Beppu

The main reason tourists come to Beppu is because this is a, haha, hotbed of geothermal activity. Many accommodations feature onsite onsen. Mine, a honkan, did.

It's thanks to this man, Aburaya Kumahachi, who tirelessly promoted Beppu as a hot spring resort. The tourism industry in Beppu is in no small part due to his efforts. His motto was "Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers". Beppu features in itineraries of cruise ships and going back in the interwar years of the last century.

This is the inside of the hand spa that I passed the night before.

So today I would go see the attractions that make Beppu a tourist destination, the hot springs. The Seven Hells of Beppu are a group of hot springs that are fairly close together and can be visited on one ticket. A friendly lady at the tourism office at the station sold the combined transport and entrance ticket to the Jigoku (Hells). She asked me where I was from. I guess they are curious where their visitors originate. Most overseas visitors are from nearby countries like Korea and China, then other Asian countries.

This is the entrance to one of the Jigoku. Steam can be seen all over the place.

Huge water lilies grow in the warm climate.

The first hell on the tour is the Umi Jigoku. It's a beautiful cobalt blue but the temperature is 98°C.

A closer photo.

I took some even closer photos like this one but most of the frame is obscured by steam.

On the way to the next Jigoku I passed through this hothouse where even larger water lilies are cultivated.

You could raise a family of four on one I think. 😄

And feed them bananas from these.

This blood-red Jigoku doesn't seem to be named in my brochure.

Nearby is a foot spa where your feet can enjoy a soak.

The bamboo racks seen in the background that are used to air-cool the water to a lower temperature for the foot spa.

Moving on, this is the Oniishi Bozu Jigoku where the boiling mud forms shapes like shaven heads on emerging.

The shapes are quite engaging.

It's interesting how much variety there is in close proximity. It all depends on the clays that the spring emerges through.

Next is Kamado Jigoku, where the temperature is 90°C and there is fiercely hissing fumarole.

The colour is quite appealing.

In one of the stalls in the background, you can drink some mineral water for a nominal donation, 10¥ I think. Tasted a bit alkaline. It's supposed to help some conditions but I couldn't say if it helped me.

Some mud springs are not terribly good looking.

I think this is still part of the Kamado Jigoku.

That must be the fumarole mentioned at the right.

A nearby spring of a different colour.

Moving on, this is the Oniyama Jigoku.

The heat allows the breeding of crocodiles about 80 of them in a facility.

Well I'm not a fan of crocodiles, I think they are ugly, but reptiles are our distant ancestors and they occupy a niche in nature so should be accorded due respect.

The last spring I saw was the Shiraike Jigoku where the water is colourless but takes on a bluish-white colour when it emerges due to the drop in temperature.

Another view of it.

The spring's heat is used to breed large tropical fish in a nearby aquarium.

I didn't note the species names, but I'm guessing a catfish from the whiskers.

These wouldn't win any beauty contests.

There are two more jigoku that I didn't visit because they were a couple of km away. It's possible to take a bus there but by this time I was tired and a bit cold because it had started raining. So I caught a bus back to the city and called it a day as it continued to be wet. I took the opportunity to do my laundry at the honkan. And I called it a night too.