Introducing a Hotel with a Hot Springs Bath in the Hachimantai Onsenkyo – Hachimantai Rising Sun Hotel
The Hachimantai Rising Sun Hotel is proud of how spacious it is!
Relax and recharge your energy by stretching out in the large hot springs bath!
In the lounge, you can relax round the lovely fireplace while playing pool or the classic Japanese board games of Igo, Shogi, or even Mahjong. If you like to drink, there are specials plans that you’re going to love!
Just 8 Minutes from the APPI Ski Resort. Enjoy a Cottage in a Private Little Forest – at Lodge Tandem
Lodge Tandem is actually a row of cottages along a creek.
The cottages are equipped with kitchens and a BBQ area, and are popular with both beginners and advanced outdoor enthusiasts, who can enjoy their stay in a variety of ways.
The owner, who is fluent in English, is of course an advanced outdoorsman. The incredibly cute dog that lives there will aso run out to greet you when you arrive. More information about Lodge Tandem available here.
Get behind the wheel and feel the power with Lodge Tandem Polaris off road driving experience!
Drive an ATV through a special course with ups, downs, bumps, slopes and more at Lodge Tandem.
The scenery that unfolds in front of you as you watch the owner’s skill at the wheel is breathtaking!
Put your seatbelt on tight and hold on, as you go for a wild ride!
Why Don’t You Take a Deep Breath Here!
Hachimantai City in Iwate Prefecture is home to not one, but three famous ski resorts: APPI Kogen Ski Resort, and Hachimantai Resorts Panorama and Shimokura. Together with its excellent powder snow and heavy snowfall, it’s one of the best places in Japan for skiing.
Feast at Restaurant Lamp!
In Hachimantai for lunch? What about dinner? (Both works as well…) If you don’t know about Restaurant Lamp- you’re welcome!
They offer a number of great local dishes including this perfection of a stake plate in the photo below. Some other popular menu items include their 200g Angus Steak (1,490 yen), Taco Rice (1,300 yen), and their Chicken Karaage Wasabi Set (1,000 yen).
Experience the Beauty of a Beech Forest in Appi Kogen
Up in the Appi Highlands, an ancient beech forest was cut down, but then naturally grew back, becoming what is called a secondary beech forest. When you look up at these beautiful trees, you can really feel the life force that runs through them.
Take a deep breathe and smell the crisp clean fragrance of the forest as you feel the sunlight filtering through the gaps between the leaves high above.
Meet Alpacas at the Salad Farm!
Have you ever met an Alpaca? Maybe you have? But can you really ever meet *enough* alpaca. Probably not. So come out to the Salad Farm in Hachimantai, where in addition to a beautiful new garden with a pond and stunning view of Mt. Iwate, you can meet and feed alpaca!
The youngest one, momo, is around 100 days old and beyond cute. In fact, the Salad Farm is holding an event on November 14th for Momo-chan, the youngest Alpaca! The event will be held around 11AM on Saturday, November 14th.
Beautiful Hand-Made Traditional Japanese Crafts, Interested?
Hachimantai City in Iwate Prefecture is home to not one, but three famous ski resorts: APPI Kogen Ski Resort, and Hachimantai Resorts Panorama and Shimokura. Together with its excellent powder snow and heavy snowfall, it’s one of the best places in Japan for skiing.
Experience the Stunning Beauty of Autumn
At the end of October, Mt. Iwate began its transformation for the coming cold season! Snow now crowns the summit area. While this massive volcano is beautiful all year round, its majesty reaches a climax during the winter when it towers white over Hachimantai and Morioka.
The Hachimantai Dragon Eye is World Famous
The Hachimantai Dragon Eye was featured on the BBC Reel in a beautiful short video explaining the beautiful phenomenon.
They even found a way to discuss this beautiful phenomenon (which started from an instagram post from a foreign visitor) and tie it into a local myth of the dragons of Lake Towada and Tazawa.
The Hachimantai Dragon Eye is best viewed in early June – when hopefully international travel will be allowed again!
Great to see the BBC sharing a video of our very own Hachimantai!
Matsukawa Hot Springs Explodes in Color
The autumn colors are now at their peak in Hachimantai! Now is the perfect time to visit Matsukawa Hot Springs and enjoy gazing at the brightly colored autumn leaves while bathing in an outdoor bath and perhaps even enjoying a sip of sake! (Matsukawaso sell little 500-yen pitchers of sake that you can drink in the mixed bathing outdoor bath!!)
If you’re not in the mood for a bath, just taking in the view at Genbuiwa or the Matsukawa Geothermal Power plant is also a great way to spend a day!
Discover the Secret World of Mt. Iwate
The Nanataki trail up Mt. Iwate starts in a place called Kenmin no Mori (Iwate Prefectural Citizens’ Forest Campgrounds). This is my favorite trail up Mt. Iwate for obvious reasons. It is long (about 21km round trip), but there are so many different transitions in the scenery that you get to enjoy many mountains all in one.
I would actually recommend trying just the first leg of this hike without going all the way to the summit of Mt. Iwate if you’re not confident. The bottom photo below is a placed called Ojigokudani, or the Great Hell Valley – that you find after walking for about 90 minutes on the Nanataki Trail. (The waterfall in the top picture is along the trail about an hour in.)