In fact, the town was named Takayu Onsen all the way until 1950 when Mt. Zao was listed as one of the top 100 tourist destinations in Japan and they decided to rebrand as Zao Onsen. The Onsen ...

Today, Zao Onsen is home to around 80 ryokan and hotels, many of which offer a classic onsen experience, with meals served in-room and private indoor or outdoor baths.

Open-air bath in Zao Onsen. Picture: Yamagata Prefecture Tourism. A short drive from the ski resort brought us to the forested Zao Pension Village, a collection of 10 rustic cabins.

A t Zao Onsen Ski Resort in the city of Yamagata, ice trees conveying a feeling of winter are at their best. Ice trees are formed when snow and ice repeatedly stick to Maries' fir trees on Mount ...

The rime-covered trees are a popular tourist attraction and people from around Japan visit the Zao Onsen Ski Resort in Yamagata Prefecture to ski and snowboard in their midst.

A stunning view of "juhyo," known as snow monsters, standing tall across the snowy landscape at the Zao Onsen in Yamagata Prefecture on Jan. 27 (Minako Yoshimoto) ...

In the last few years, Yamagata has become famous for something else: having some of Japan’s highest quality sake. It’s even become known as ‘the kingdom of ginjo’, as around 80% of the ...

Open-air bath in Zao Onsen. Picture: Yamagata Prefecture Tourism. A short drive from the ski resort brought us to the forested Zao Pension Village, a collection of 10 rustic cabins.

Open-air bath in Zao Onsen. Picture: Yamagata Prefecture Tourism. A short drive from the ski resort brought us to the forested Zao Pension Village, a collection of 10 rustic cabins.

Leaving tracks in the soft, fresh powder, I swerved to avoid the extended claws of a three-storey-high monster but almost skied straight into another that, except for pure-white lizard skin ...