Spa Resorts in Hot Water As Springs Run Dry

Soaking in a tub of piping-hot spring water is as much a part of Japanese life as karaoke, but several unscrupulous innkeepers in some of the country's best-known spa resorts are in hot water of their own after they admitted filling their baths from the hot tap.

At least seven of the 55 inns and public bath houses in the spa resort of Ikaho, about 80 miles north of Tokyo, said recently they had filled baths with tap water after mineral-rich springs started to run dry. Their admission prompted 4,000 cancellations from appalled tourists.

Ikaho, a popular retreat for writers and artists, is known for its iron-rich waters, which were first piped to the surface 400 years ago. Tens of thousands of people visit the town every year seeking the purported therapeutic effects of the reddish-brown water.

Several inns in the spa resort of Shirahone said they had added bath salts to give the waters their trademark milky-white hue. The waters, which are said to have medicinal qualities, reportedly started to lose their natural colour 10 years ago.

After that, the trickle of embarrassing revelations became a deluge. Other inns owned up to misleading guests, angering Japan's millions of hot-spring enthusiasts and prompting calls for tighter regulations.

The innkeepers have not broken any laws, however. Under a 1948 law, anyone who discovers a source of water 25C or hotter can open a bath house. They are required to register the bathing facilities when they open, but do not have to renew their licence. When the natural spring water runs dry, there is nothing, legally, to stop them using tap water.

The lengths to which some will go to attract visitors reflects an urgent need to keep the waters flowing as the Japanese show no sign of abandoning the centuries-old tradition of stripping off and lowering themselves into piping hot water, often several times a day.

There are now more than 22,000 registered inns and bath houses at 3,000 resorts across the country, almost double the number of 40 years ago.

Yet according to Japan's Fair Trade Commission, only about a third of the country's hot springs use pure, undiluted spring water from natural sources.

The industry was rocked two years ago when seven people died after contracting legionnaires' disease at a hot-spring resort.

Another inn caused a public outcry when it refused to allow former leprosy patients to use its baths, fearing they would upset other guests. And the increasing use of chlorine has some bathers worried that a soak may cause skin complaints, not soothe them.

The environment ministry, however, plans to question every spa operator in the country in an effort to discover the extent of the deception.

The inns, though, are likely to survive the inquest: a newspaper poll published this week found that visitors were more concerned about the quality of the food on offer than the water.