One of Japan's top luxury hotel firms will open an "onsen" hot spring resort in upstate New York that it says will be the first Japanese-run venture of its kind in the United States. Japanese onsens - ...

Known for its Olympic-worthy mountains, alpine forests, and highlands crossed by rivers and ponds, Joshin Etsu Kogen National ...

This undated photo provided by Stéphanie Crohin shows traditional baths and murals in Kasuga onsen, or hot spring bath, in Matsuzaka, Mie prefecture, Japan. Japan is proud of its bathing traditions.

Making a creaking sound, the wooden entrance door opens, and Sumie Tamura is standing there with a friendly smile. "Irashaimase" - welcome - she says while bowing gracefully to greet me. Her ...