Monkeys!

On the second day at Beppu we visited Takasakiyama Park--and the monkeys who live there! They're just roaming free, but they're used enough to people that it's okay as long as you don't bother them. Here's the first ones I saw:


Here's one with a nice view behind it:


Some on top of the bathroom:


This is main area of the park where a guy was giving a talk:


Monkey in a tree:


And it was a cold day up on the mountain. I assume these three were huddled together for warmth:


Overall I thought it was pretty cool that the monkeys weren't in cages but were running around everywhere. I think the staff feed them so they don't ruin local farms and stuff, but otherwise they seem to have free reign. I kept half-expecting one of them to lose it and attack someone, but they seemed pretty comfortable as long as we didn't get too close.

After the park, we went to an aquarium, but the lighting inside wasn't good for pictures. It was a fun place too, but I think the monkey park was definitely the best of the two.

The Eight Hells of Beppu

My trip this weekend took me into Oita Prefecture, and stop number one was the city of Beppu. It's known for its hot springs, and eight of these (which are way too hot for bathing) have become the city's major tourist attractions. They're called 地獄 (jigoku), which translates to hell.

Hell 1: Umi-jigoku

The name literally means sea hell. One look at the color of it, and you can see why.

It really is a pretty color. This was the first jigoku we went to, and honestly it was the best. Besides the main spring, there were several other hot-spots inside.

Hell 2: Oniishibozu-jigoku

This one was right next to Umi-jigoku. It was smaller and calmer, but still nice. All of it's springs were muddy and bubbly like this:

Sometimes landscaping was arranged around them.


A common theme in the jigoku are oni, Japanese ogres/demons that reside in hell. You can see one lounging on the sign in this picture:

Hell 3: Yama-jigoku

This name translates to mountain hell. It's written on the sign here:

I'm not going to get into this one, because once you get inside it's sort of a zoo, only the animals are kept in small dirty cages, and it was honestly kind of depressing to visit. So moving onto the next hell.

Hell 4: Kamado-jigoku

This one is named "Oven-hell" because people used to use it for cooking in the past. In fact, eggs boiled in the hot springs is a specialty in Beppu, and I tried it out in a restaurant for lunch.

I'm not sure how well you can see it in this picture, but sitting in a basket over the water are a bunch of eggs.

This jigoku also runs with the oni theme.

Like Umi-jigoku, this one has a variety of different types of hot spots inside. The muddy type:


And the sea blue type:

Hell 5: Oniyama-jigoku

Ogre/demon mountain hell of course joins in with the oni theme.

And for some reason it has a ton of live crocodiles in the water by the spring. I didn't take any pictures of them, so have this one of a statue by the entrance instead.

Hell 6: Shiraike-jigoku

This one is called White Pond Hell. I think it's tinged a little bluish, but I'll cut them some slack.

Hell 7: Chinoike-jigoku

Red clay dissolved in the boiling water gives Blood Pond Hell the color of its name. Supposedly the water is good for your skin.

Hell 8: Tatsumaki-jigoku

This next hell is a water spout. Sort of like Old Faithful, it goes off regularly--roughly every 40 minutes. This is a close up of what it looks like normally:

Before:

And after:


Evidently there is a ninth hell: Kinryu-jigoku (Golden Dragon Hell), and I remember walking past it and seeing that it was closed under construction. Still, eight hells were really fun to visit. After walking to all of them, we finished the day with a sand bath and a dip in an indoor hot spring, which was very relaxing.

And that was day one. Stay tuned for more!