This is Ibusuki in Kagoshima
Kagoshima is famous for its natural occuring geothermatically heated waters.
which makes it perfect for Onsen (hot spring)
and I've come to Ibusuki for one reason in particular
SUNA MUSHI ONSEN
Suna meaning sand,
Mushi meaning steamed
Onsen is those naturally occuring geothermically heated water
we all love to bathe in.
Which basically means that I'm getting the..
steam cleaning of my life.
There is a lot of geothermal activities here,
making great onsen
Kagoshima City is famous for Sakurajima
an active volcano just a few kilometers from city center
Kagoshima is in Kyushu. On the bottom.
Here is the city with Sakurajima looming over it all
Further south is Ibusuki, where the Sunamushi Onsen is
and the spot where I am right now.
I took a local train from Kagoshima Chuo station to Ibusuki
It took about an hour.
Right away you can tell the sand baths are famous here.
Ibusuki is an Onsen town
A free Onsen footbath by the station.
You can either rent a bicycle,
or walk the 1.5km to the sand bath
I walked
Welcome to the Sunamushi bath center.
It's 1080yen for the entrance and yukata
a small towel will cost an extra of 120yen
Leave you stuff in the locker, and head out to the beach.
You get buried here.
A funny site to see those heads sticking out of the sand
The recommended time, 10 minutes.
The sand is cleaned by flooded with near boiling
hot water from the ground.
Let's ask the manager for more information
about the Sunamushi Onsen
There are people who adjust the temperature
called Sunakake-san
and these people check the temperature
with bare feet
We can lower the temperature for kids
For those who want it hot,
we can dig deeper to make it hotter
The sand used is between 50C to 55C
The hot spirng temperature directly is 80C
When you stay in more than 10minutes,
you may gey moderate temperature burns
or get sizzy from heat and fall down.
The pressure of sand
makes the blood flow better.
and increases you metabolism
It's good for you skin
and said to thin your blood.
This has 4 times the effect of a normal onsen.
A walk to the beach nearby, and you'll see this!
Steam filtering through the sand
A mysterious mist
I asked how hot it gets, so we dug a hole.
I can see water
It's onsen water,
It's onsen water.
It's onsen water?
It's very hot.
Ouch! What's the temperature?
Maximum 80C
80C!
80 degrees celcius
So the water is coming from here.
From the mountain to the sea, the hot water is running
So the water comes from the mountains and
towards the sea, bringing this volcanic heat
This volcanic water and..
This is what heats the sand naturally over there.
After a lesson on how this works,
It's time to hit the sand bath.
Sunamushi Onsen
The volcanic sand bath experience.
in Ibusuki Kagoshima
A towel is wrapped around your head,
and the Sunakake-san positiions you correctly
She's been doing this for decades
You can see she has bare feet to test the sand temperature
How is the temperature?
I have no problem with it
It surprisingly feels good to be buried alive in sand
The finishing touch is that umbrella
Done just like in a cocktail.
This is so awesome.
It's hard to find the right words to describe
what you're actually doing in the first couple of minutes.
It's crazy!
You're under really hot sand
And that is just...kind of cool.
So I've been under for about 5 minutes now.
and
I can definitely feel the heat, mostly on my back.
and the weight of the sand is doing something strange to my body
I can feel....like my heart...
the blood pulsuating through my body
I think that has to do a little bit from the...
imp...inc...increased circulation.
and the weight of the sand
on my legs and my hand and on my body.
What I noticed the most,
Is the cool...
sea air that I'm breathing
It's kinda cooling down my body
on the inside
while the sand
is boiling the rest of it.
on the outside
Am I uncomfortable?
No...not yet
Feeling pretty good.
So It's about 7 minutes and...
and...
It's getting hot, especially on my back
This is a time I can...I can...really...
feel the heat
if I close my eyes,
I can just focus on the sound of the sea
nearby
That's really relaxing because
It's hot
It's really hot
I can keep going.
I can keep going
My body was on fire
but my bdy ad my lungs were cooled
by the sea sound and the fresh breeze
So now it's been about 10 minutes and
Definitely I feel like I'm on a skillet or an iron
My back's feeling a little bit
burn.
I've hit the recommended time limit.
but decided to push it a little more
3,2,1....
Heavy!
Heavy heavy It's heavy
My body felt very heavy
movement was slow
but I felt great. I survived the volcanic sand bath
Now, all I have to do is, stand up
Prolong expoture to hot sand can cause diziness
and total lack of coordination.
So I'm out
It was quite an experience
It was baking in there. Really baking and now I'm here
startng to cool real fast but
definitely
this volcanic sand bath experience,
you gotta try it.
There's nothing like this anywhere else in the world
I feel more alive
After the sand, rince off and take another soak,
in the naturally heated spring water in Kagoshima
that tingling sensation?
That's the body thanking you, or slapping you.
Either way, you'll never forget
the volcanic sand bath experience.