Yamanashi east · UenoharaNo.118★Open in map →
Akiyama Onsen
A day-use hot spring in the Akiyama valley of Uenohara, Yamanashi, known for its silky high-alkaline water — paired with a walk through the working Tomioka rice terraces just up the hill.
Shin-Tojiba Akiyama Onsen is a day-use bathhouse in the Akiyama district, a quiet river valley in southern Uenohara City. Its water is documented as a pH 9.8 high-alkaline spring that also carries natural carbon dioxide gas — a combination the facility credits for leaving skin feeling smooth. The source runs at about 36.4°C with a flow of roughly 200 litres per minute and is served without added heat or water. A drinking-spring station inside lets you taste the source water. Because it is day-use only, no overnight stay is required.
Why it stays quiet
It sits off the JR main line, reached by a limited free shuttle or by car, and there is little English information about it. So it stays a local, satoyama-style soak (a bath in the countryside near cultivated hills) rather than a tourist destination.
Background & history
The spring is classified as an alkaline, low-tonic hot spring; listed benefits cover nerve pain, muscle and joint pain, poor circulation and general fatigue. The same Akiyama valley holds the Tomioka rice terraces — roughly one hundred small paddies still farmed by local households, fed by irrigation channels threading down the slope. The terraces change through the year: green in early summer, gold as the rice ripens, and white under winter snow.
What to look for — in walking order
- Tomioka rice terraces
- about 100 working hillside paddies on the slope just above the onsen hamlet, scenic across the seasons
- pH 9.8 alkaline bath
- a high-alkaline spring that feels notably silky on the skin
- Natural carbonation
- the source water also carries natural carbon dioxide gas
- Drinking-spring station
- an indoor tap inside the bathhouse where you can taste the source water
How to enjoy it
Walk the Tomioka terrace lanes first — the paddies are just above the hamlet — then soak. They are at their most striking in early summer, when the young rice is green, and again in autumn, when the fields turn gold. The paddies are private farmland; keep to the lanes and do not step into the fields.
How to actually get there
- Shinjuku Station -> Uenohara Station (JR Chuo Line toward Otsuki/Kawaguchiko, ~60 min; change at Takao if the train does not run direct).
- Uenohara Station -> Akiyama Onsen (free onsen shuttle from the south-exit rotary, ~15 min; Tue-Sat only, departs 10:00 / 12:15 / 13:45).
- At Akiyama Onsen -> Tomioka rice terraces (walk the lanes up the hillside just above), then soak.
- JR Chuo Line + free onsen shuttle
- Shinjuku Station (Tokyo) -> (JR Chuo Line toward Otsuki / Kawaguchiko, ~60 min; a few trains run direct, otherwise change at Takao Station, then ~19 min more) -> Uenohara Station -> (free onsen shuttle bus from the south-exit rotary, ~15 min) -> Akiyama Onsen. Total about 75-80 minutes plus shuttle wait. The free shuttle runs only Tuesday to Saturday, with three departures from Uenohara Station (10:00, 12:15, 13:45) — check the day's timetable before you leave, and note it does not run on Sundays or Mondays.
- Return by shuttle, then JR Chuo Line
- The free shuttle back from the onsen has a few departures spread through the afternoon (last one in the early evening), so check the return times posted at the onsen when you arrive. Miss the last shuttle and you will need a taxi to Uenohara Station.
Before you go
- Cash
- Pay the bath fee at the counter. Bring some cash for the in-house restaurant, as small rural facilities may not take cards.
- Closing days
- The Tomioka rice terraces are private farmland — walk the lanes between the paddies, and do not step into the fields.
- Another way
- If the shuttle does not fit your day, a taxi from Uenohara Station reaches the onsen in about 15 minutes; by car it is about 15 minutes from the Uenohara interchange on the Chuo Expressway.
- After you get off
- The onsen and the terraces are in the same valley — from the bathhouse the terrace lanes climb the hillside just above the hamlet.