An onsen like no other in the Tokyo area’s premier hot spring resort town.

With February here, it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security regarding the weather in Japan. After all, in just a month the cherry blossoms are scheduled to start blooming in Tokyo, and aren’t those outdoor sakura hanami parties the archetypal moment of spring?

Old Man Winter (or the Winter Shogun, as he’s called in Japan) is going to be hitting Japan with cold temperatures for a few more weeks, however, and so it’s still a great time to head to a hot spring to warm yourself up. And if you’re having trouble picking which hot spring to go to, right now is an especially good time to visit Yunessun in the onsen town of Hakone and take a dip in its chocolate bath.

The chocolate bath isn’t a permanent part of Yunessun, but the facility is offering it as a special service for the Valentine’s Day season, since the celebration is at least as much about chocolate as it is romance in Japan. Twice a day, at 1 and 3 p.m., the Yunessan staff pours a full liter (33.8 ounces) of chocolate into the tub, with the heat of the bathwater releasing a sweet aroma that the resort says will soak into your pores and leave your skin with a sweet scent.

In addition to the aroma and novelty, the chocolate bath also comes with a variety of purported health and beauty benefits, as Yunessan says the moisturizing and circulation-improving effects found in cocoa will be transferred to guests via their time in the choco-filled tub.

While most hot springs in Japan require bathers to be nude, Yunessun allows, and actually requires, bathing suits for this unique experience, which is also a mixed-gender affair (mirroring the setup of its maple syrup bath from a while back). The chocolate bath will be open until March 17, meaning guests can celebrate with a soak to celebrate not only Valentine’s Day, but its Japanese counterpart White Day as well.

Related: Yunessun official website
Source: Yunessun press release
Top image: Yunessun press release
Insert images: Yunessun press release, Yunessun
[ Read in Japanese ]

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