Japanese Hitou - the concept of secluded hot spring inns

As the shuttle van winding up the narrow road to Tsurunoyu (鶴の湯), where we would be staying on our second night in Nyuto Onsen-kyo in Akita Prefecture, we felt like riding on a gigantic bobsled. With us sitting uneasily at the back seats, the driver maneuvered the sudden twists and turns on an unpaved, unmarked walkway a few kilometers off the major thoroughfare and completely surrounded by snow as high as the van itself as the road was being plowed and snow piled to the side earlier in the morning. I wouldn't imagine a shuttle van driver would need such driving skills.