Japan has such an abundance of natural hot springs (called onsen, 温泉 in Japanese) that it’s become a national pastime to visit one just to soak the day’s stress away. There’s said to be 2,500 onsens dotting the island nation, and it’s customary for Japanese people to share the same onsen.

For those who aren’t physically able to visit an onsen, a Japanese company called Bathclin has come up with a product that essentially lets you relive the onsen experience at home. ‘Japan’s Famous Hot Springs’ is a line of bath salts that aims to show off the appeal of different onsen areas across Japan.

Although Bathclin includes a disclaimer that the bath salts aren’t 100% the same as an onsen, the company also says that they coordinated with each region’s tourism organization to make sure that the bath salts live up to the feel, color, and aroma of their local hot spring water.

The four regions represented by the bath salts are: Atami, Beppu, Noboribetsu, and Nyuto. Each region gets a unique scent and bath salt color, for example, Atami is described as smelling like “fresh fruits & flowers, mountains, and the refreshing sea”, and when melted, turns the bath water into a transparent reddish-orange color.

On the other hand, the bath salts for Noboribetsu -- a town in Japan’s northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido -- is described as having the scent of “clear air wafting through the forests” with a “milky-white, snow-like color.”

Each can is priced at 1,100 yen and can be bought through Bathclin’s online shop.


By - Jen Laforteza.