Furutoobe Onsen (Ikarigaseki, Hirakawa City, TEL 0172-46-2533 ) in Aomori will resume accommodation operations on October 1st.

The inn is located in a mountainous area near the prefectural border with Akita, and is known by hot spring enthusiasts as a secret hot spring where you can sleep on a sea lion. There are fans all over the country who attend. The former president, Tatsuo Kimura, had been thinking about taking over the business since last year due to his age and was planning to close it in March of this year, but a successor was found in May.

The business was inherited by Masao Goto and Megumi Nagai. From August 1st, the inn has been jointly managed by the two. Of the two who lived in Sendai, Mr. Goto moved from Sendai to Aomori when he inherited the business. Mr. Goto, who was a taxi driver, decided to quit his job and work as a hot spring attendant at Mr. Nagai's invitation.

Mr. Nagai likes Aomori and has lived there and gone to the hot springs there. He first visited the inn in September 2020 and quickly became a regular customer. ``Not only did I appreciate the quality of the hot springs, but I also got to interact not only with the staff at the store but also with the regular customers who frequent the hot springs, and I started to feel that I wanted the hot springs to continue forever,'' he says.

I heard about the idea of ​​taking over the business from the former president, Mr. Kimura, and raised my hand in March, but time passed without me knowing where to start, until suddenly in May I was nominated to take over the business. It is said that Mr. Nagai said, ``It seems that various people have talked about wanting to inherit the property, but they wanted to hand it over to someone who would continue to attract local residents and fans from all over the country.We took Mr. Kimura's intentions seriously and accepted them. "I was determined to inherit it," he says with a smile.

Although the inn remained open for day-trip bathing, it had stopped accepting overnight guests since June. The two who inherited the business immediately applied for a new license to operate as a lodging facility. He was granted permission on September 26th, and when he announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be accepting applications again, he received a call to make a reservation 10 minutes later.

Mr. Goto said, ``We are still at the starting point.The building is quite damaged and needs a complete renovation, so we will repair it little by little.Currently, we are only accepting guests staying overnight without meals, but we are planning to continue cooking as before. "I want to continue making it available so that as many people as possible can experience the benefits of hot springs," he says enthusiastically.

The accommodation fee is 6,650 yen per person per night (bathing tax included). Reservations are accepted only by phone. Business hours for day trip baths are 8:00 to 20:30. The price is 400 yen for adults and 100 yen for children.