Buried Alive

Arriving in Beppu is an experience all in itself being home to many of Japan’s great onsens, a hot spring public bath. Exiting the train station we find our first “onsen” for our naked hands and thoroughly enjoy the thermal waters. After our hand bath, our next objective was dinner and what could be better than another sushi “roto”. This one put all other sushi trains to shame as it snakes around the entire restaurant!! Choo…Chooo!

The main attractions in Beppu are the Jigoku (“hells”), which are thermal pools of boiling water and mud. Seeing how we already saw the thermal village in Rotorua, we opted to visit only one of the ten hells. The Umi-Jigoku (sea-hell) was one of the recommended hells with its cobalt blue pool. (Check out the boiling eggs)

As we explored the rest of the park, Jenny was brought back to one of her great childhood movies, Labyrinth. Passing the Bog of Eternal Stench, Jenny was attacked as she ran away yelling “S-m-e-l-l-s B-a-d!”

And we found a sign that said “Hot Spring of a Leg” this way. Determined to understand the Engrish we went to see what it was.

The place we stayed had an onsen, which was also the only shower room in the entire hostel. Needlessly to say it was quite interesting as we prepared for the day. Luckily we never encounter anyone else showering or bathing in the onsen when we were there.

No trip to Beppu would be complete without a visit to an authentic Japanese bath house, so we decided to visit the Takegawara Onsen. It was an odd encounter as we entered the onsen greeted by a professional video camera that followed us around the lobby. Eventually they introduced themselves as a Korean company making a documentary on the Kyushu region of Japan if they could interview us. So, next time you watch a discovery channel episodes on onsens we may be on it.

At the onsen we partook in a sand bath where after changing into our yukata were buried to our heads in sand. It was an interesting experience, but I doubt we’ll do another sand bath in the future.