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.