Hachimantai area

Hachimantai sits on the Iwate-Akita border in Towada-Hachimantai National Park, a high-volcanic plateau at 1,000 to 1,600 meters with four small onsen ryokan strips spread across its slopes. Toshichi Onsen at 1,400 meters is the highest hot spring in Tohoku; Goshogake on the Akita side runs a 2-kilometer boardwalk past mud volcanoes and sulfur vents; Fukenoyu has the area's oldest spring, opened 400 years ago; Matsukawa is the most rustic and remote on the Iwate side. The Hachimantai Aspite Line crosses the summit between mid-April and early November, with the late-spring snow corridor a tourist draw. The Hachimantai Dragon Eye, a circular pattern in the snowmelt around Kagami-numa pond, opens for about a week in late May.