Visitors going for a dip in the Ichinoyu hot springs bath (or onsen) in Iga City, Mie Prefecture can expect to be greeted by a bright neon sign featuring, as you may have guessed, hot steam!
This sign has, according to its Wikipedia page, apparently been part of the Ichinoyu onsen since at least 1950. The sign and stone pillars which house the sign – which were built during the onsen’s initial construction in 1926 – have been a registered tangible cultural property since June of 2013.
Links:
- http://www.ichinoyuiga.com (The official website of the Iga City Ichinoyu Onsen. Japanese language only.)
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/一乃湯_(三重県) (The Iga City Ichinoyu Onsen at the Japanese Wikipedia.)
- http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/index.php (Official English-language website of Hakone and Ichinoyu.)
- http://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails.asp (Webpage from the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs listing the Ichinoyu Onsen in Iga City as a tangible cultural property. Japanese language only.)
(Image Credit: Thirteen-fri. Used via Wikimedia Commons per CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)