The first thing I noticed about ryokans were the slippers. They're everywhere, waiting at every threshold, marking the countless invisible lines between public and private, inside and out.

It is closer to this 'Hell Valley' than any of the other ryokan in the area. Noboribetsu Hell Valley is only a three-minute walk from Dai-ichi Takimotokan. A variety of mineral hot springs gush from ...

Hishikawa is known as Issin and studies at the Okayama city-run Korakukan High School. He refines his techniques for three to four hours “almost every day,” as a national team member specially ...