別府 と 阿蘇

Since I am now a man of leisure having had to forgo employment for visa reasons, I have been taking it easy and boy does it feel good!

Last week I travelled to Beppu in north west Kyushu. Beppu is the capital of onsens, there must be an onsen for every inhabitant as when entering the city you see steam rising from every household. It is a weeny bit tacky but is a very pleasant relaxed place which was surprisingly quiet because the expo in aichi has diverted all the tourists away. On visiting Beppu I also had a look rouund its famous sex museum the most bizarre of places. In the middle of the museum they have some enormous wooden phalluses as well as two oversized zebras pleasuring themselves. The place seemed to be run by a bunch of pensioners trying to push you the latest sex accessories. Bizarre!!
I also met a very kind student who gave me a tour of the best onsens including one that looked out at the sea. Very relaxing!

Last weekend i also took a trip to Aso whoch I have shamefully neglected over the last year (its only 30mins away.). Its a really beautiful area with lots of fine places to hike and great onsen. If malvern had a volcano in its centre and was 10 times bigger maybe you would get the same feel!
I decided to hike around one of the outer ravines, swearing and cursing as i stumbled over the lose rock. I felt like Frodo baggins in Mordor. It was very satisfying though to gaze down at the sulphuric fumes from the volcano and see the extent of the enormous caldera that was created thousands of years ago.
I also met some Austrian Airline stewards who had been to Japan 80 times! Its a figure hard to beat.