Beppu

After Universal Studios we hopped round the edge of Osaka back to the ferry terminal that we'd been to 2 weeks ago, and got on a DIFFERENT ferry heading west again. This time, destination Kyushu.

The ferry was the most impressive one we've been on so far and had (of course) a delightful onsen as well as a very well stocked liquor vending machine. We conked out at 10pm and pulled into a very sunny Beppu at 7am feeling like we'd been hit by a train.

Beppu is famous for its onsens and apparently has the largest volume of hot spring water in Japan. There are more than 100 public baths and some people have a tap in their house specifically for spring water. We managed three of them! There was a very simple local one on our street which gave the proper Beppu experience, and one day we took the bus up the hill to go to Yuyama no Sato onsen, which is (unusually) a mixed gender onsen that's in the incredibly beautiful back garden of a friendly old couple. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the eggy minerally smells before rinsing off under a waterfall.

We also cooked our own lunch in an onsen steamer - an entertaining novelty, in which you are supposed to do your own cooking but Japan doesn't like risks so they do most of it for you. We enjoyed eating some vegetables for a change since our diet has mostly consisted of noodles for a few days.Read more