Beppu

I got into Beppu on Friday July 23rd. Beppu is famous for it's Onsens and natural hotsprings. An Onsen is a Japanese bathing house. I would say that a Japanese onsen is like a large American hot tub. Except the water is made up of natural mineral water. To my surprise I have come to love Onsens. I have gone to an Onsen the last 2 days. Below are some pictures that I snuck of an Onsen I went to yesterday. I also took a quick video(bottom of the post).


This is a picture of the onsen


The Onsen I went to was in Kannawa. This is a small town that is near Beppu. The onse was outside and I was the only one there. It also had a very nice tea garden. After I hung out in the onsen for about 30 minutes I explored the tea garden. It was really nice and peaceful. It had some stairways that went up the hill pretty far. After I got pretty sweaty I went back to the onsen and chilled in it for about 45 minutes... I tell you I'm getting addicted. .

This is a picture of in the tea garden.

This is a quick video of the onsen. I'm not supposed to do this because people might be naked...

My last day in Shimonseki

On my last day in Shimonseki I went to an Onsen and had Roof Soba noodles. Taka, Mama and I went to an Onsen. Onsens are awesome. Every single one of them is different from the next. I think that the mineral water in onsens are very good for my skin. When we were at the Onsen there was a man with many tattoos. Taka said "did you notice the man with lots of tattoos?" I said "yeah" and he then explained to me that this man was a known gangster and that I should not make any eye contact with him. The guy had tattoos all over his body so it was hard not to look at him. But I am alive and healthy so I didn't mess up.

After the Onsen. We went and got soba noodles. I have realized that one way to make an onsen experience even more awesome is to have good food after the onsen. The noodles that we got are only made in Shimonoseki. I like to call the noodles "Shimonseki famous noodles". They were delicious. These noodles are cooked by heating up a roof tile and then the noodles cook on the roof tile. When they serve you the soba noodles they are on a roof tile. It is pretty cool. Below are a few pictures.

Mama and I eating Shimoseki Soba Noodles.

Famous Shimonoseki Soba Noodles.

My understanding is that these noodles used to be cooked by soldiers at war. When it was really hot out they would put the noodles on the roof's of their facilities and this would cook the noodles.