Yubatake, Kusatsu Onsen

The yubatake, or hot water field, sits in the middle of Kusatsu Onsen in Japan's Gunma Prefecture. Thousands of liters of spring water a minute flow through its wooden troughs, cooling as they go before being piped to the town's inns and public baths. Nobody bathes in it, but every Kusatsu soak starts here, and the town's yumomi shows cool the hottest water by stirring it with long wooden paddles.