KYODO NEWS



 

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 said Saturday.

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.