Hōheikyō Hot Spring

This guide to Hoheikyo Hot Spring near Sapporo starts with a rough, cave-like crust along the bathing pool's rim and traces it back to nineteen sixty-six, when a dormitory for dam workers stood on this spot before an owner drilled into the mountain rock and struck mineral-heavy water. It follows what happened after the spring opened in nineteen eighty-seven and how ordinary bathwater, meeting open air, has been quietly building something on the tub floor ever since. Run your fingers along the rim before you get in.