Kusatsu, Gunma

 town, resort, municipality, onsen, interesting place, second-level administrative division, draw only border

Kusatsu Onsen is one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, blessed with large volumes of high quality hot spring water, said to cure every illness but lovesickness.

Well known as a hot spring resort for many centuries, Kusatsu's fame was further boasted by German doctor Erwin von Baelz, who served at the imperial court in the late 1800s and recommended Kusatsu for its water's health benefits.

Situated at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture, Kusatsu also offers skiing in winter and hiking during the rest of the year to be enjoyed in combination with hot spring bathing.

Kusatsu is located along Japan's Romantic Road.

Unusually enough for Japan, Kusatsu does not have a train station of its own. The nearest station is Naganohara Kusatsuguchi (長野原草津口), 2:30 hrs away from Tokyo by the direct express train (¥4620), from where you can take a connecting bus (25 min, ¥670) to Kusatsu itself.
JR also operates the Jōshu Yūmeguri (上州ゆめぐり) direct bus several times a day from Shinjuku (Tokyo), which takes around 4 hours and charges ¥3000/5600 one-way/return

wikitravel.org/en/Kusatsu
www.joy.hi-ho.ne.jp/ma0011/T-Gunma52.htm (Japanese)