Yunessun--the family onsen

I think we may have visited the weirdest, most interesting place so far in Japan. I have never seen anything like it. Yunessun is a hotsprings spa resort. There were various hotsprings-filled with green tea, sake, red wine, coffee etc. And a few regular ones as well. The kids thought the this was the coolest thing ever. Since it was all outdoors, we would basically run from pool to pool because it was so cold. Jacob, however did not enjoy the onsen. He is currently afraid of water. He even hates to take a bath. After a quick dip in the green tea pool, he started crying. So Ryan and I took turns watching him at the indoor snack bar area while the other one took Trent and Emily around the pools. It was also VERY crowded, since it was a Saturday and during spring break.

The green tea pool uses green tea grown in the surrounding Hakone mountains. It contains Catechin, a powerful anti-oxidant that enhances the immune system and is also good for the skin.

Their website said that bathing in wine is a rejuvenation treatment for the body, and that the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra loved to bath in wine.

This is the charcoal (dark purple) pool. The kids liked playing with the pieces of charcoal in the water.

These pools were all diluted with water, so it wasn't straight green tea, etc. I didn't have a good picture of the coffee pool. But they were all staggered up the mountain side. so you would go up or down stairs to get to the next one. It was so beautiful to be up in the mountains sitting in an onsen. Definitely one of our best Japan outings yet!