Apr 22, 2010 - Fire Bombs and A-Bombs

I look up, it is hardly possible to separate the patchy cloudy sky from its reflection in the shiny black marble of the column that indicates Ground Zero, up there at 469 metres altitude on August 9th 1945 at 11:02 the 2nd atomic bomb exploded. The blinding flash and the 4000° heat wave ended the lives of some 40.000 people in Nagasaki instantly, WWII 6 days later, but the debate about the ethics of nuclear weapons in general and their use against Japan in particular, has never stopped. A few tourists, individually or in groups, visit the...

Apr 19, 2010 - Hells and Buddhas

“Hai”, behind the open counter the attendant quickly bows his head, poised to be of service, “I would like a ticket to Beppu”, “Hai”, the head again, “With the first train possible”. “Hai”, and I hand him my Japan Rail Pass that I just got in exchange for my voucher at the service desk next door. “Hai”, his fingers begin to play piano on his touch screen. The Nagasaki railway station is a lot smaller than the one in Fukuoka, where all 8 windows would be open. Waiting there in the single file (no taking-the-‘wrong‘-queue) I watched. As soon...

Jul 14, 2008 - Beppu

Al dia siguiente tome un tren a Beppu, un centro famoso de "onsen" (hot springs) en Japon. Fui al mas antiguo, que resulto siendo poco mas que una piscinita enana, y ya despues no quise ir a otro porque quedaban lejos. En el camino pase por el 'red light district'. Habia sitios muy obvios que ponian sus precios en avisos luminosos afuera y hasta con dibujos de 'anime japones' en la publicidad! Ver fotos...

Mar 21, 2008 - Hyuga to Beppu

OK, we decided to be daring and take an unplanned route through the mountains. We were going to go around the coastline on a four day trek. By going through the mountains we could shave 2 days off our planned route. It worked out. After an early start Rocky couldn't seem to get a good pace going, plagued by many unplanned stops. Patty and Cheryl were already 20 miles ahead of Yuki and Rocky, we would never catch up. It was a steady climb but we all made the 41 mile journey. The next morning we woke up to 32 degree temperatures. It felt like...

Nov 9, 2007 - Beppu, location of the 8 Hells

Beppu was a pretty light hearted place. We went to the hot springs are which is a series of 8 hot spring 'Gardens' most with an additional area to actually go and have a soak. We went to two of the areas to look around the gardens which were very nice. One was the hot water, at about 60 degrees and one was the hot mud at about 80 degrees. It was fun and relaxing just chilling out. We then went for a quick visit to see where they make the hot spring powder by extracting the minerals from the water. This was a short visit and more an excuse...

Aug 6, 2006 - Beppu

I took the bullet train ('shinkansen') to a town called Beppu on the island of Kyushu. This seaside town is somewhat of a resort in that it has lots of springs where steaming hot water shoots out of the earth. Geologists probably have some sort of name for this, but when you're in Japan and you hang out in these pools with other guys who are mostly very nude, you call them 'onsen'. Onsen are a ritual in Japan and this town has so many of them, that if you climb up a nearby hillside, you can see a landscape dotted with steam vents all over...

Oct 16, 2005 - Beppu - Mud, Sand and Nudity

B: We arrived to a beautiful day in Beppu. After lugging our heavy backpacks up the hill for 15 minutes to the hostel, we were in need of some relaxation. Beppu is second only to Yellowstone in the volume of hot water which spews forth from the ground. There is so much of it that everyone in the town uses it to heat their homes. We caught the bus up to the onsen and signed ourselves up for the outdoor mudbaths. Much to K's distress (and my amusement), this was mixed and naked. Fortunately for you viewers of this site, cameras were not...