Today’s Discoveries That Began with the Name “Dogo Onsen Hospital” August 24, 2026 (Monday) Reiwa8

Today was my last outpatient rehabilitation session at Dogo Onsen Hospital.

I had four 80-minute rehabilitation sessions with a very good therapist. He looked at my body from many different angles—raising my arm forward, extending it sideways, stretching my shoulder, and so on. I could gradually feel my movements getting a little better.

That made me think again today about the name “Dogo Onsen Hospital.”

When my doctor at Bethel Hospital first introduced me to Dogo Onsen Hospital, I almost laughed. I thought, “Does a hospital with a name like that really exist?”

For someone like me who came from outside Ehime, “Dogo Onsen” first sounds simply like the name of a famous hot spring. Adding the word “hospital” to it felt somehow strange.

When I heard “Dogo Onsen,” I imagined a relaxing hot spring town. I could not easily connect that image with a hospital where sick people go for treatment. At first, I even wondered whether the name was somehow meant to be amusing.

But it really did exist.

And it was located even higher up the hill beyond Dogo Prince Hotel, on a remarkably steep slope. There are many hotels around it, and even the building itself looked to me like it must originally have been a hotel.

Today, one of those mysteries was finally solved.

Dogo Onsen Hospital was originally a hotel supplied with water from Dogo Onsen, and it was renovated and opened as a hospital in 1982.

That explained everything: why it was in that location, why the building looked like a hotel, and why it had hot springs.

There are hot spring baths on the second and fourth floors of the hospital. Patients who receive permission from their doctor can use the baths, as long as they go with at least one other person. There are no hot spring baths on the sixth floor, where I will be staying, but there are shower facilities.

After my rehabilitation today, I quietly went up to the sixth floor, where I will be hospitalized, and looked around a little as if I were not doing anything unusual. There were many hospital rooms, and I also learned that there are rehabilitation areas on each floor.

I wondered how long I would actually live here after August 28.

My attending doctor said, “You can go home once you get better.”

Of course, that makes sense—but what I really want to know is when that will be.

Today I also walked from Dogo Onsen Hospital to Dogo Onsen Station. It was closer than I expected, taking about ten minutes.

From Dogo Onsen Station, I can take the city tram toward Matsuyama City Station. From there, I also started thinking about a route to Item Ehime, the venue for the Registered Sales Clerk examination on October 8.

I also found a bus stop called Dogo Himezuka. Taking a bus is another possibility. However, considering traffic and possible delays, I think the train may be more reassuring on the day of the exam. If there is very heavy rain, the bus might be another option.

In just one day, I solved one mystery about the name Dogo Onsen Hospital, learned a little more about the inside of the hospital, and became a little more familiar with the locations of Dogo Onsen Station, Matsuyama City Station, JR Matsuyama Station, and Item Ehime.

In the past, I visited Dogo Onsen with my parents, my husband, and my children when we traveled around Shikoku together.

Now, this has become part of my everyday life.

The Dogo area that I once visited as a tourist has now become a place where I go for rehabilitation, walk in front of the Botchan Karakuri Clock, pass in front of Starbucks, and wait for the bus to Eden no Sono.

Today’s biggest discovery was not simply learning something about a hospital.

It was realizing that the place called “Dogo” is gradually becoming part of my own mental map of everyday life.

And I was able to see with my own eyes the place where I will be staying from August 28, before I actually enter the hospital.

The name “Dogo Onsen Hospital,” which sounded so strange to me when I first heard it, is gradually becoming a familiar name in my own life.

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