Fukashi-Yu Steam Bath

Fukashi-Yu is a small steam bath hut about 100 meters from Jigoku-numa Pond in Aomori, built over wooden boxes through which geothermal steam rises from the hot springs below. Visitors sit on the boxes and let the heat work through them from underneath. It's less a bath than a steam session, and the experience is more elemental and unusual than a standard onsen. Steam does sometimes escape from the edges of the boxes, so some caution around the gaps is advised. A trail nearby leads toward Tohoku University Botanical Gardens, and a gate just uphill from Jigoku-numa Pond offers another access point for exploring the area.