Hot spring resorts across Japan are facing water shortages as the influx of foreign tourists drives up usage, forcing some onsen to shut down due to inadequate supplies, local authorities say.
Municipalities have restricted new drilling and called for water conservation, though no long-term solution has emerged as the tourism boom, which has propped up the country's economy, shows no signs of abating, officials added.
"Water levels are falling, but hot springs remain operational," Daisuke Murakami, mayor of Ureshino in Saga Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu, said at an emergency press conference in late January.
Murakami added that city officials are taking the situation seriously, with the average water level at the source of the Ureshino hot spring resort, one of the key tourist spots in the prefecture, dropping to a record low of 40.8 meters last year.
The prefecture links the decline to rising demand after shinkansen bullet train services to the area began, bringing more visitors. It has urged onsen to limit daily extraction and some hotels to regulate late-night in-room baths to allow water levels to recover gradually.
Hot springs in other prefectures are encountering similar challenges. Local governments have capped new drilling and encouraged water saving, but fears linger that such steps may not be enough to ensure supplies are sustained, especially with the continued influx of overseas tourists.
Excessive extraction is the main cause of the falling water levels, experts warn.
A senior researcher at the Hot Spring Research Center, Japan, emphasized the necessity for a scientific approach to management, saying, "Monitoring water levels using data to cut waste is critical."
The number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 36 million in 2024, reaching a new all-time high, boosted by the yen's depreciation and the resumption of flight routes following the COVID-19 pandemic, central government data showed earlier this year.
© KYODO
30 Comments
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Namahage
Hot springs?Hot air,more like!
smithinjapan
Sweet lord. What else can you blame foreign tourists for? Let me guess, they are also eating all the rice at these resorts, too. I mean, sorry... but the majority of tourists to onsens are Japanese, plain and simple. And if there has been a surge in tourism in general (not just foreign) due to a new shinkansen station/track being built nearby, that is certainly not the fault of foreign tourism.
Next they'll be blaming foreign tourism for natural disasters.
DanteKH
Too many tourists makes the onsen water drops. Got it.
We need a clarification thought. Is it because of domestic or foreign tourists??
Is very important.
Brian Wheway
May be they should take a look at water wastage in general, like broken pipes, more economic toilets, they need to take a look at the bigger picture, when cleaning your teeth, turn off the tap, and how about collecting rain water for plants and fountains, in Europe they have two supplies one every clean water for drinking and two poor quality water for toilets etc, the rain water can be used for toilets as well, some hotels have onsen on the upper floors, how about capturing the overspill water from the showers and onsen baths to use for flushing the toilet, if each person could save 1,2,3 ltrs of water a day, that's a lot of water
The_Beagle
Have they considered climate change as the culprit?
GuruMick
There was an "emergency press conference " people...show some respect !
owzer
I have noticed a trend in hotels asking guests to conserve water, decline bed making if possible. Yet, the hotels' baths tend to have water running endlessly. Go figure.
The_Beagle
Thing is, so many things can influence the volume of water from a hot spring. Volcanic and tectonic activity, varying rates of water filling the aquifer, sedimentation of the minerals in the water causing clogging, natural disasters, etc.
wallace
The article is about the mineral water pumped up to Onsens or hot springs. It's not about water supplies in general. There are no shortages for water.
The lack of mineral water has nothing to do with tourist numbers. Most of those will not take a naked Onsen.
Pizza Gaijin
As usual, it's always the foreign tourists' fault. Problems with rice availability and prices? Blame the increase in foreign tourists. Water shortages in onsen? Well, of course, it's the foreign tourists' fault.
Despite having significantly lower tourist numbers compared to true tourism leaders like Italy, Spain, or France, Japan tends to point fingers at foreign tourists for any issue related to resource management or the environment.
In the case of rice, it's true that foreign tourists consume it, but the per capita consumption among Japanese people is vastly higher. The same applies to onsen: the overwhelming majority of users are locals, and domestic tourism in Japan is far more significant than international tourism.
Blaming foreign tourists for everything is childish. Japan had 36.87 million foreign tourists in 2024. Italy had 458 million tourists in the same year (12 times the number of tourists recorded in Japan) and doesn’t make a big fuss about everything. European countries also face issues related to overtourism, such as the boom of bed and breakfasts in historic city centers and fewer rental homes available for residents. However, they don’t complain about every little thing the way Japan does.
The solution is certainly not to demonize those who visit the country. If there are management issues, the responsibility falls on Japan, on japanese tourism policies and urban planning, not on the tourists themselves.
kohakuebisu
Any onsen with a limited supply of spring water will recirculate and reheat the same onsen water with only a trickle of fresh coming in. This is common knowledge in Japan. Their facilities may have several baths, indoor, outdoor, lie down etc. but not all of them may be connected to the spring. The others may just use heated regular water like a bath at home, or whatever dilution of spring water they can get away with. At such onsens, the showers etc. will all be 100% heated tap water with no minerals. For such onsens, it would be bogus to moan about foreigners showering too long or flushing the toilet or any other incorrectly perceived form of bad behaviour because such activities do not use water from the spring. They use tap water.
If you want to go to an onsen that does not recycle onsen water, you must go to one marked "kakenagashi". This is what hardcore onsen otaku do. These may not be the poshest facilities in the poshest places.
Some of Japanese most rundown towns are onsen resorts that were overdeveloped in the 1980s. If it were not for foreign tourism from SK, Taiwan etc., they would be in an even worse state than they are already.
Cephus
"Japan hot springs facing water shortages as tourism booms."
As good as the hot spring water is on the skin, I don't know about you but with me nothing kills erection faster than hotspring. I would appreciate it to know whether there are studies out there on the relation between hotspring water and low child birth.
Tamarama
Locals only! Tourists out!
KariHaruka
Each time I visit an onsen (I am the bad foreigner!!), I'd estimate that 9 out of 10 bathers are Japanese.
But, sure Japan. Let's go ahead and blame foreigners and over tourism once again... What will foreigners be blamed for next? Eating up all of the natto?
WoodyLee
Yup,
Blame it on Tourism again, why cant we just agree that this year was a dry and leave the tourists alone.
Better yet if that is the case then LIMIT the number of tourists allowed into the country!!!? I am sure that will solve all of Japans problems.
Antiquesaving
Oh please! During the Bubble Atami was packed so was Hakkone etc .. go today and Atami is dead compared to back then, same for Hakkone.
This sounds like another "blame foreigners" junk like the fake debunked "too many climbers on mount Fuji" between 2006 and 2017 between 275,000 to 430,000 per year climbed Fuji but suddenly they need to charge because of over tourism when the number is only 230,000.
I smell another money grab and an attempt coming soon to hike prices for foreigners and what better excuse than they are using up resources!
WoodyLee
Rice Shortage !? Blame it on Tourists.
Water Shortage !? Blame it on Tourists.
Inflation !? Blame it on Tourists.
Not enough Oxygen !? Blame it on Tourists.
What else could we blame on them tourists !???
Antiquesaving
This most hypocritical thing is that during the Bubble the Japanese ran around the world paying crazy prices buying anything and everything, breaking rules like taking pictures during mass in Notre Dame, etc...
Now that the Japanese no longer have the expendable cash and foreigners do, the Japanese are upset.
Antiquesaving
Blame tourists for the rice shortage.
Why not blame the government who is still paying farmers NOT to grow rice.
Years back the government started playing farmers not to grow rice in order to keep the prices high/level.
Now that we need more rice, the logical move is to stop doing this and tell these "farmers" to start growing rice again, but they didn't the government is still paying them not to grow rice, and they won't stop because the first government/party to cancel this program will lose farmer votes.
Antiquesaving
It seems that either people here are to young to remember or the Japanese here don't want to be reminded.
But I remember Eaton's in Toronto and Vancouver literally closing of entire sections as the bus loads of Japanese tourists arrived and reserving these for the Japanese only.
The same in NY and Paris where the top brand shops would close their stores kick everyone out as the bus loads of Japanese tourists were scheduled to arrive.
Funny how short people's memories are and how the Japanese had no problem with that type of situation/special treatment.
1glenn
I am a little surprised no one has used the onsen water shortage to justify the lack of geothermal energy development in Japan. However, regarding that issue, many geothermal energy plants recycle their water, pumping the used water back deep underground. Perhaps the onsen owners will consider pumping water underground to be recycled, for the use of bathers.
Rakuraku
KariHarukaToday 07:23 pm JST
I don’t know the last time you went, but to my huge surprise, 80% of the people at the onsen I visited last month in Yumoto, Hakone, were foreigners.
I also used to be the only foreigner in every onsen I visited until recently. It seems completely different today—you have to see it to believe it.
douglas wells
The increase in "tourism" numbers reflects the move for most Japanese to vacation at home, in Japan since the pandemic. Raising prices across Japan hurts Japanese more than tourists, who will return home after their visit to Japan.
Hideyoshi.N
To blame onsen water or rice shortage fully on foreign tourists is silly.
WA4TKG
Just decided to break my rule of going to at least one new onsen, every time I come back to Japan…still haven’t gone, and now I see this.
Anpanman76
Japan has a serious superiority complex and an inflated ego. It’s not even in the top 5 countries with the most foreign tourists in the world, yet it acts like a prima donna, complaining about everything. In 2023, Japan recorded 32.2 million international tourist arrivals, ranking 11th globally. Japan, don't get too cocky.
If a country that proudly proclaims itself the best in the world at hospitality (during the lead-up to the Olympics, you couldn’t go five minutes without hearing the word omotenashi) and considers itself highly advanced in technology can't even manage just over 30 million foreign tourists a year, then those in charge of Japan's tourism sector should go back to kindergarten.
I see that, as usual, anyone who doesn’t blindly praise Japan and dares to point out its mistakes gets bombarded with downvotes.
1glenn
I started to go to a hydrothermal pool in the hills of South Cal that I was told about. One has to walk in through a forest, about a half mile from the nearest road. It is only big enough for half a dozen people at most. It is hot and sulfuric, with no visible water inlets or outlets. Just a beautiful pool of hot water in the middle of the forest. At least half the time I was the only one there. At most, and only once, three others were there.
It is amazing what wonders one can find close to even heavily populated areas like LA, from hydrothermal vents to bald eagles, and even beavers, steelhead, and mountain lions. I am surprised no one mentions the beavers near Los Angeles.
Antiquesaving
You have to understand the type that comment here.
As my daughter put it, they are the type of foreigners that don't like other foreigners coming here especially in their areas, it takes away their feelings of being the special gaijin.
More foreigners the more Japanese realize they are nothing special.
You know the type, you see them walking to the station in the morning as you are sweeping infront of your place and you say good morning like you say to all your Japanese neighbours going by and the Japanese reply good morning, but these guys turn their head away and act like they didn't see you.
KariHaruka
@Rakuraku
I won't discredit your own personal experiences. But I've recently visited Tenzan Onsen in Hakone (January), Kusatsu Onsen (February) and Takimotokan in Noboribetsu, also in February (I am limited to tattoo friendly onsens due to my tattoos). And I can estimate that the majority of bathers were still Japanese, with very few foreigners.
The one exception that I could think of, is Hokeikyo Onsen on the outskirts of Sapporo. Which is often packed with foreigners, and an onsen that I intentionally avoid.
KariHaruka
The flock of last samurais, the defenders of Japan's honour from any criticism, sure are out in their high numbers today.
How many downvotes can I get for calling them out? I am going to say around -25 downvotes.