Sad news for onsen lovers – Odaiba’s hot spring theme park Oedo Onsen Monogatari has announced it will be shuttering for good this September as its fixed lease term expires at the end of the year. When it first opened 18 years ago, the vast facility set itself apart from other super sentos in the city with its Edo (old Tokyo) theme where visitors could mill about in colourful rented yukata.
With 13 different kinds of onsen-style baths – including one that sourced natural spring water from 1,400m underground – you could easily spend the whole day here hopping from the footbath in the Japanese garden to the silky white Hyakunin-buro indoors and from the dry bedrock sauna-style bath to open-air wooden tubs.
Baths aren’t the only thing the facility offers either, with an indoor space inspired by an Edo-style nighttime matsuri. While men and women are separated in the actual bathing areas, this indoor space features a host of souvenir shops, matsuri-style game stalls and restaurants where people can hang out with their friends after a blissful soak in the onsen.
No news on whether the facility may reappear in a different part of Tokyo in the future, so it’s best to make plans to visit before the official closing date on September 5.
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