Hell and American Cruiseship Tourists

I have been to hell and it is filled with American Cruise ship Tourists. Okay that sounds rather harsh but let me explain. We travelled down to the most southerly major island of Japan and decided to visit a small city known as Beppu. I planned the trip awhile ago so I can't remember my motivation for choosing Beppu. It was another geothermal area which intrigued me. Unfortunately it was going to be difficult to top our geothermal experience in Hiruya Onsen. We took a highspeed train down from Hiroshima and transferred to a slower train to continue our trip into Beppu which is on the coast. Coming into Beppu I noticed that there were two large cruise ships in the harbour. After my Croatian trip I have developed a dread of cruise ships. Cruise ships discharge thousands of tourists into a city and thousands of tourists can transfer even the most idyllic scene into a tourist frenzy.

We arrived at our Air BnB in good time and they allowed us an early check in. The principal tourist attraction in Beppo are known as the Hells. They are a collection of geothermal lakes and mud baths that Beppu seems to have developed its whole tourism industry around. The Hells are located about a 30 minute bus ride out of town. When our bus showed up, it was immediately apparent that the whole area was teeming with cruise ship passengers. We bought the pass to see all 7 and wandered with the rest of the tourists into visit the various geothermal lakes. The lakes were pretty but for safety reasons they had to be well separated from the tourists and everything around the small lakes had been paved. These geothermal lakes had been trained. There were caricatures of the devil. There were also attempts to landscape in a traditional style around the lakes but it was all so touristy, tacky and busy. One of the geothermal areas had crocodiles which do well in warm water. Someone had brought them to Japan in the 1920s. Obviously the geothermal water had to be mixed with cold water otherwise the crocodiles would have roasted. In their concrete enclosures I felt as sorry for the crocodiles as I had for the bears early in the trip. The last Hell we went to was probably the prettiest and least busy. It didn't appear to have been on the cruise boat itinerary.

For our second day in Beppu, we needed an adventure away from the cruise ship tourists. Gemini reported that there was a large Shinto shrine in a place called Usa a short train ride from Beppu. Usa Jingu is Japan's second largest Shinto shrine. Shinto (“the way of the gods”) is Japan’s indigenous, nature-centered spirituality that dates back to prehistoric times. Shinto is a different religion than Budism. It is a prehistoric religion that worships Kami divine spirits found in nature. This lends these shrines to being located in places of natural wonder and beauty. Gemini was a little screwed up with our train and bus schedule to get to the shrine but the very kind staff at the Beppu station helped us out and we just had to wait for the bus. The shrine was very peaceful and beautiful and there were no cruise boat tourists. We were able to perform the ritual of hand and mouth purifying before walking into the very large complex.There were multiple shrines and at the largest shrine we made offerings to the deities followed by a ritual of 2 bows 4 claps and a bow. I felt very Japanese. We also got a big thrill out of feeding the goldfish and one turtle at two of the many ponds at the shrine.

We returned via a bus ride and train to Beppu. Even in Japan where the public transportation system is excellent, rural travel is not easy. In hindsight a day car rental may have been a good idea.

A couple blocks from where we are staying there is a cross walk that plays two different musical themes to alert blind people when to cross. The north south crossing route I recognized as the Scottish lilt Catcher in the Rye. We could faintly hear it from our Air BnB. So quirky.Read more