Dave Hippler

I've never paid anyone to bury me alive before. But that's what travel is about isn't it? Trying new things?

The sleepy town of Ibusuki is just what we needed after 2 weeks of large Japanese cities. It's an onsen town and its major draw is the hot sand baths. The whole town is nestled on some seriously hot spring water. Walking to our Ryokan on a warm day, we had to avoid the vented drains, where steam rose from the flowing water under every street.

We checked our bags with the friendly proprietress and killed 3 hours in town until 3:00 check-in. She seemed to be the only one running this traditional Japanese inn with a built-in onsen. In this case, it's 2 private baths with the hot mineral waters.

As far as Ryoken go, this was very reasonably priced. It's seen better days, but it's the real deal and is quite charming. You leave your shoes at the door and wear slippers inside. The room has traditional tatami mats for the flooring. Instead of beds, there are futons on the floor. You wear yukata robes with obis (black belts) to the baths. And for a guy who is almost two meters tall, you twist your legs into pretzels to sit on the floor under the small tables for meals.

For some reason she couldn't prepare dinner the night we arrived. Usually breakfast and dinner are offered. Lunch in town was at a beautiful restaurant but the food was the only bland meal we've had. Dinner however was at a traditional izakaya, a restaurant pub and it was great.

I've been sampling different types of shochu, the popular drink here made of sweet potatoes. It's usually 25% alcohol and you can drink it hot, mixed with something, or on the rocks. I'm usually drinking it on the rocks. It's nowhere near as strong as whiskey or vodka and it goes down easy.

Breakfast was a delicious mix of pickles, rice, miso soup, and small portions of the local fried fish, omelette, a small cabbage salad and a pot of green tea.

We soaked after we checked in and I soaked before breakfast the next day but the big draw for the day were those hot sand baths. On the beach, there is an onsen that hires people to bury you under the black, hot volcanic sand on the beach. The mineral hot spring water is running right underneath it into the bay.

It's quite organized and there are pictures and videos and diagrams of the process so everyone understands. For about $15 each you rent a yukata and obi, get a small commemorative towel to keep, and a larger towel that you rent. You wear nothing but the robe and go outside and lay down and they bury you with the sand.

They wrap the small towel around your head and kind of prop your head up so you can at least see the clock. You stay for 10 minutes and I must say it feels pretty amazing. But you can leave whenever you want and just kind of get up and push the sand off. Then you go inside the onsen to drop off the yukata and shower and then sit in the hot mineral waters inside. As far as a spa day goes, this one is pretty inexpensive. Too bad they don't allow cameras so there are no photos. The one posted here is from their website.

Tonight we had the full Ryokan dinner experience. It was a multi course meal and the plates kept coming and coming. A boisterous group of Japanese retirees like us was having a grand old time and even apologized for laughing. No apologies necessary!

The first Ryokan we booked is all the way up north in Beppu, so we're taking an early train to make it up there in time for checkin tomorrow afternoon. It just so happens that these are the only two cities in Japan with hot sand baths. We'll be in both cities on the same day.

More photos and videos are here.
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