Japanuary 2024 - the trip that nearly wasn't

[Seat0B]

The Hotel in Beppu - Amanek Yula-re

This hotel was very newly opened, and was quite nice, although as noted above, I did have a bit of orderer's remorse about not going with the Onyado Nono (Dormy Inn chaing) - hence my comments about no free onsen icecreams!

Our room is lovely - a huge comfy king bed and not pushed against the wall either! All onsen requirements provided. A nice sitting area, and a multi-purpose hanging rack/horizontal surfaces, tea making facilities and fridge.





A large bathroom, Japanese wet room style. And a three way arrangement with the toilet, bathroom and basin area all separate.



Quite a nice view from the window, and not of the car park!



And the standard Japanese fare for breakfast. Although the hot food was brought over to the table, single serving only. You could help yourself to pastries, fruit, yoghurt etc from a buffet table.

 

[Seat0B]

Beppu has Seven Hells - We Found the Eighth - Friday 16 Feb 2024 Part 1

Another day, another early breakfast!

Then off to the tourist info at the JR station where a kind lady with stong English gave us all the details needed to visit the "seven hells of Beppu", which was the main reason for our visit to Beppu. We had a few reservations about how the day would go, as the on-line reviews were quite mixed. Some people said it was great and varied; others said too touristy, too kitschy, too everything. We much prefer an independent, realistic trip, so we approached with some trepidation.

Town bus #26 at the West bus depot, using our very expensive day pass (¥1,100 each), the most expensive we have paid anywhere, ever. The bus was packed, standing room only for the 25 minute ride to umijigokumae stop ("near the ocean hell"). From this stop a 5 minute walk further up the hill took us to the first hell, "oniishi bozu" where we exchanged our ticket for a booklet of passes, one for each hell. Oniishi bozu ws actually pretty nice, with small but vigorous ponds of bubbling greyish mud all around. It wasn't very crowded, the mud made some quite pretty patterns, and you could take your time looking at the mud ponds. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I remarked to Mr Seat 0A that perhaps the online reviews were a bit harsh - little did I know what was to come .



The next hell was umijigoku. This has a very large hissing steam vent (s) and a beautiful blue pond. This one was also quite lovely and also not too crowded. The red tori (gate) looked particularly atmospheric and ethereal through the steam.







After this, we visited the coffee shop and got a decent coffee and one of the specialty custard puddings cooked via onsen steam - it was a bit like a creme caramel with a slightly smoky flavour. I enjoyed it.



Thus fortified, we headed off to the third jigoku, Kamado jigoku, which was about a further 5 minutes down the hill. It was here that we realised there were actually eight hells in Beppu.

Edit: typo

 

[Seat0B]

Beppu Hells - Friday 16 Feb 2024 Part 2

As we walked across the car park to the third hell, Kamodo (cooking pot), we started to have suspicions that the first two had maybe lulled us into a false sense of enjoyment. The car park for this hell was totally jammed with tour buses - I counted at least 12 buses. And they were all full of Chinese tourists. Except two, which were full of Korean tourists. The entry was thronged with tourists blocking the flow of pedestrians, yelling at each other, eating while walking (a big no-no in Japan ), smacking into people with large back packs and generally milling about. Probably should have taken the hint from this and skipped it, but by now I was hooked on the jigoku stamps that could be collected from each of the hells and wanted to get my stamp.

Inside, the lines channelled Disney or the Louvre viewing the Mona Lisa on a public holiday in summer . There was no free flow. Line up and shuffle with hundreds of other tourists. No time to stop for a photo. Keep moving, don't stop. No chance of participating in the much vaunted "cook your own steam food"as the lines for that looked very long. And the prices were very high too, with pudding/custard at ¥500 compared to the cost of the at umijigoku (¥300), and corn on the cob for ¥750 and onsen eggs for ¥300.

In reality, we could not get away from this place fast enough. I did get one photo of the hell here - pretty enough, but quite small.



I was super glad to get my stamp and get out of there. The eighth hell of Beppu for sure was other people, especially large numbers of rude tourists pushing and shoving. I started to see what the on-line reviews meant by super touristy. Once outside, there were street vendors selling - you guessed it, steamed foods. And at much more reasonable prices too - onsen eggs ¥100, corn ¥500 and icecreams ¥300-500. And practically no crowds at all.







It tasted OK - it was juicy and sweet - but there was definitely a bit of sulphur bitterness to the overall flavour.

Edit: typo

 

[Seat0B]

Beppu Hells - Friday 16 Feb 2024 Part 3
Next was oniyma (crocodile) jigoku - so called because they use the warm water from the hell to breed crocodiles. The jigoku itself was not very appealing. Just murky water with a lot of sulphurous steam.



The crocodile part was where things really went down hill for me. There was a very high density of crocodiles in the holding ponds, and several animal welfare issues were immediately apparent, with dirty water, odd, obsessive thrashing and visible fungus and skin diseases on the snouts. I felt very sorry for the crocodiles.



By now we both agreed that it was lucky we had started at the top of the hill at oniishi bozu, and did not start at the lower part of the hill with this one and Kamodo - otherwise would certainly have blown off the rest of our entry fees on the ¥2,200 ticket and called it a day. I could totally see what the internet was talking about.

We debated whether to continue at this point, and eventually decided to see what the next hell, shiraike (white pond), was like before deciding.

Edit to remove my Freudian slip white pond, not coughe pond as I accidentally typed

 

[Seat0B]

I swap my fixation with dodgy power lines for dodgy water pipes - Beppu Friday 16 Feb 2024

I've previously mentioned my fascination with dodgy powerlines that I spot on my travels. Well Beppu gave me the chance to broaden my horizons with dodgy hot water pipes. There was a visible lack of maintenance on these pipes, and a very un-Japanese level of rubbish and debris just left where it fell.

Looks like the volcanic water is used as a town service. So here you go - a photo essay on hot water pipes.



Mr Seat 0A's professional engineering side was a bit surprised at these standards for steam and hot water, mixed with electricity.

 

[Seat0B]

Beppu Hells - Friday 16 Feb 2024 Part 4

The fifth hell was Shiraike (white pond) and it was OK - but due to algal bloom it was green, not white. Very uncrowded again, but quite a "curated" experience.



There were some pretty cypress (hinoki) pruned in the gracious tradtional niwaki style that I liked.



And in a very odd non sequitur, there was a strange tropical fish aquarium. Anyone care to guess what this pretty hand sized glitter fish is? I'll put the answer in the next post.



Caught the #16 bus to the remaining two hells, not really sure of what to expect. I'm glad we did because the sixth hell Chinoike (blood pond) was a spectacular milky orange colour and worth the visit.





The final hell for the day was tatsumaki which had a teeny, weeny, tiny little geyser, so after a cursory look we beat our feet backup the hill to catch the #16A home, with mere seconds to spare. It was a long and crowded trip home.



So, was it worth it? Overall, I'm glad I did the seven hells of Beppu, but I will not be back again. Three of them were pretty good (oniishi bozu, umijigoku and chinoike). The rest were very average and could easily be skipped. It costs ¥2,200 per person for the combined ticket, or ¥550 per jigoku if you pay as you go. So the mixed reviews on the internet were totally on the money. It was indeed a mixed experience. From my previous travels, my opinion is that there is much better geothermal activity to see in New Zealand or the USA, and I cannot wait to get to Iceland in 2025 to see that. All in all, I prefer a more natural and less curated experience, with less concrete, and I certainly do not like to share my time in nature with hordes of rude and culturally insensitive tourists.

 

[Seat0B]

The answer is.....

It's a red-bellied piranha

 

[rbjhan]

Ah, last time I was in Beppu (2017) I skipped the hells.
Mainly because weather was not great with rain incoming...but during my research I came to the conclusion you probably only need to see two hells at most.

Just an observation, during my time in Yufuin last Nov, I saw tons of tours too, but none of them are Chinese - mostly from Taiwan and Korea. Are you sure you met all the Chinese people? I understand it might be hard to tell the mainlanders from Taiwanese...

 

[Seat0B]

Ah, last time I was in Beppu (2017) I skipped the hells.
Mainly because weather was not great with rain incoming...but during my research I came to the conclusion you probably only need to see two hells at most.

Just an observation, during my time in Yufuin last Nov, I saw tons of tours too, but none of them are Chinese - mostly from Taiwan and Korea. Are you sure you met all the Chinese people? I understand it might be hard to tell the mainlanders from Taiwanese...

I was told by hotel reception that the people were from China - so I assumed mainland China. Plus I saw signs with characters 中国 on company names for the tours on the buses at the hells. But they may have been from Taiwan. Koreans I can usually tell by language, which sounds very similar to Japanese to me until I listen carefully and realise I can't understand a word .

On Sakurajima, they were definitely mainlanders taking a day trip off a cruise ship. I heard that being discussed in English!

 

[Seat0B]

And just to be clear, @rbjhan, it's the rude, loud, obnoxious behavior that bothers me, not the nationality. There are rude people the world over.

I am definitely in my grumpy old woman era now though .

I got stuck into a bunch of bogan Aussies at both Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen this year and also in 2020 for loud, drunken, swearing in the streets, and children running with icecreams in crowds. And I've tut tutted at similarly rude and obnoxious Americans in Kyoto, pushing past people with massive back packs and oblivious to the amount of space they were taking up. And I now they were not Canadian because after 2 years living in Ohio and visiting Canada regularly, I can easily tell Canadian from American accent now (BTW, where are you @kangarooflyer88??)

I just wish tourists could try to be a bit respectful of the culture of the places they visit, and try to minimise their imposition on other people trying to enjoy their day too.

 

[rbjhan]

And just to be clear, @rbjhan, it's the rude, loud, obnoxious behavior that bothers me, not the nationality. There are rude people the world over.

I am definitely in my grumpy old woman era now though .

I got stuck into a bunch of bogan Aussies at both Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen this year and also in 2020 for loud, drunken, swearing in the streets, and children running with icecreams in crowds. And I've tut tutted at similarly rude and obnoxious Americans in Kyoto, pushing past people with massive back packs and oblivious to the amount of space they were taking up. And I now they were not Canadian because after 2 years living in Ohio and visiting Canada regularly, I can easily tell Canadian from American accent now (BTW, where are you @kangarooflyer88??)

I just wish tourists could try to be a bit respectful of the culture of the places they visit, and try to minimise their imposition on other people trying to enjoy their day too.

Oh I think you misunderstood. I think mainlanders could be worse than Taiwanese so you might not have seen the true hell
At least according to my own experience...

But yes anyone could be bad, in Japan they just stand out so much more.
When I heard the Gion ban recently, I was really sad...
But Kyoto definitely caught the worst of it so I kinda see where it's coming from. I've seen Maikos running away from people in Gion...apparently there were also people touching them?!

 

[Seat0B]

This TR has now officially taken longer for me to write up than the trip itself took! I promise to get back to it soon…just life getting in the way of spending hours on my computer at the moment .

 

[Seat0B]

Beppu - Friday 16 Feb 24 Part 5

Finally home again, and off to the onsen, which was absolutely jam packed. I saw something I have never seen before - a young boy about 7 years old in the women's onsen. Not really sure how I feel about this, as I do understand the difficulties that might face a single mother with a son, but overall I think he was way too old and should have been in the men's side. I've only ever seen very little boys, maybe up to about 2 years old before. And this boy, who was not Japanese, attracted a lot of attention to himself by breaking all the onsen rules - running between baths, talking and singing loudly and treating the bath more like a pool - all whilst his mother ignored him. I feel into a conversation with a Japanese lady in the bath who was very disapproving of this child's behaviour, and the mother's reluctance to deal with it. She was from Kyoto, and told me she had come to Beppu specifically to get away from the hordes of tourists there . She asked me where I was from and if I had been to Kyoto, and what did I think about the number of tourists in Japan. I managed to get all this with my limited Japanese, and then she broke into excellent English and told me her daughter has lived in Sydney for the last 10 years and she has been to Australia many times!

Headed out for dinner and it was quite the adventure. We were turned away from about 5 places - sometimes they said a reservation was needed, sometimes just said no. Not sure if they just did not want to serve us. Turned ourselves away from 3 places that were still permitting smoking. Eventually made our way back towards the station precinct and lucked into a table at a restaurant featuring the local specialty - toriten (tempura chicken). This place was almost full, and soon became totally full and we watched a lot of people being turned away. The toriten was OK - not really my favourite as I found it a bit bland.

Then home to pack up for tomorrow's mega day on the trains - an almost 8 hour expedition to Tokyo.

 

[Seat0B]

I love a train trip -or two- or three... Beppu to Tokyo Saturday 17 Feb 24

Mr Seat 0A was up early this morning and enjoyed a swim in the hotel rooftop pool. It did look lovely, but not enough to entice me out of bed at sunrise!



Checked out, up to station and stocked up on ekiben and pastries for the long trip to Tokyo, which will take the full day - depart Beppu at 0947 and arrive at Tokyo 1712 and then connect on JR Yamanote line to Tamachi. Leg 1 was on the Sonic 18. There was only 1 empty seat in the green car on this train , but luckily we were in Seat 1 with some luggage space behind, so we managed the 2 bags you see in the photos.



Also got some photos of more electrical wiring from the platform...




First leg was about 1.5 hrs, which passed really quickly. Some nice agricultural scenery.



Mr Seat 0A used some of this time to research coffee options for our 33 minute train change at Kokura - good news was that there was a Starbucks and he managed to get to it in the break. So as we settled into our seats on Sakura 550, we had a coffee and a pastry read for morning tea. Very nice!! We stored our bags on the overhead racks on Sakura (that's why I go to the gym!)



Again, I'm not sure where the time went, but this leg was 2.5 hrs and before I knew it we had arrived in Shin Osaka for the last leg. Then it was on to Hikari 654 for the three hour run into Tokyo.



It was a beautiful sunny day and I saw a castle through the picture window at a station (don't know which one though).


We were very excited at the thought of a Fuji view, but we jinxed ourselves because the sunny blue weather quickly turned cloudy soon out of Osaka so we didn't see Fuji-San this visit. It's actually the first time we have not seen it, so not too unlucky at all really.

Decided to get off at Shinagawa as this was closer to our destination at Tamachi. Navigated a busy Saturday evening on the trains and made the familiar 10 min walk to our regular hotel, the Celestine. Checked in, unpacked and had bar snacks for dinner in the lounge. Felt like we had been grazing all day long. Quite nostalgic - our 4th stay in this hotel, and as always when we arrive in Tokyo, I know our trip is coming to an end.

 

[drron]

Well consider yourself lucky. I have been past Fuji at least 20 times on the Shinkanse. Have spent 10 nights in Kawaguchiko in a hotel on the foothills of Fuji and at least 4 stays in Hakone and yet to see Fuji in all it's glory. Today spent the morning at a shrine in Fujisan famous for it's views of Fuji framed by it's tori gates. Nothing but grey clouds today.

 

[Askance]

Well consider yourself lucky. I have been past Fuji at least 20 times on the Shinkanse. Have spent 10 nights in Kawaguchiko in a hotel on the foothills of Fuji and at least 4 stays in Hakone and yet to see Fuji in all it's glory. Today spent the morning at a shrine in Fujisan famous for it's views of Fuji framed by it's tori gates. Nothing but grey clouds today.

Only two days ago...

Sorry for interrupting your trip report, Seat0B

 

[Seat0B]

Well consider yourself lucky. I have been past Fuji at least 20 times on the Shinkanse. Have spent 10 nights in Kawaguchiko in a hotel on the foothills of Fuji and at least 4 stays in Hakone and yet to see Fuji in all it's glory. Today spent the morning at a shrine in Fujisan famous for it's views of Fuji framed by it's tori gates. Nothing but grey clouds today.

I’m sorry to hear it @drron. We have been exceptionally lucky then. Have seen her looking spectacular on at least 4 train trips past. She is fickle though.

 

[Seat0B]

Only two days ago...View attachment 377169

Sorry for interrupting your trip report, Seat0B

Great shot @Askance! And I’m delighted to be “interrupted” - it’s good to know others are travelling along with me.

 

[Seat0B]

Here is Fuji-San in 2018 from the train.



And in 2023



Photos fro other years are full of signs, wires, poles and window flare! But yes we have been very very lucky.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Loving your trip report still reading on post 60 but back to work, must read later