The funny thing is, Gero Onsen hasn't changed in the twenty years since I was last there, and it feels pretty much unchanged since the 1980s - except that the bubble economy has long gone. That's how I think of Gero Onsen, so it's funny to read your comment about something in Gero Onsen being "ahead of the times."
That clash of "old fashioned Japan" and "Japan ahead of the times" is not an uncommon experience in this country!
!ALIVE
!BBH