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Just got back from my trip to Beppu, in Oita! And it was pretty fun...
On Saturday, got up at 6.00am to get down to the university by 8.00, where
the coach came to pick us up. Since we had all been out until 2:30am
drinking at Nick's izakaya/karaoke birthday party, this was a little
challenging. Moreover, I discovered I was rather hungover. So I spent the
morning on the bus feeling very queasy, trying my best to just sleep and
not throw up. Luckily, there were no mishaps on that front.
In the bus, we had a guide called Uemurasan. For the whole trip, she stood
at the front of the bus telling us all about the regions we were passing
through, and every time we stopped she would remind us not to leave
anything behind, to be careful not to slip on the wet ground when it
rained, and even to remember to go to the toilet if we needed to before we
set off again! To Westerners, this seems a little patronizing, but it's a
common part of Japanese service. What REALLY amazed us though was when she
took up the microphone and burst into song! The things you experience in
Japan...
Our fantastic singing guide Uemurasan on the coach.
The first place we stopped on the way to Beppu was the Usuki Sekibutsu
temples. These Buddhist temples, set in the mountains, are really
picturesque. Each little temple houses a collection of Buddhas carved into
rock. I know that if it wasn't raining so heavily, and if I wasn't feeling
so hungover, I would have appreciated it far more!
One of the Usuki Sekibutsu temples, set in the
beautiful mountains.
One of the many Buddha statues.
After this we had lunch, which made me feel much more genki (well). Lunch
was very traditional Japanese-style, which was great for me because I love
Japanese food. However, a lot of my British mates were really craving
Western food like McDonald's.
The next place we went to was Usuki Joukamachi, which is some sort of old
town. However, the guide we had was a very old man whose Japanese was
really hard to understand, so I didn't have a clue what was going on. It
was pretty boring.
One of the gorgeous koi carp in the pond outside an old
Samurai house. I swear it wasn't glowing this much in real life!
However, the next place we went to certainly wasn't. We went to
Takasakiyama Sarukouen - the famous monkey park. It was set up several
years ago, when Japanese Macaque monkeys were destroying crops. A very
clever businessman found a way to solve the problem that would be
harmonious for both man and monkey. He started feeding monkeys at
Takasakiyama Mountain, and soon they were all tempted away from the farms
and came to the mountains instead.
The park is fantastic. The monkeys are adorable, and can of course come
and go as they please, and their feeding times are strictly regulated.
They are incredibly friendly with tourists - they aren't scared at all and
will let you approach very closely. You can get much closer to them than
you would in a zoo, and observe their natural behaviour. Even the mothers
nursing babies aren't at all scared by the huge numbers of tourists. This
is thanks to the very responsible nature in which the park is run; there
are attendants on duty at all times who are the only ones who can feed the
monkeys, and there's a large section portioned off from the public so the
monkeys can get away from the tourists if they've had enough. There's even
a small information centre about the monkeys, with clear signs saying how
to act around them (don't touch them, don't make eye contact etc.) The
park was certainly one of the highlights from the trip.
The first monkey ("saru" in Japanese) I spotted at
Takasakiyama Sarukouen.
Nursing mother monkey. Isn't she beautiful?
Mum, Dad and the kid?
Feeding time!
One of the monkeys (quite literally) stuffing his face!
Someone looks important!
The baby monkeys are the cutest things you've ever
seen...
Awww!
We at last reached Beppu, and our hotel. The hotel was a large ryoukan, a
very traditional style Japanese inn. That means, our room (shared between
five of us - Saranne, Ellie, Anker [a German student], Naomi [Tom's tutor,
name's pronounced NOW-mee]) was the traditional type with tatami mats and
futons, as well as the optional yukata (traditional Japanese dressing
gown).
Dinner was fantastic - a massive multi-course meal, all very traditional
style Japanese food which was delicious. We were full afterwards, except
for Rick and Nick who both don't like Japanese food and went to find a
McDonald's afterwards!
My yummy dinner at the hotel! Yes, this is all MINE!
And after dinner, it was time to do the thing that Beppu's famous for -
bathe in the hotel's onsen (public hot-spring spa). Yes, this meant all
five of us would be completely stark naked. And yes, I was scared. I was
thinking, ah, everyone's going to stare cause we're gaijin, especially the
kids.
However, once we'd taken the plunge and stripped off, nothing could be
more relaxing. When everyone, young and old, Japanese and gaijin, are all
naked, you get used to it immediately. I didn't feel self-conscious at
all. For one thing, all the Japanese, including the kids, were very polite
and didn't stare - just a little glance of curiosity, that was all. They
didn't make us feel uncomfortable at all! All those fears were completely
unnecessary!
And the onsen itself was fantastic. It was an artificial one, but still
wonderful. There was even an outside section, which was amazing - it was
located on the fourth floor of the hotel, and you could get a fantastic
view of the city at night. It was quite a surreal feeling to be sitting
naked watching the cars go past! And the water's so hot, we quickly got
out of the onsen to sit in the cool open air and just dangle our feet in
the water.
You can see why the Japanese LOVE onsen. It really is the most liberating
experience, and I imagine it's one of the only times the Japanese let down
the barriers and allow themselves to relax. The old people in particular
love it - I'd say over half the women their were over 60. And you can see
why it's such a great social experience - you can't sit for long in
wonderfully hot water in the nude with your mates without starting to
giggle. It's the type of place you could enter with complete strangers,
and emerge with new friends.
After this, we went back into our room, got into our yukata and soon were
joined by Tom, Rick and Nick, the latter two who had returned from
McDonald's and also bought some alcohol. We had a little drink and a chat,
and then went to bed in our futons, and I had the best sleep I'd ever had
in a long time.
Saranne, Ellie, Tom, Anke and Naomi, yukata-clad and
lounging around on the futons in our room.
Tom, Nick and Rick (Nick refused to wear the yukata
because it meant removing his fleece)
Tom, Nick and Rick stage seppuku (ritual
samurai suicide) for our amusment!
Us girls in our yukata.
The next morning we had to get up for 7.00am breakfast, which was again
Japanese-style. We went down in our yukatas (which were a little crumpled
and sweaty from sleeping in) in the truly Japanese fashion!
At 9.00, it was time to set off. But we were amazed - when we went outside
the hotel to board the coach, we saw it was snowing really heavily! We
couldn't believe it! Nor could the teachers. They were worried - to get
back to Kumamoto from Oita, you have to cross Mt. Aso, which might
apparently be a problem in the snow so for some reason this meant they had
to make the times on our schedule a little shorter. Which was a shame.
The first place we visited on our way back was the Oniyama Jigoku. A
jigoku (literally, "Hell") is a hot spring, but the water is too hot to
bathe in, i.e. it would boil you alive in seconds.
The jigoku itself isn't really anything (you can't photograph it, there's
too much steam) and the main attraction are the alligators and crocodiles
kept there. After seeing the wonderful way the monkeys at Takasakiyama
were so responsibly cared for, this was rather heart breaking. The
alligators and crocodiles were kept in ridiculously tiny, cramped,
featureless concrete pens with a puddle to "swim" in. The main pool had
well over a dozen there (so cramped that they all had to stand on top of
each other), and at feeding time they would squabble over the food, biting
each other. In one pen, there was an isolated crocodile with horrible
injuries - half of it's top jaw had been bitten off, clearly a result of
one of these food-fights that I couldn't help thinking wouldn't happen if
the crocodiles were all kept in a decent-sized enclosure.
One of the crocodiles (wani in Japanese) in its
pathetically tiny enclosure.
Feeding time in the ridiculously over-crowded main
crocodile pen.
Some toothy grins.
After this, the teachers knocked several other stops off the schedule and
took us to a wine factory. This was a big disappointment - not only was
there nothing interesting to look at, but the wine we tasted there was
vile. Wine-brewing should possibly just be kept in Europe, just as
Sake-brewing is in Asia.
We then stopped off Yufuin Mingeimura for lunch (again Japanese-style to
mine, Anke's and Saranne's delight and to the despair of everyone else).
And then we were given forty minutes to look around the town, which wasn't
enough time for anything at all. We only got to look in about two shops
before we had to turn back.
And so ended our trip. On the way back, we played Bingo, which was pretty
fun.
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