In 2023, the Japan Onsen Association and the Japan Ryokan and Hotel Association came together to establish the National Council for the Promotion of Onsen Culture as a UNESCO Intangible Culture Heritage. Channel47, a project using entertainment to promote regional Japanese tourism and culture to the world, has been tasked with planning and managing the new ‘Onsen/ONSEN CULTURE CULTURE’ project. The logo for the project has been selected after enlisting the help of the public on the project’s official website.

The logo was selected from over 150 entries and was created by designer Tatsuya Maehara. The letters ‘O’ and ‘S’ in ‘ONSEN’ were used as motifs to express Japan’s image as ‘the land of the rising sun’ along with rising steam in a simple and easily understandable design.

Last November, SOCIAL INNOVATION WEEK 2023 (SIW 2023) took place in Shibuya to bring together diverse creators to provide new perspectives on ways to make a better society. Jungo Kanayama, the executive producer of SIW 2023 and a board member of Channel47, moderated a talk session titled ‘Making Onsen Culture a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage’ to discuss the meaning of onsen culture. Guests included Mayumi Yamazaki (Onsen essayist and adjunct lecturer at Atomi University), Beniko Kishi (Wellness Producer/Representative Director of the NPO Japan Holistic Beauty Association), Keisuke Tada (Vice President of the Japan Hot Springs Association and Chairman of the Hot Springs Culture UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Registration Promotion Committee), and Kei Nakazawa (Executive Director of the Japan Hot Springs Association and Chairman of the Gunma Hot Springs Association). In promoting onsen culture to the world, why do the Japanese love onsen so much? Four keywords were presented–Soak, Savor, Sleep, and Think–and the panel discussed the potential of onsen promotion in future tourism strategies.

On November 28, 2023, a general meeting of the ‘Diet Members Caucus for the Promotion of Onsen Culture as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage’ was held at a venue in Tokyo, with Channel47 Representative Director Yusuke Nakagawa (President of ASOBISYSTEM) participating as a member of the Council to Promote Onsen Culture as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The council submitted a three-point written request to the Federation of Diet Members, which boasts a total of 128 members from the coalition government of the Liberal Democrats, to Chairman Seishiro Eto, appealing to the current situation of onsen and including an intention to “focus on onsen and inns as cultural resources” in the prime minister’s policy speech.

The Council to Promote Onsen Culture as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage plans to continue its activities and more information will be posted on the official website going forward.

Special Site
https://onsen-culture.jp/