Japan’s hot springs risk drying up as tourism-fuelled water crisis sparks closures

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 on 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 metres 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.

  

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