Category: Uncategorized
Beppu.
Steam billows upwards from Beppu’s (別府) many onsen. As you ride the bus from Beppu Station (別府駅) up through the city and towards its onsen district you’ll notice the many puffs of hot steam rising from under the ground. Walking around the Kannawa district of Beppu (where most of the onsen and ‘hells’ of Beppu are located) you’ll notice the wisps of heat escaping from the gaps in the street. Despite it’s reputation for calm, underneath the ground Beppu churns with activity.
Long famed for its onsen, Beppu draws hordes of crowds who all come to try the hot baths and natural springs. Sandwiched between a set of dramatic mountains in the west, and the flat inland sea in the east, Beppu is a nestled hideaway from the toils of life.
Recently I took a short break from Kokura, my home city, and traveled an hour south to Beppu for the weekend. I went with the aim of trying some of the authentic onsen, in the end I visited two baths, Hyokan in Kannawa and Ebiyasu in the mountains. Whilst both provided a relaxing atmosphere, for me there was a clear winner. Whilst Ebiyasu boasted an amazing view down over the city, complete with autumn leaves and curiously milky white waters, as well as a reasonably good restaurant near by that sold one of the best Japanese curries i’ve had in Japanso far. The atmosphere was a little too quiet and too remote for my liking. For me Hyokan provided what I was looking for, a large selection of interesting baths, including a ‘waterfall’ bath, steam rooms and Beppu’s famous ‘sand baths’, in which you are buried up to your next in hot sand. Hyokan is very popular with visitors, and I can see why. It offers little in terms of views (largely just a large wall) but can provide conversation, interest, and a good traditional meal afterwards. I highly recommend that you bring your own towel set, most places charge for rental and you can save a few precious yen by bringing your own, as well as bringing your own soaps and shampoo.
Beppu is famous too for it’s ‘hells’, pools of natural hot water, the same you’d bathe in at an onsen, except superheated and often boiling. There are seven in total to visit, a 2000yen ticket will let you in to see all seven, although you could just as well select only a few. Each varies slightly, some are more muddy, others terrifyingly hot and active (a true hell) and one in particular is used to breed crocodiles (even more hellish). Each is worth seeing, and be sure to try some steam cooked foods, such as custard pudding and steam cooked sweet potato.
Beppu makes an excellent break from city life, closer to the station there are more bars and restaurants for those craving nightlife, and just outside the city there are more wildlife attractions that I’d consider visiting on my next trip. But if you come, come for the onsen. It’s simple one of Japan’s greatest features, and a trip here would be wasted without a visit to one.
Ken
Miyajima Short Film
Shorter version of upcoming Miyajima/Hiroshima video.
Tokyo. Three days; fewer hours.
First thoughts after touch down in Japan.
I arrived in Tokyo on the 1st of August 2016, after an 11 hour flight from Amsterdam, 5 hours after leaving Edinburgh. I left Scotland at 9:00 on Saturday morning and arrived in Japan at midday the following Sunday. I hadn’t slept at all on the plane. To date it was the longest flight I have ever taken.
The first thing that hit me, almost literally, was the heat. Scotland was 15c when I left, the height of Scottish summer, it was over 30c in Tokyo. I had travelled with a small group of my co-workers from Edinburgh. Arrivals was reasonably quiet when we arrived, after a small hiccup with our visas, we were eventually allowed to past through customs (only a quick glance at my suit case, and a slight grunt from the customs officer) and into our awaiting bus.
Many others have noted how the long drive from Narita airport to central Tokyo isn’t particularly inspiring, and it isn’t largely. Rice fields, small houses and an occasional love hotel dot the (at the time) mostly empty road. The trip from Narita to Shinjuku felt like an extended loading screen. Square, blocky shapes in the distance slowly becoming clearer as the textures popped into view.
We were staying at a hotel in the centre of Shinjuku, very close to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. We were the first group of 2016 ALT’s to arrive, and after a short speech we were allowed free rein of Tokyo for a few hours before we had to return and check into our rooms. So we left the hotel to go exploring, knackered and hungry.
It’s difficult to describe my initial reaction to Tokyo, I’d recommend if you have never visited, going to Tokyo Sky Tree or the Metropolitan Building top floor for the views (below). Tokyo is huge, and for me, a boy who grew up in a small village in rural UK, it was overwhelming, but at the same time exciting. I wish I had more time in the capital. My first few days, before flying to Fukuoka was taken up with extensive business meetings and courses. Me, and two friends took a whirlwind trip to Harajuku, Akihabara and Shibuya (pictured top). I had my first bowl of Japanese ramen in Akihabara, a bit of a dive bar, but exciting and authentic nonetheless. We visited a few retro videogame stores and took in the lights and excitement. In my head I hadn’t realised that this was my new home, no sensation of the sort ever hit me, and still hasn’t. I half expect to wake up in my bed in Dundee, or at my family home. Time flies when you’re stuck in ten hours of meetings a day.
Those first few days felt like toes in the water rather than a jump in the ocean. So far Japan has felt like lying on a beach as the tide comes in, water rising with every wave. Right now I feel as though the water is floating around my ears. I saw a few of the things many of travellers have talked about, the clean trains, the robot toilets, but all of it felt, expected. Hours of YouTube and television had prepared me well I thought for the wonders of Japan. But then I saw a group of buskers dressed in denim dungarees singing covers of Queen in Japanese. True, this isn’t the most shocking or unusual of things you can see on the streets of Japan. But it was my first taste of true otherworldliness. The strange absurdity of it all seemed to flick a switch. This isn’t home. This is somewhere far away. I was far, far away.
The World is Quiet 