Robot Claw

We continued our tour of the hells (jigoku) today, starting with one that featured bubbling mud pools.

This place shared a car park with one we visited yesterday but they were so different! Called ‘Monk Hell’, the pools in this one were fascinating to watch due to the intricate patterns made in the mud by the escaping steam.

We both enjoyed this one a lot, having never seen anything like it before. They also had a footbath which – since we were early – hadn’t yet become inundated by tourists so KLS had a little soak:

We don’t know what the citrus were for…

The next hell, ‘Kamado Hell’ has two pools of unusually light blue water. This one is called ‘Furnace Hell’ since it has the hottest water at just under 100 Celsius.

The blue is caused by minerals in the water and apparently can change with the weather! This hell was extremely popular, possibly since they sold hot food.

A lot of the hells talk about the therapeutic effects of their steam/heat/water and this one even let you suck directly from the nose of an oni (demon) to breath in the steam 🙂

We had to catch a bus to get to the last two hells, and this one is called ‘Blood Hell’ due to the redness of the mud.

If you look toward the back of the water you’ll see it gets darker. This is where the depth dramatically increases to more than 30m, from which the hot water emerges.

This hell was very nicely presented, and had a massive souvenir shop. I think this was my favourite since it was pretty and not as inundated with tourists as some of the others.

The final hell – ‘Tornado Hell’ – was right next door. It’s by far the smallest of the seven, and consists of a single geyser which erupts about every half hour. We sat with a crowd of others and waited, and I’d say it was worth it even considering the cold.

The cap placed over the geyser was to limit the height and the announcer said it would exceed 30 m if unrestrained! Neither of us had seen a geyser before so this was fun.

And thus ends the tour of the seven Beppu hells. If you’re wondering about the term, it’s because historically the heat and bubbling mud reminded the people (in those days) of Hell and the term stuck.

After the hells we caught a bus into Beppu city and walked along the beach a little. Most shops were closed due to it being New Years, but we found a swan sunning herself.

Our goal was Beppu Tower, a TV tower built in the middle of the city back in the 1950s. It strongly resembled Nagano tower which we went up last year.

The tower was well maintained and inexpensive and the views were good. Can you see the swan on the beach in the above photo?

There was a sign advertising a stamp rally of 20 towers all around Japan. To my amusement I’d been up about half of them already. Wouldn’t be fun to complete that stamp rally?

Before returning to the onsen area where we are staying, we made sure to pick up some seasickness medicine just in case. More on that later…

Dinner was steamed food (veggies, noodles and potstickers) at a restaurant that used the hot spring steam for cooking. Part of the experience was ‘cooking’ yourself and the above pic shows KLS lowering the baskets of food into the infernal steam. The food was delicious; Do this if you ever visit Beppu!

We left Kobe early on the above Shinkansen. It took us west along the southern coast of Honshu (the main Japanese island) until we crossed onto Kyushu (the southwest island) and switched to this train:

This was called the ‘Sonic’ and was not only very comfy (in the Green Car) but due to the large windows had a lovely view as we headed to our destination.

And that was Beppu, a famous onsen town on the east coast of Kyushu. We’re here to soak in hot springs again, to see some sights, and to ride a ferry. More about that last one in a few days.

The foremost tourist attraction in Beppu is ‘The Seven Hells’, a series of natural springs that have attracted visitors for over a century. Over these next two days we plan to view them all.

The first hell – called jigoku here – we visited is near our ryokan (traditional hotel), and the first thing you see is a large pool with steam venting out one side.

The city sits on a vast network of underground springs. Geothermal heat turns rainwater into steam which vents out of the ground and is used for heating and cooking. The city is very famous for this, and almost everywhere you look steam is visible rising into the air.

That’s a photo from the car park of our hotel, looking onto a residence. Imagine living with that giant steam chimney in your backyard!

As mentioned some of the hells are very touristy, and we were surprised to see the first one had an aquarium (I use the term lightly) with Amazon fish in it! Why? Who knows!

That’s a photo of the pool at the second jigoku we visited. This one is known for crocodiles, but when you enter you’re immediately cloaked in a dense cloud of steam venting around the pool.

As for the crocodiles, a sign explains the steam pressure was very high and was somehow good for breeding crocodiles?! They have a large amount of pens containing them, including some of the biggest I’ve seen.

It’s not the most humane treatment of these beasts since the enclosures are all just concrete pits, but the crocodiles seem healthy (one lived to 79!) and well fed. Apparently they have over 70 beasts, and on weekends when they are fed the place can be extremely busy.

Incidentally, even though it’s New Year’s Eve and winter these hells are busy enough! We’d read winter was a good time to visit since crowds were lighter. If that’s true I’d hate to see Summer 🙂

The next jigoku was named Umi, or ‘sea’ and is one of the more famous ones due to the naturally light blue water.

This one was very popular, with a large car park and a long stream of visitors. We bought the ‘jigoku tour’ ticket which gets us into all seven so we don’t have to line up for each one.

Incidentally look at the first photo of this hell, specifically the lower left corner. See that stick going into the water? Here’s a closer look:

That’s a cage of eggs being boiled! Of course Kristin purchased one:

It was too hot to hold when she got it and difficult to peel but she said it was good.

Umi Jigoku is very picturesque, with Tori gates and lovely landscaping. They also have costumed mascots, a large gift store, a foot bath and even this mysterious tiny dark red pool:

None of these famous ‘hell’ pools can be used for bathing since they are either too hot or too rich with chemicals. They’re just for looking 🙂

They’re also surprisingly close, and the three we saw today were only brief walks from each other. Tomorrow we’ll conclude the tour with the other seven.

As mentioned we’re staying in a ryokan style hotel with several springs and meals provided. Dinner was kaiseki, which is a multi-course Japanese fine dining meal.

It was a ludicrous amount of food, mostly in small portions, containing sashimi and hot pot and steamed food and many other things.

Much of it wasn’t for me, but even if it were I wouldn’t have been able to eat it all since it was just too much. I suppose you plan for such a meal in advance and go with an empty belly.

It took about 2 hours for all the courses to be served, after which we had soak in the rooftop open-air bath and then I ate a second dinner or snacks and cotton candy 🙂

Now it’s time to watch New Year’s TV. Will we stay awake to see in 2026? Doubtful…

Today we split up. KLS went to classy shops and purchased fine goods, and I spent hours looking in shops like this:

And this:

That sold stuff like this:

I also lurked in alcoves like this:

It was all in the same shopping building across the street from our hotel as well, and even after 6 hours I felt I hadn’t seen everything. In short, a wonderful day. 🙂

Let’s get to some highlights. For starters, inside this store:

I found this magnetic ‘paper doll’ set:

Yes it’s awful, but for that exact reason I wanted to buy it for a future gift for Bernard. The store was tiny and (unusual for Japan) dirty and I was the only customer. The salesman was at the counter with his laptop when I tried to get his attention to get a price: “sumimasen” I said (‘excuse me’).

No answer.

I tried again. It was just him and I, and I stood virtually in front of him. Even if he didn’t hear me he certainly could see me. Again, he didn’t reply. I assumed he didn’t want to deal with a foreigner and left. Alas, no Mars Attacks paper doll for Bernard!

It was time for a stamp rally. We had seen this one the day before, and the goal was to create an image by using four different stamps scattered around the mall. Cards were provided as well as a frame to align the stamps correctly but I wanted to use my own postcards which didn’t fit into the frame. Finesse was therefore required.,.

Not bad I think! I also did one using the frame to see what it was supposed to look like:

As I said we both shopped for hours and then met for dinner, which was our fourth Sushiro in under a week:

I’m eating my favourite: hamburger sushi. Made with beef. But not, I suspect, the type of beef most tourists visit Kobe to eat:

Many non-Japanese know this city as the beef place, and while this is true, and that there are beef/steak restaurants in abundance in the area we are staying, to my shame I’ve eaten none of the legendary beef!

Perhaps I should have ventured out of my comfort zone a little?

Tomorrow we leave Kobe for the fourth destination on this vacation. It will take us farther from Tokyo than on any previous trip to this country, and indeed we’ll even be crossing to the southwest island of Kyushu. Stay tuned to find out where we end up!

My final thoughts on Kobe…? I’m pretty sure I’ll be back here again soon enough 🙂