Japan Guide
Kyūshū
Beppu
The best approach to BEPPU, on Kyūshū's northeast coast, is on the Yamanami Highway, which drops down into town from the western hills. It's an extraordinary sight: spirals of steam rise from chimneys and billow out of the ground itself, providing dramatic confirmation that this is one of the world's most geothermally active regions. Over one hundred million litres of near-boiling water gush out of more than three thousand springs each day, harnessed for use by local swimming pools, heating and medicinal purposes or to fill the dozens of public and private baths that make this one of Japan's most popular onsen resorts.
Unashamedly dedicated to pleasure, from the refined to the bawdy, this town of only 130,000 people receives more than twelve million visitors a year. Most of these are domestic tourists; many foreigners who come here find Beppu all too tacky, but its sheer vulgarity can also be huge fun – the trick is just to jump in and enjoy yourself. There's not a lot more to do in Beppu than soak in a tub or be buried in hot sand. The most popular attractions are the nine jigoku, which spew out steaming, sulphurous mud and form simmering lakes in lurid hues. Despite the hype, only two or three are of any real interest; you'd do better to head for Tsurumi-dake and the hills ringing Beppu to the west.
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