In my home country the United States, a popular saying is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." In Japan, I can't stop hearing about the health benefits of hot springs. Blending these western and eastern philosophies is the Ringo Onsen (りんご温泉). The only thing more popular than the ostriches in Asahi Town, are the apples. You can buy and eat apple products almost anywhere around town. There are so many apples in fact, this hot spring puts them directly into their hot baths.
You'll most likely need a car to get to this special hot spring in the middle of Asahi Town, about an hour drive from Yamagata Station. Once parking in the free parking lot, step inside the building inside the same parking lot. Pay 300 yen for an adult admission for a half day use of the facilities.There is a small store inside near the entrance selling local Asahi Town and Yamagata products, including several apple products. On the second floor is a restaurant. The first floor features a large indoor onsen. Your admission price for the onsen also includes the outside onsen or rotenburo. That second hot spring is a short walk up the adjacent hill. It offers a decent view. Both onsens have separated baths for men and women, wash areas, and locker rooms. Oh, and if you haven't figured it out yet, apples.
Floating apples inside the hot baths make a soak much more enjoyable than if there was just water. No you are not allowed to eat them and you wouldn't want to because the water makes the apples very hard. My friends and I found ourselves shuffling, passing, and even juggling the apples as we relieved our stress through soaking and many laughs. You do notice a bit of an apple scent in the enclosed indoor onsen, but nothing really in the outdoor bath. I think I enjoyed the meditative bobbing up and down of the apples the most of all. It was really fun.
The prefecture of Yamagata, as well as the entire Tohoku region, are known for onsens. For that reason, tourists and locals have an abundance of choices to soak their stress away in. In other words, despite such a unique hot spring, it wasn't busy at all during my before noon visit. For a cheap outing and certainly memorable experience, do stop by the Ringo Onsen next time you head to Yamagata.
