Hokkaido Day 3: A Hot Spring

Today my father, my brother, and I went to Porotokotan Museum of the Ainu People in Shiraoi and a hot spring in Noboribetsu. After I have visited three museums of both the Ainu people and the Japanese colonialists in Hokkaido, I cannot but wonder why these museums don't have a space in which histories of the two different sides can intersect with each other. I feel these commemorative practices are a little problematic because they minimize the past and present antagonism between the Ainu and the mainland Japanese who have settled in Hokkaido.

Anyway, the Noboribetsu Hot Spring was awesome. They have several different types of waters. These waters have different chemical compositions; for example, one of them is good for skin, another for nervous systems, and so on. My favorite was the "sleeping hot spring" where I could literally lie on the bottom of the bathtub. This was my first experience of a hot spring and I loved it. I felt that I could stay healthy if I bathed in a hot spring every day.