Japan's hot springs urged to come clean

Spa owners in Japan have been urged to clean up their act, after the country's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) estimated that nearly 70% of resorts claiming to use pure, natural water were not telling the truth.

In reality, according to commission official Seiji Watanabe, spring water was being heated artificially in many resorts and also being topped up by water from other sources.

Hot springs expert Bob Neff, who has visited more than 200 of the country's spas to research his book Japan's Hidden Hot Springs, said he was not surprised at the trade commission's findings.

"It's conventional wisdom that many hot springs mix their mineral water with tap water, recycle it, filter it and even run it through the bath many times," Mr Neff told the BBC's East Asia Today programme.

He estimated that only 20% of the spas he had been to were genuine.

Mr Watanabe said the trade commission was considering a crackdown on spas that misled their customers.

But Mr Neff said: "The JFTC is infamous for issuing reports and then doing nothing to implement them."

He added, however, that the amount of publicity generated by the report was likely to force many spas to present credible evidence to back up claims of the purity of their water.