Bicycling Japan 2024: Beppu, Baby.

 

Welcome to "Stove Hell". Yes, I'm ready to be cooked alive (?).

I feel Kyushu and Shikoku don't get enough love. I mean, sure, Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Mt. Fuji, Buddhism, Ghibli, all things cultural and famous and defining about Japan...you find them all on Honshu. But the friendly, nice, talkative, fun, people? They're in Kyushu and Shikoku. 

Shikoku has the Shimanami Kaido of course but also the Shikoku Junrei (we saw several pilgrims in old-school Japanese pilgrim garb on our bike ride), the Murakami Kaizoku, and towels (I mean, they're important!).

Kyushu is special to me for many reasons, one because my Mom grew up in Fukuoka. But it's also the mecca of pottery and...onsen. 

To me, Onsen is the word I like linking most to Japan. Forget Konmari, Zen, or Wabisabi. Because let's face it, Japanese are one of the most stressed out people in the world. Imperfection and half-assery is most often frowned upon. And not sure if you've ventured into a Japanese person's house, but for those of you who have, you know why Marie Kondo had her start there (and it's pronounced Ma-ri-eh for the record, not Ma-ree like the Western name).

But the Japanese truely love onsen and baths. We Japanese will travel to a beautiful serene mountainous village not to hike or take in the nature or to meditate, but to hole up in a rickety building to bathe multiple times a day (ok, the buildings are typically pretty nice And the hot springs are often outdoors).

So here we are in Beppu. A town basically built on a hot spring. The whole place is steamy and slightly sulfer-y and...amazing. 

The city is literally steaming. 

 

You can stay at one of the many wonderful ryokans (we stayed at Miyukiya, a super funky ryokan run by a lovely 83-year old lady) and enjoy the onsen there, or you can just walk around the neighborhood and take a dip in the several "local onsen" for 100 yen (for 2024 around 0,60 EUR/60 cents) and free "feet onsens."

One of the local onsens where you can bathe for 100 yen. This one does not allow soap, so you just rinse yourself with the spring water and enjoy the hot water with some locals. Jason's bathing buddy was 100-years old!! My lady buddy was (only) 86. 

What's better than free? A free foot steaming experience. Oh yes. (photo by Jason)

I'm not quire sure what this is but I think it's a pipe to transfer hot spring water. And they're not lying about the "healthy minerals in the water."

 

After bathing a couple times during the early afternoon, we headed to a "Hell round" in the mountains to visit the hot spring sources.

Apparently Beppu has to thank this man, the "pika pika ojisan" (literally, "shiny uncle," real name Kumahachi Aburaya, which to me still seems unreal) for it's fame as a tourist destination. He developed the "Hells tour" of the natural springs in the mountains and worked hard to develop various creative approaches to making Beppu attractive as a destination. (photo by Jason)

 

Modern art? Modern nature art, for sure. A very cool mineral effect I saw in one of the "Beppu Hell" holes.

A bed for an Oni (Japanese ogre).

Not dyed!! That is all el natural.

This was clearly translated pre-AI. 

 

We then explored downtown Beppu, where Jason paid respects at the Tengu shrine (for those of you unfamiliar with Tengu, they are very curious mischievous demons that in Japanese folk lore come from "elsewhere." They are typically illustrated with wings and wearing very tall geta. There are many hypotheses of their origin. Wikipedia mentions Garuda, the Indian god. Other's say maybe it's early Westerners).

 

There was also a really cool set of stores selling local crafts (coffee + stuff) but alas, they were all closed (Mondays are typically Japan's Sunday).  

We also discovered a really quaint cafe, Nakamura Kissaten, which (literally) only offers coffee or hot chocolate (you can get the coffee cold or hot). The "coffee master" is an 84-year old man who will prepare a delicious filter cup for you. The hostess, his daughter was also super awesome and we chatted for quite awhile (she lived in Indonesia for a year and a half). They have an amazing collection of fancy porcelain cups (which the hostess picks out for each customer depending on what she feels they may like .

A sample of the amazing collection of fancy cups at Nakamura Kissaten (photo by Jason).

Beppu is actually a rather young city, celebrating it's 100-year anniversaty since official establishment (photo by Jason).

 

Unfortunately, the jazz bar Jason really wanted to go to was closed, so we ended the night sampling some local cuisine. Dangojiru is a Oita Prefecture staple, although the "dango" was more like thick noodles and quite tasty. (Shown on upper left of photo below).