Hot springs are popular for relaxation in Japan. A government-based push to expand geothermal electricity capacity since the Fukushima nuclear disaster worries innkeepers who fear losing out to power plants.
Kazunori Ueda is the managing director of Sanko Electric, a company founded by his father in 1975. In 2016, Sanko Electric installed its first power generator over an onsen in Ogura and is building another one in the nearby neighborhood of Horita. The generators are small, about 70 to 110 kilowatts each, but represent a modest geothermal boom in Japan, with support from a government mindful of the backlash against nuclear power.