The Beautiful Japanese Town of Ginzan Onsen That Inspired ‘Spirited Away’ Is Set To Cap Tourist Numbers, Canada Reviews

Anyone who was raised on Studio Ghibli movies would recognise the marvellous streets of Ginzan Onsen. 

It’s a 300-year-old onsen town in Japan’s mountainous Yamagata region, lined with traditional inns and Edo-period wooden ryokan shopfronts which are cosily lit with warm street lamps, and it’s widely considered to have been Hayao Miyazaki’s inspiration for the setting of his Oscar-winning animation Spirited Away. 

The name of the town translates to ‘silver mountain hot spring’. Onsens – natural geothermal springs – are rich in minerals that have historically been utilised for their health benefits. 

The place welcomes around 330,000 visitors each year, and while that’s hardly surprising given its beauty and unique geography, we also aren’t shocked to learn that Ginzan Onsen is suffering from the impacts of overtourism – particularly from day trippers. 

The town has seen altercations at popular photo spots, verbal abuse towards locals and so much congestion that emergency services have had to abandon ambulances and attend incidents on foot.

So it’s not a surprise that strict rules are now being implemented. From January 7 until the end of March, the Ginzan Onsen association will limit the number of daytrippers during peak times.

While no cap will be in place from 9am to 4pm, daytime visitors without advance reservations will need to leave the town by 5pm. Between 5 and 8pm, only 100 daytime visitors will be allowed into the town, and they need to have bought a ticket in advance. 

Parking rules will be in place from February, and daytrippers will only be able to park in a designated spot 2km away from the hot springs where they must board a shuttle bus to take them there (for ¥1,150 or £5.87). 

This comes after Japan saw a record number of visitors in 2024, surpassing even its 31.88 million high from 2019. A staggering 33.38 million people headed to the country between January and November, according to the Independent. 

More on overtourism in Japan

Japan has been struggling with the impact of high visitor numbers for a while now. In October 2023, the country announced a host of new anti-overtourism measures, and in March Kyoto announced a ban on tourists from its Geisha district. Since then, a compulsory fee to climb Mount Fuji was implemented in July, and the town of Fujikawaguchiko even built a view-blocking wall to deter visitors. 

Check out our top picks of the most underrated places in Japan that deserve some attention. 

Did you see that this is the best place to visit in Asia next year, according to ?

Plus: You could soon travel on a ‘floating train’ that’s faster than a plane. 

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