The Beautiful Sakura and a Mountain on Fire

So without anything to do today, I headed down to Beppu-shi to walk around and learn the streets. The bus ride downtown isn't very long and takes us on a pretty route. We got dropped off at Beppu Koen (Beppu Park) and we viewed all the sakura blossoms. There are so many! Tulips are also very popular, as you can see from the pictures. There were many people enjoying hanami, which is sakura blossom viewing! You have a picnic and just enjoy yourself.

I then walked to the harbor which reminds me of Boston. It was very warm and sunny out and I got a nasty sunburn, but it's better than being cold! There are many beaches and parks in Beppu which makes it look very natural despite being a city. The Japanese have mastered living in nature very well. I also went up Beppu Tower. There is a tower in pretty much every city, so they aren't anything special. It had a great view though!

View from Beppu Tower

Beppu Station

Beppu Harbor Tsunami Warning

After that we went to dinner at a conveyor belt sushi place. Even the bad sushi here is better than in America. I am not a fan of sushi, but it was pretty cool to go to. If you want to order a particular piece of sushi, it comes out on a tiny shinkansen (bullet train) right to your table. So there are no actual waitresses or anything. It's pretty sweet.

To drink, it's not common to have soda with a meal, or even juice. Tea is the most common thing, green tea in particular. So the little yellow nozzle on the side dispenses hot water and you put in matcha, which is green tea, and you have tea.






To continue the long day, we stayed until nightfall to watch them set Mt. Obu on fire. Why? I have no idea why they do that. It's the start of the onsen (public bath/spa/hot tub) festival. It's a controlled fire, so no one gets hurt.

So in short, welcome to Beppu, we set a mountain on fire because it is fun.