Hoheikyo Onsen

Hoheikyo is the bath Sapporo riders talk about on the drive home from Kokusai. The building went up in 1966 as a construction office for the Hoheikyo dam. Out back is the outdoor bath, which the owners rank among the largest in Japan with room for 200 bathers. It spreads under the forest between big rocks with wooden water wheels turning in the flow.

Those wheels are how the place cools its water. The source comes up at 52°C and the owners refuse to dilute or recirculate it, so they run it over the wheels to bring the heat down. It travels from the ground to the tubs without ever sitting in a tank, and it leaves crusts of mineral and patches of blue-green algae on the stones. The feel is soft and slippery, and regulars call it velvet water.

Afterwards, eat. The second owner ran an Indian restaurant in Susukino and brought his Nepali staff with him when he took over, so you can watch the naan go into the tandoor while your hair dries. Men's and women's sides swap on odd and even days, and the doors stay open until 10:30 at night.