HOT SPRING THERAPY IN JAPAN: MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH BENEFITS BY AGE AND GENDER

Abstract

Hot spring therapy is a longstanding cultural practice in Japan and is increasingly recognized as an important component of health tourism and regional revitalization. The aim of this study is to clarify the purposes of hot spring travel and to examine the associated mental and physical health benefits, with particular attention to differences by age and gender. Specifically, this study seeks to identify demographic patterns in travel motivations and perceived health outcomes among hot spring visitors using large-scale nationwide data. Using data from a nationwide cross-sectional survey commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, responses were collected from 18,620 hot spring visitors aged 20 years and older between August 2018 and October 2022. After excluding incomplete responses, 15,608 valid questionnaires were analyzed. Travel motivations, purposes of hot spring use, and self-reported changes in health status were examined using cross-tabulation, chi-square tests, and correspondence analysis. The results show that hot springs were the primary purpose of travel across all age groups, followed by hobbies, refreshment, and fatigue recovery. Clear gender differences were observed: women were more likely to travel for beauty, refreshment, and health-related purposes, whereas men more frequently traveled for sightseeing, sports, and work. Age-based trends indicated that older adults prioritized health management and illness recovery, while younger individuals tended to travel for work or exploratory purposes. Participants reported overall improvements in mental and physical health following hot spring travel, particularly in happiness, sleep quality, fatigue reduction, and stress relief. Women reported significantly stronger perceived health benefits than men, especially improvements in cold sensitivity, skin condition, and swelling, while men more commonly reported improvements in general health and appetite. The novelty of this study lies in its use of a large, nationwide dataset combined with correspondence analysis to simultaneously visualize and interpret age- and gender-specific patterns in both travel purposes and perceived health effects of hot spring tourism. These findings provide empirical evidence to support the development of targeted, demographic-specific health tourism strategies. A limitation of this study is its reliance on subjective health assessments, suggesting the need for future research incorporating objective physiological measures.