A  湯めぐりシリーズ (Hot water tour series) is the hot spring variety from the Japanese makers of the lovely Bath Roman salts, Earth Chemical Co., Ltd. There are several different boxes, I chose the one that has milky (nigori) type bath salts. They don’t try to resemble the actual water in those onsen towns, just the scent of flowers in the area and such, and the water is also quite colorful. This, the Rotenyu meguri (露天湯めぐり) box contains 18 sachets, and four varieties. Oddly, these are made in China. The colors and fragrances are all very nice, but the texture is not so perfect as in previous products, the powder doesn’t dissolve easily/by itself. Still these are fun.

秋田乳頭 Akita (Prefecture) – Nyūtō: Milky white with flower scent. Nice, fresh fragrance, but a little too clean, like a liquid soap. 3/5

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This is the 4th and last assortment pack from the Tabi no yado series by Kracie. Shittori (しっとり) means moist, so these should be moisturizing. Two of the four hot spring baths are clear and two are milky type. I haven’t seen it any shop around here, they seem to only carry the milky and clear boxes (orange and pink), so I had to order this from Amazon for $20. There are 13 sachets in the box, 4 Yuzawa and 3 each of the others, featuring famous hot springs.

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Shukuba no yu (宿場の湯) by Nihon Detergent (日本合成洗剤), a company from Osaka. As the name suggests, their main forcus is household detergents, but they also make a wide range of other products from toiletry to cosmetics. This is an assortment pack trying to take you on a trip to famous hot springs in Japan, but they’re not trying to reproduce the water of those onsens. Should help fatigue, cold, dry skin. The box contains 10 sachets, 5 kinds, 2 of each.

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This Tabi no Yado Hot Springs Assortment Pack contains 15 individually foil wrapped sachets featuring 5 unique Hot Spring Bath Salts. These will turn the bath water to various colors, but keeping it transparent (non-milky, or as the box says “toumei”). For best results, fill tub with warm water (about 104F) and add 1 envelop of bath powder. Do not use in wooden tub, or jacuzzi whirlpool type baths. They contain dried orange peel and angelica. There are 5 different salts in the pack, 3 of each, and I bought it for $15 (on Amazon). These five onsen salts are also sold in individual boxes (containing 5 sachets of the same), which was $6 in the store. The contents:

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The title (日本の名湯) translates as “Well know hot springs of Japan” and is kind of self-explanatory. This series is made by Bathclin (バスクリン basukurin), who produces a wide range of bath additives under several brands (e.g. Pure Skin, Kikiyu). These Nihon no Meito types are packaged as 450g bottles or boxes including 5 individual sachets (30g each). There are also assortment packs and gift packs shown on their website, and many varieties, but in the shops around here I only saw two choices on the shelves: the Noboribetsu and the Nyuto one, maybe they’re the most popular. Both are the milky white type. As usual, they help easing fatigue, muscle or back ache, coldness, dry skin and whatnot. Paid around $8 for a box, and bottles were for $15.

After trying the Beautiful Skin pack I moved on to the other three Hot Springs Assortment Packs of the Tabi no Yado series by Kracie. I was able to quickly read the hiragana words describing them and look up in my dictionary (I use Imiwa on the iPhone) that “nigori” (にごり) means “muddy“, so the Orange box should contain all the milky ones I like! Needless to say that was my fist choice.

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