Kusatsu Onsen souvenirs: yu-no-hana bath salts, onsen manju, Kusatsu glass and where to buy them

The Yubatake is the symbol of Kusatsu Onsen. The tourism association says about 4,000 litres of hot water a minute rise here (pH 2.1) and run through seven neatly laid wooden channels; over time the minerals in the water concentrate and settle in the channels, and this deposit, yu-no-hana ('hot-water flowers'), can be collected — which is how the 'hot-water field' got its name. The channels also cool the water before it is sent on to the town's baths and inns.

What you will mostly find on the shelves is yu-no-hana in bath salts. Kusatsu Onsen Yunoka Honpo, a souvenir shop with a German-style front about five minutes' walk from the bus terminal, sells its own Yukemuri Kusatsu no Yu bath salt, which its online shop describes as containing yu-no-hana from Kusatsu town: ¥220 for a single 25 g bath, ¥660 for three and ¥3,121 for a 500 g bottle. Read the label: the main ingredients are sodium sulphate, sodium chloride and calcium carbonate, with the yu-no-hana listed as 'mineral salt', so it is a bath salt with yu-no-hana in it rather than pure deposit. One 25 g measure is for 150–200 litres of water; the shop says not to use it in enamel baths, not to use the leftover water for laundry, and to drain the bath soon after.

The same shop recommends a face mask made with Kusatsu's spring water and a 'Yukemuri' cider made with natural water from the Tanigawa mountains, and it stays open late (8:30–21:30 according to the tourism association, 9:00–21:00 on its own site), so you can stop in on an after-dinner walk round the lit-up Yubatake. Bath salts are light and dry and travel easily; just keep them sealed so they don't scent everything else in your bag.

Onsen manju — small steamed buns filled with sweet bean paste — are the classic Kusatsu souvenir, and several shops make their own within a few minutes of the Yubatake. Honke Chichiya makes two kinds: a traditional brown manju of brown-sugar dough around smooth koshi-an, and its own white 'two-colour' manju, with chestnut paste wrapped in koshi-an inside a fine white dough (the tourism association lists ¥150 and ¥170 each). Sets of six come in a small box with a handle. Chichiya has three shops: the main shop, where the manju are made, a minute's walk from the Yubatake; the Yubatake shop right in front of it, which steams buns at the counter and is the only one open until 19:00; and the Kōgen Route shop on the road towards Shiga Kōgen and the Kusatsu-Shirane area, with parking, which it suggests for buying in bulk on your way home by car. It also sells Chichiya Baum, a layered cake topped with coarse sugar.

Matsumura Manju, founded in 1945 according to its own site, makes its paste daily from Hokkaido azuki, sweetened lightly and left slightly chunky, inside a thin brown-sugar skin; it also sells a shio-yōkan (lightly salted bean jelly) made with Japanese azuki. Its main shop is about 100 m from the Yubatake along Sainokawara-dōri, with a branch on National Route 292; closing days change month by month (mostly Tuesdays and Wednesdays), and the shop takes phone reservations because the manju can sell out. Fukidō, two minutes from the Yubatake (7:00–17:00, closed Thursdays), and Kusatsu Yu-no-hana Manju Honpo, one minute from the bus terminal (closed Tuesdays), both point out that their manju use koshi-an, which the tourism association notes is unusual in Kusatsu; Yu-no-hana Manju Honpo also bakes Yumomi-chan yaki, baked treats inspired by the town's mascot, in about ten flavours.

Eat some on the spot: Yamabiko, in front of the Yubatake foot bath, sells its manju in boxes (six for ¥520 and up) but also fries age-manju, deep-fried manju sold at the shop front to eat while they are hot. For the boxed ones, check the date: Chichiya says its manju are fresh, not vacuum-packed, and should be eaten within three to four days whatever the label says, and Matsumura gives four days from the day they are made, with no preservatives — fine for the last day of your trip, not for a long journey home. Kanemidori sits on a back lane just behind Honke Chichiya.

Kusatsu Onsen Purin is a pudding shop whose idea, it says, comes from yumomi, the paddling used to cool Kusatsu's very hot water: its Yumomi Purin is made in its own workshop with Haruna milk from Gunma, Japanese eggs and cream and Madagascan vanilla, in a smooth version and a firmer 'retro' version with caramel sauce. Two jars are modelled on the Yubatake itself — one topped with an emerald-green melon jelly, the other with a blue butterfly-pea jelly that turns purple when you add the lemon juice supplied, like the night lighting of the hot-spring field. The tourism association lists prices from ¥400 (9:00–18:00), about five minutes from the bus terminal. The pudding is a chilled product with a use-by date seven days from production, so treat it as something to eat in Kusatsu or on the way home; the shop's online store sends it chilled straight from the workshop.

Two other things to look for: at Kusatsu Goma Fukudō, sesame is pounded by hand with a wooden pestle and mortar rather than ground, which the shop says keeps the seeds from releasing too much oil and makes the aroma last; it uses golden sesame from Turkey and is run by a 'sesame meister' certified by the Japan Sesame Association. And at the roadside station at the entrance to Kusatsu (Kusatsu Undō Chaya Kōen, 9:00–17:00, open daily), the tourism association picks out the station's own roll cake made with hanamame, the large runner beans grown locally in the highlands. Grande Fume Kusatsu, next to the Ōtaki-no-yu bath about five minutes from the Yubatake, specialises in Italian gelato and rusks.

Kusatsu Glass Kura, about ten minutes' walk from the bus terminal, is three shops in one place, each open daily 9:00–18:00 (hours vary). Building 1 sells Kusatsu Onsen glass — glassware made to evoke Kusatsu's hot water — together with glass ornaments; building 2 has tombodama (Japanese lampwork glass beads), tombodama jewellery and work by bead artists; building 3 has glass accessories such as necklaces, earrings and key rings. Small pieces wrapped in clothes travel well in a suitcase.

You can also make your own. Building 2 takes bookings for a tombodama workshop, with five designs at ¥2,800–3,500, and a glass-blowing session at ¥4,500 in which your piece is cooled slowly and posted from the day after (postage extra); both involve glass at very high temperatures, so they are for children from the upper years of primary school up. The glassworks also says that because staff give safety instructions in Japanese, it may not be able to take people who cannot follow spoken Japanese — ask your inn to phone ahead if you are unsure.

Building 1 also sells onsen tamago, eggs cooked in Kusatsu's hot water. The shop says it was the first in Kusatsu to make them and has a spring set aside for the eggs. They are for eating there, not for packing, so there is no shopping link.

The nearest brewery is Asama Shuzō in Naganohara, at the foot of Kusatsu. Gunma Prefecture's sake pages say it was founded in 1872, brews with local spring water in the area's very dry climate, and grows some of its own rice; its main label, Higen, is a dry sake brewed to go with food — the brewery's stated aim is to make the sake in Japan that goes best with vegetables, and it has gained vegan certification. Its other labels include Asamayama and Kusatsu-bushi. The brewery's tourism centre in Naganohara, on the way up to Kusatsu, has a shop selling its sake and its own sweets (9:00–16:30) alongside several places to eat. Hotel Sakurai, at the southern entrance to Kusatsu, was opened in 1964 by the family behind the brewery.

In town, two shops are useful for everything else. TIP, about ten minutes from the bus terminal on the road towards Kusatsu-Shirane and the ski area, stocks Kusatsu-only souvenirs — Japanese and Western sweets, pickles, folk crafts and local sake — plus the food, drinks and everyday items of a convenience store, and it accepts parcels for courier delivery (8:00–18:00, to 17:00 on Thursdays and 19:00 on Saturdays, with a large car park). Miyaroku, a minute from the bus terminal, says it is the souvenir shop closest to both the terminal and the Yubatake car park, with Kusatsu specialities, goods featuring Yumomi-chan (the town's mascot) and Gunma-chan (the prefecture's), and some products of its own.

If you run out of time, Kusatsu Onsen Bus Terminal has a specialty shop selling Kusatsu products and goods (about 9:00–17:00), plus coin lockers (6:00–21:00) and a tourist information centre, so you can shop while you wait for the bus. Driving, the roadside station at the town entrance sells a wide range of Kusatsu souvenirs, and Chichiya's Kōgen Route shop is set up for buying manju by the box on your way out. At your ryokan, ask at the front desk what the shop stocks; Hotel Ichii, across the street from the Yubatake, has a large souvenir shop on its ground floor.

Mind the dates: Chichiya's manju should be eaten within three to four days and Matsumura's within four days of being made, and Kusatsu Onsen pudding must be kept cold. Pack glass in the middle of your suitcase wrapped in clothes or bubble wrap. TIP accepts parcels for courier delivery if you would rather send heavy things on within Japan, for example to your next hotel. For posting food home, packing it for the flight and the rules on bringing food into your own country, see /en/guides/japanese-snacks-and-souvenirs-to-take-home; for having things delivered to your inn in the first place, see /en/guides/ship-to-your-ryokan.

Missed something? Yunoka Honpo, Matsumura Manju (from ¥900 for six) and Kusatsu Onsen Purin all run online shops, while Chichiya's main shop says it does not ship, and the searches in this guide find Kusatsu bath salts, onsen manju and Gunma sake on Amazon.co.jp and Rakuten — check the seller, best-before dates and whether they deliver abroad.