A trip for good health will bring you to Sasayama, Tanpa which is famed for black soya beans which is used in many dishes. This is also where you'll find Goemonburo an old Japanese style inn that helps you to be mentally and physically healthy as the sign says - S.P.H, Spiritual Physical Health. The landlord was an athlete and was always concerned about food and health, so after retirement he opened an inn in a place surrounded by a field based on a simple life which is the basis of health. He wanted everyone to experience it during their stay.

Guests get to do some exercises in the field which is used to grow pesticide-free vegetables by harvesting vegetable which will be part of the day's meal. A hut at the back of the lodge is where the cooking of rice is done on a hearth before guests sit down in a chic room for dinner. Appetizers include black soybean and edamame and a main course of wild boar hot pot with vegetables picked from the garden. The next day try making black soybean miso using koji, salt and black soybean crushed by hand and aged in a pot for one year. The black soybean miso which is full of flavour is used to make miso soup for breakfast. There are also mountain delicacies like vegetables and Japanese yam. After leaving the inn, take a train and bus to a hot spring to complete the trip of wellness.

For the next trip travel from Ueno by Express Kusatsu for one hour to a spa town among the mountains, Higashiagatsuma-machi in Gunma. Known as a village of herbs visitors can enjoy staying at a thatched roof inn, hot springs and delicacies. But first, travel by car 10 minutes from the station and stop at a mushroom farm to go hunting for shiitakes! You pay according to the amount you pick and can cost as little as 840 yen (S$13.40) for a healthy collection. You can also cook and eat your harvest at the farm.

Mushroom soup is also served freely for guests who've made appointments. After the meal, walk through Japanese cedar trees and enjoy the nature. Visit Hakoshima Yusui, a natural fountain which is known as one of Japan's 100 remarkable waters as the water is pure and sweet. Head back to Nakanojo Station and stop at a popular coffee shop, Emao, for a healthy drink, a herb tea with ten kinds of herbs in it and toppings which suit different symptoms. It is next to a herb store where the herbs are used to make the drinks. Younger sister owns the coffee shop while elder sister runs the herb store and uses her knowledge of herbs to prepare yakuso-cha according to different symptoms. Nakanojo is a herb village where residents started to use herbs in their daily lives a long ago.

From town, catch a pick-up bus from the inn, Yakushi onsen Hatago. You can see from the nagayamon gate of Yakushi, the thatched roof inn in the mountains and though the old Japan is reproduced guests will find modern touches like an automatic front door. But overall there is a relaxing atmosphere in the hotel and guest rooms with ancient charm. Relax at the hot spring Yakushi no yu that uses water fresh from a fountainhead. The open-air bath offers a view of the waterfall Takimi no yu. Sit around the hearth to have dinner with a menu based on vegetables which are in season and good for health, from dishes that are good for the skin, overcome tiredness and prevent high blood pressure. The ingredients are all local crops and include precious Joshu beef, Furaidori (chicken) that is nutritious and
good for the skin. The next day after breakfast, take a walk to Jidai tansu kairo, a museum of furniture from the end of Edo period to the middle of Meiji period. After that, drop by Sato no yu, a herbal hot spring that uses herbs in season such as dong quai which improves blood circulation and five other types of herbs like lizard tail and silvervine, which are put into a bag to soak in a bathtub. The smell is very strong but is very good for the body. Finally stop at the bell hall called Shofuku shichirensho-do which has different bells for a different wish. Ring the bell for your wish to come true.

On the next trip for health starts from Ueda, Nagano which is 75 mins from Tokyo by Nagano shinkansen. Stop at Ueda Station and head for Kakeyu onsen by bus from the front of the Station. Sometimes, there'll be a voluntary bus guide, who are mainly Housewives from Kakeyu onsen who try to draw attention to their hometown which features the Chikuma River and Nagano apples. After travelling for 45 minutes, you reach Kakeyu onsen, Shinshu which gets its name from a story of a magical deer which led hunters to the hot spring.The area has been assigned as a 'National healing spa town' which drawms many regular visitors who stay for a long time for healing. Kakeyu onsen has a beautiful natural view and People who are injured or sick climb the steep steps to the temple as rehabilitation, and also offer prayers to Monju-do. The area also features quaint shops such as one from the Taisho period selling 10 flavors of oyaki.

Stay overnight at the Saito Hotel, founded 400 years ago and aims to improve visitors' health. The Japanese inn was renovated 14 years ago and includes rooms with a kitchen as some guests stay for weeks and need to make some of their own food. So expect a big room with views of the mountain and Kakeyu onsen. At the hotel's lower ground floor there is a gym and a hot spring pool for guests, a detailed medical examination for those who sign up and trainers permanently stationed around to check on guests' physical strengths and to teach you exercises according to your health conditions. After a work-out guests can relax in the many baths in Saito Hotel - Acchu-yoku for people who have pain, Kiho-yu can for tiredness and Ne-yu for insomnia. Dinner is a buffet which has over 40 kinds of cuisines and a menu that will be changed everyday and using ingredients for recipes that are definitely healthy. Expect at least 3 to 4 kinds of vegetables in each dish for the buffet which can range from porrid gewith carrots and mushrooms, salmon broiled with sesame, tofu hamburger, an apple, walnut and shrimp salad. The next morning,go to the mountains and take a rally walk which includes 21 sightseeing spots of kakeyu onsen. You get a certificate and souvenir if you get all the stamps. If you get hungry during the walk, have soba. When in Shinshu, you must try soba and a popular dish, is oshibori-soba using handmade ni-hachi soba and sauce that is ground from spicy radish soup with miso that offers kick different from wasabi. Also try ginseng tempura if ginseng is in season. The yield of Asian ginseng here is the best in all Japan and the whole root is used to make tempura.

For something differnt but healthy travel 2.75 hours by Yamagata shinkansen from Tokyo to Kaminoyama onsen with a hot spring that has a 500-year-old history.

Walk around the Kaminoyama castle town in Yamagata. It also a leading spa town since Tohoku times and features five different ashi-yu (Foot bath) around the city. The oldest that is free of charge for use and the origin of Kaminoyama onsen is a 550 year old foot bath said to have been found by a monk who noticed a crane healing its wound by the hot spring. Next, Orizuru, a Japanese restaurant which is concerned with health with an owner who is a qualified vegetable sommelier and looks for healthy cuisines everyday. The most popular is "okasan no osusume teishoku" of root vegetables, edible chrysanthemum and 20 other ingredients used in the one dish. Also served, is natto soup,which is necessary in winter, and millet rice which is cooked with black soybean, and has fried black rice and lentil as toppings. After lunch, take a walk and end up at an inn with the sign outside that says 'stone life'. Shounkaku aims to 'improve health by stones' so in a normal guest room instead of tatami mats there are healing stones, and a hot ganban-yoku or hot stone spa plates to warm the body and improve blood circulation. Hot stone spa plates can also be found in the main hot spring area but here the ceramics with 3mm diameter are spread over the bathtub and warmed by the hot spring so it has the same effect as a hot spring. Cover your body with the stones which would exert pressure onto your body and offer a massaging effect. For dinner try the yakuzen full course since the landlady is a qualified international yakuzen instructor and uses Chinese herbs inJapanese food. Expect black silkie soup with 10 kinds of herbs and a good cure for tiredness.

The next day, try Kasedori, a custom which has been carried out for 300 years and celebrated every lunar new year, with youngsters covering themselves with straw while praying for protection against fire and good business. After a traditional dance, go to konnyaku-bansho and enjoy the garden view while having the special konjac cuisine. Konjac is very healthy because of it is low in calories and rich in dietary fiber. The restaurant owner has created 300 dishes using the solidified mixture of radish and konjac which helps in discharging toxins.