Japan 2019 - Onsen rules

Japan is a volcanically active country and has thousands of hot springs. A hot spring (onsen) could be indoor or outdoor, naturally or artificially heated, public or privately run (by a hotel or ryokan), gender separated or mixed. Most hotels have a gender separated public bath. Here are the basic rules:
1) People with tattoos are generally not allowed to enter an onsen.
2) In a public onsen, you first take off your shoes, put them in a locker and then proceed to pay your entry fee (usually around 400 - 600 yen, i.e. approximately A$5 - 8). If the onsen is in your hotel, change into the yukata and slippers provided by the hotel. See rules below.
3) Proceed to the men’s/women’s change room, remove all clothing and put it into a locker.
4) Go to one of the washing stations, sit on a small stool and scrub yourself from head to toe with a small towel (you need to bring or buy one). We have noticed that most women spend at least 15 minutes scrubbing every bit of their body! Soap, shampoo, a small bucket and a shower faucet are provided. It is considered rude to splash other people, so use the bucket, rather than the shower!
5) Hose down stool, bucket, yourself and washing station and place the towel on your head or tie it around your hair. It is against the rules to dip the towel into the bath water!
6) Soak in the hot water and relax.
I am sure there are other rules that we don’t know yet, so this list might not be complete. While it all sounds complicated, it’s actually fun. And after a day on a bicycle it’s fabulous!

Obviously, it is hard to sneak in a camera when you are completely naked, so this photograph is from a pamphlet. Some onsen have amazing views and gardens. The natural ones all have different therapeutic values due to their mineral content.

Washing stations at a ryokan.

We took these photographs when nobody else was around. Washing station with indoor pool and .....

... the outdoor infinity pool!

Japan 2019 - Kyushu (part 1)

Yakiniku is probably our favourite type of restaurant here and it’s where we go to satisfy our once-a-week meat cravings. You order bite-sized bits of meat and grill them over a small gridiron, accompanied by salads, vegetables or soups. Needless to say, we’ve been staying away from the guts!

Along the coast it is difficult to avoid big cities, industrial areas and heavy traffic. After spending an afternoon riding through heavy air pollution (car industry), we decided to head south and inland to get into more remote areas.

Even through the mountains we have to pick our roads carefully. Without local knowledge, it takes a considerable amount of research to find the smaller roads with little traffic. By reading other people’s blogs and studying Kirsten’s cycling GPS, Google earth, Google maps and my ESRI maps, we usually get it right. And when we don’t, it is terrifying! We made a big detour to get off this road. It was busy with over-sized logging and construction trucks and they didn’t obey the 50km/h speed limit.

Nakatsu has one street with lots of Buddhist temples, all different and all beautiful. The white walls of this one are said to be stained with the blood of samurai which were executed here, so they painted them red.

Nakatsu castle.

We cycled past so many rice paddies, all of which are being planted at the moment (mostly with the help of machines, but some still manually). These are discarded rice seedlings. It seems they are grown on a dense mat and then separated into small bundles for planting.

There used to be a train running between Nakatsu and Morizane Onsen, the tracks of which have been converted into the Maple Yaba Cycling Road, a 35km rail trail. Note the aquifer on the left to water the rice paddies.

 In Hita we visited an old Sake Brewery.......

..... and between Yufuin and Beppu we cycled over a pass and took a cable car up to Mount Tsurumi.

Beppu has several hot springs called jigoku (hell). Some are for viewing only, some for bathing.

Japan 2019 - Hagi to Kitakyushu

The coastal road from Hagi to Nagato was one of the most beautiful yet. Forested hills, small fishing villages, clear blue water and narrow roads with no traffic.

In Nagato we decided to visit the Kiwado hot spring, located on a hill overlooking the bay, before riding to the campsite. That’s where we met Seiko, who invited us to stay at her place. What a gorgeous traditional house! Built 130 years ago and beautifully renovated and maintained! We chatted all night over a bottle of red. Seiko was excited to practise her English, so we finally had somebody who could answer all our questions about Japan and its customs.

The next morning Seiko offered to drive us to the Motonosumi Inari Shrine and to Tsunoshima, where her friends are running a bakery. The coffee and pastries were fabulous! Thanks for being such a great tourist guide, Seiko! We hope we’ll be able to return the favour one day!

Next stop was Akiyoshidai, a karst plateau estimated to be a 300 million year old coral reef. The landscape is very different from the surrounding forests.

We went inside Japan’s largest and longest cave, called Akiyoshido. The public is allowed in a 1km section of a total of 9km length. Absolutely stunning! Underground rivers, huge columns, limestone terraces, waterfalls and deep pools.

We couldn’t figure out how to get onto the bridge to cross from Honshu to Kyushu, until we realised that there is a tunnel for bicycles and pedestrians! 

We happened to stumble into the Moji Port Festival - what a great coincidence! Drummers, dancers, food stalls, music and lots of people in amazing dresses!