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Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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A forestry officer found the spring in 1916, but visitors came much later: after Typhoon No. 15 felled trees in 1954, a logging road reached the area; the pond trail followed in 1961 and a hotel in 1963.
The pond now called Daigaku-numa was once Fujimi-numa. After a 17-person Yokohama City University team camped there during a 1962 survey, local residents renamed it to commemorate their research.
These ponds sit in the scars of a giant landslide, not a crater: hollows left by a slide from Takane-ga-hara collect snowmelt, rain and stream water, creating wetlands around the onsen.
Around Daisetsu Kogen, bears change menus as they move uphill: in spring they eat marsh plants such as skunk cabbage and giant butterbur; in summer, alpine shoots and roots; by autumn, berries, seeds and roots.
At the bear information center, monitors identify individual bears by details such as coat color, chest markings, ears, tails and muzzle. One female was recognized in records from 2008 through 2014.
The spring water is recorded at 71.2°C—far hotter than a bathing tub—and the Japan Onsen Association classifies it as acidic. That’s geothermal heat bubbling up beside cold alpine wetlands.
