Manza Onsen - Gunma Prefecture
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June 24, 2015 - Manza Onsen - Gunma Prefecture
Manza Onsen is a rural onsen town in Gunma Prefecture which is famous for it's highly acidic waters along with large chain hotels. To reach Manza Onsen, you can catch a direct train from from Ueno Station to Manzakazawaguchi which takes around 3 hours and then catch a bus for 45 minutes.
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Even though I was staying a 45 minute bus ride from Manza at Kusatsu Onsen - someone decided they did not like me so it took over 4 hours to get to this sleepy little town.
Normally - there is a 11:30AM bus to Manza from Kusatsu but the bus has been cancelled mid week due to lack of patronage. As such, I needed to catch a bus back to Naganohara Kusatsuguchi station, then catch a train to Manzakazawaguchi and finally another bus to Manza. The time to travel was not long - but the wait times was a killer. As such, I did not get to my hotel until 4PM.
I guess this is what I meant by travelling slightly off the beaten track - give yourself plenty of time and be flexible.
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Apart from the onsens, there is not too much to do at Manza in summer apart from visit the Yubatake and some pretty nature walks. For my first stop, I visited the Cow Pond.
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As you can probably guess, a yubatake is a cooling pond for onsen water. Manza's cooling pond is no-where near as impressive as that of Kusatsu's, but the water here is slightly more acidic. At the Yubatake there is a small temple, shrine and outlook. One thing you will note is that many things look as though they are in a state of disrepair. This is mainly because the water and ground here is so acidic that it eats through most things.
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Even though it took me a long time to reach Manza Onsen, I really did enjoy the small walks along with all of the alpine flowers. It is also noticeably cooler here which is also a good thing.
For tomorrow, I will be travelling to Iiyama for three nights which is a new stop on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. As the area is reasonably rural, I'll be hiring a car once again and visiting some out of the way places like the little heard of Kosuge Shrine or one of the many nature areas.
Further information:
Bus Timetable (English): http://kusatsuonsen-international.jp/common/pdf/upload/1404_seibubus.pdf
Manza Onsen Tourist Association (Japanese - some English): http://www.manzaonsen.gr.jp/index.php
Things to do (Gunma tourist website - English): https://www.visitgunma.jp/cms/guidebook_pdf_dir/guidebook_96.pdf?1374727871
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