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With a staff member Haruyo Matsushima in front of the office — With a staff member *Haruyo Matsushima* in front of the office

We visited “Fuji no yu” in Shisuimachi Tashima, Kikuchi, Kumamoto. This onsen is located in and operated by Kumamoto Fuji Concrete Kogyo K.K.. The CEO’s wife suggested her husband to drill the ground to discover an onsen, and actually it was found at 500 meters below the ground. That’s the beginning of Fuji no yu.

There is an automatic gate in the reception, insert the coins to open it. The price is JPY 120. Great value! The price used to be JPY 100, but it was changed to JPY 120 two years ago. The price is almost the same as the price of a canned soft drink. Some frequent visitors say it’s more economic than heating a bath in the home.

Lockers are not available in the dressing room. You can use a box instead. If you have valuables, keep them by yourself.

The bath is filled with transparent soft water. The right bath, which is close to the faucet, is hot, and the left bath is warm. Soaking in those baths can warm your body thoroughly, you won’t feel a chill after a bath in winter.

Plenty of water flows out of the faucet, and the temperature is about 41°C (105.8°F). In winter, it is heated up using a boiler.

Frequent visitors Shoichi and Toyonori (right and centre), and Taizo (right) who comes to Fuji no yu twice in a week are bathing. They are bath-friends. Toyonori is very good at skiing, he told us funny stories about his experiences.

Kumamoto Fuji Concrete Kogyo K.K. manufactures watercourses using concrete. They used to remake and use an earthen pipe, which is one of their products, as a bathtub for Fuji no yu. We want to take a bath in an earthen-piped tub if we could have a chance again.

Fuji no yu set this low price (JPY 120) not only for their employees but also for locals. There used to be only a prefab house next to Fuji no yu, however, the current building was built later to improve the hospitality for visitors. We think this story shows a good relationship between the bathhouse owner and locals.