Where is “hot sea”? Well, it’s “Atami,” a popular hot spring resort, which lies on the seashore facing the Pacific Ocean about 90 km south west of downtown Tokyo. Atami literally means hot sea deriving its name from a legend that hot springs spewed from the sea. Atami once used to be a “Las Vegas”style resort: a destination for honeymooners as well as company paid trips. After that, everything changed and Atami experienced a period of decline with fewer people visiting there.

Somehow, Atami managed to get over the difficulties by focusing on visits by families, young people and nowadays foreign tourists. It has excellent access by the Shinkansen (just forty minutes or so from Tokyo station)

Formerly, a posh Japanese style inn, known as a ryokan, now open to the public. 

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