Arima, Beyond the Onsen   By Jeff Dionne, Spring 2005 update

Supposedly the waters at Arima have rejuvenating powers.
Last time I went there, I met three generations all visiting together. The grandfather, in his last nineties, made a point of coming to Arima at least once a month, his son would come with him to help him in and out of the baths. The grandson, in his 40's, only accompanied them occasionally. Arima is famous for its two distinctively different waters, kin-no-yu and gin-no-yu. The kin-no-yu (gold water) is full of salt and iron, making the water an opaque rust color. The gin-no-yu (silver water) has high levels of carbonic acid; drinking this water is supposed to help stomach problems, it tastes terrible, though.

Visiting Arima it is given that you will spend some time soaking in one of the waters, what you do with the rest of your time there really defines your visit. Arima is an extremely popular destination for hiker. The day trip begins with a hike of Mt. Rokko followed by a dip
in one of the sento (public bath) style bath houses in town. These are the cheaper baths in town, costing about ¥600, and you can choose either the gin-no-yu or the kin-no-yu.If you just want to get your feet wet there's a shallow foot bath outside the kin-no-yu bath house;just squeeze in and relax. There is also a fountain for drinking from, but I can't recommend it.The other popular type of visit to Arima focuses more on delicious food and less on the great outdoors. Arima has lots of luxury hotels and resorts which are famous for their baths as well as their food.

One of the most impressive is the Kosenkaku. Their baths are amazing, there are separate men's and women's Rotenburo (open air) style baths with a beautiful view of the garden. Also there is an old fashioned style bath which is reputed to be one of the oldest baths still in use
in Arima. The bath is amazing, the walls and baths are fashioned out of huge rocks, similar to bathing in cave. There is only one of these old style baths so they alternate allowing men and women to use it.

The museum is best reached by train—the Hanshin line (Iwaya sta.) from Kobe or Osaka—walk south 8 minutes; JR Nada and Hankyu Oji-koen stations are also nearby. Hours are from 9:30; closing time varies seasonally. Closed on Mondays. Basic admission is ¥500, with discounts for students, seniors, and groups.

Arima has many very good restaurants serving cuisine ranging from traditional Japanese to French. One of the restaurants at Kosenkaku specializes in Shojin Kaiseki Ryouri, many small courses of vegetarian food, courses start from ¥5000. This cuisine is designed to be the food of monks, but the presentation is far removed from the austere image of monks and the lack of meat is in no way a detriment to the taste.

How to get there: