the manic: it is outdoor fun, natural healing, incredible dining, and onsen relaxation.

Start your visit with a private everything-organised-for-you cycling tour (don’t worry, e-power does most of the work for you) through the nearby woodlands and the somehow perfectly manicured, aesthetically pleasing farmlands, which appear to be straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. “It’s the best way to travel,” smiles Tetsuya, looking out over the rice fields. He’s our guide for the day, CEO of Ride Experience, and a bit of a local legend. You’ll find many locals ditched the mad city life for the quiet of Nasu and never looked back – just like you have.

Stop for soba ice cream and coffee, and then roll through the countryside, floating along like the autumn red leaves you’re now riding under. Tetsuya and the team welcome you like old mates reunited. They know the land, the people, the special spots: the shrines and their stories, the quiet tracks through the bamboo maze, the best spots to eat, and – sometimes most importantly – the best sake to drink (go for a tasting at the Tonoike Sake Brewery).

Now comes the payoff for your hard work. ‘Minka’ are vernacular traditional Japanese houses: tatami mats, sliding doors, beautiful woodwork, you know the deal. There’s nothing quite like it, especially when your room has a private onsen – a natural, steaming, forever-flowing dip pool fed by one of the eight geothermically heated underground hot springs of Nasu, which have soothed local souls for over a thousand years. Traditionally onsen bathing is a public activity where clothing and loud chatter is forbidden (and often tattoos, although that’s changing nowadays). Stepping into the onsen is like stepping back in time, a ritual as old as the mountains themselves. In some, the air is thick with the scent of sulfur, and the water is a milky, mineral-rich, skin-cleansing concoction. In our beautiful accommodation at Sansuikaku, the water is crystal clear, and the air is thick only with steam. The big issue with such a comfortable stay is that you won’t want to leave! But you should leave; there’s so much to see.

The surrounding area is home to popular restaurants serving up fresh, local ingredients (you can’t go wrong with Suisha no Sato Mizuhogura or Tensui soba restaurant for lunch, or Takai-ya and Tamaruya Sushi Shop for dinner), wonderful shrines and temples to visit (get a Goshuincho book and collect a unique stamp at each one – gotta catch ‘em all), the cutest little bakery in a pretty home in the woods (Croce Bakery), and even the lush forest of healing: the area used to be reserved for the imperial family, but today you’re welcome to visit.

Do as the royals do and retreat into the untouched woodlands of the Heisei-no-Mori Forest. You just might be one of the first few international visitors to the area, and every season has something to offer: whether it’s the snow gently blanketing the trail, the lush green of a happy ecosystem, or the fiery reds and yellows of a Japanese autumn. Waterfall? Check. Wildlife? Check. Stop for coffee and tea? You bet.

After each outing you will feel the call – yes you guessed it – of the onsen. The naturally heated water is the best place to unwind, to recount the quiet of the hidden bamboo forest you explored on the bike tour, the full-course lunch and laughter at the local farmer’s house that followed, and the weighted peace walking the grounds of ancient temples.

Now, finally, this is the moment you slow…This is the moment you stop.

And this is the moment you thank yourself for leaving the city, for sidestepping the hustle and bustle, for escaping the Japanese game show that is navigating the crowds and crosswalks. It bears repeating: Nasu is everything Tokyo is not; quiet, calm, natural, without a tourist trap in sight. It is the balance against the manic: it is outdoor fun, it is natural healing, it is incredible dining and this… this is onsen relaxation.