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Nov. 3, Mon.

We'll visit the city of Beppu in Oita Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan. Beppu is one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts.
Our traveler, Adeyto, and Beppu guide, Gonzalez Bernardo, visit many locals, including Yoshihiro Hirano. He leads them around Chiyomachi district, where residents use hot spring water daily. For example, the used water from the communal bath is kept in an adjoining well to be 'recycled' for washing and cleaning.
Adeyto tried her hand at 'Jigoku-mushi', a cooking method where you steam food in a 'jigoku-gama' or hell pot that harnesses hot springs. This method has been in use for over one hundred years.
Adeyto and Gonzalez pop into Gonzalez's favorite coffee shop. Hot spring enthusiasts gather here for a break between rounds of Beppu hot spring dips. They like to collect hot spring stamps in a booklet. Instead of a 'passport', they call it a 'spa-port'. They have a bit of inside fun boasting to each other about how many stamps they've collected.
Through the trip to Beppu, Adeyto experiences the wonderful culture of hot springs.

Traveler: Adeyto (Artist)

[ACCESS]
By air: Tokyo (Haneda Airport) to Oita Airport (1 hour 30
min.). From there it's a forty-minute bus ride to Beppu.
For getting around town use local buses and taxis.