Series : OnsenTown Beppu is Ready to Welcome You!!!

Part 4 : Tourist Information

Beppu has a well-organized information offices (FTIO: Beppu Foreign Tourist Information Office) located in JR Beppu station, downtown (Kitahama) and Kannawa (the major hot spring site). Details of FTIO offices are introduced in the travel guide books published in many foreign countries. Excellent service of those information offices are highly valued by the visitors from overseas. This is one of the reasons why many foreign tourists visit Beppu.

Beppu Foreign Tourist Information Office (FTIO Beppu Station)

Upon arrival at JR Beppu station, you will see FTIO office at the corner of station lobby, where you can get useful information such as city map, pamphlet of sightseeing spots, discount coupon of local buses, and so on. They will help you reserve JR and highway buses and tell you how to transfer those public transportations.

As FTIO office in Beppu station is usually quite busy with a lot of visitors, you may go to another FTIO office in a walking distance. That is FTIO downtown office at Kitahama where you can relax and talk to the staff about your travel plan in Beppu and neighboring areas. Free internet is available there, too.



Beppu Foreign Tourist Information Office
(FTIO Kitahama, Beppu)

Free internet service
(FTIO Kitahama, Beppu)

If you have a chance to visit Kannawa, the most popular Onsen site in Beppu, drop by at FTIO Kannawa office in Jigokumushi Kobo. They will give you useful advice to make Jigoku tour, the major sightseeing in Beppu, and the information of good restaurants, souvenirs, local bus schedule, etc. As described above, we recommend you to try Jigokumushi cooking, a very unique, traditional way of cooking by using natural hot spring steam. FTIO staff there is very pleased to help you cook.

Beppu Foreign Tourist Information Office
(FTIO Kannawa, Beppu)

Free internet service
(FTIO Kannawa, Beppu)


 (KI/KK)

Historic buildings in Kannawa

These buildings were built over 100 years ago.  

The first one used to be a Japanese-Style Inn and is now used as a gallery and music hall. Special events are occasionally held there.

The second one used to be clinic and is now used as a café that is known for healthy yet delicious dishes, sweets and drinks. You can make yourself comfortable there, while eating and drinking. 

The street in front of these buildings is stone-paved and warmed by geothermal heat. From time to time, homeless cats are seen wandering and crouching on the street. 

Walking map of Kannawa is available at the FTIO Kannawa office. (AW)

Series : Onsen Town Beppu is Ready to Welcome You!!!

Part 3: Meal

Typical local foods in Beppu are “Toriten” and “Reimen”. The former is a kind of fried chicken and the latter is a cold noodle with many kinds of toppings. Some restaurants are specialized in those menus. They are relatively inexpensive like 500 yen to 1,000 yen. It is good to combine them with rice and miso soup. Besides them, dangojiru, 100 yen-a-piece kaiten-zushi (see other page of this blog), Korean style grill, udon noodle and ramen noodle are popular among foreign tourists.

Recently, Jigoku-mushi in Kannnawa area has quickly gained it's popularity. This is a kind of do-it-yourself type cooking using natural hot spring steam. There are a couple of private Jigoku-mushi facilities in Kannawa and also many ryokans have their own in-house Jigoku-mushi steamers. The most popular one is Jigoku-mushi Kobo Kannawa run by the city of Beppu.

As hot spring steam in Kannawa contains plenty of minerals and natural salt, you can eat the cooked food without any seasoning. If you dare to use some seasonings, soy sauce, salt and ponzu (citrus juice added soy sauce) are available for free at Kobo. Sea food such as prawn, crab and shell are good for Jigoku-mushi. If you mix them with some vegetables like cabbage, potato, pumpkin or chicken with bones, it will be a perfect healthy cuisine.

In Kobo, English and Korean speaking staff will help you cook. So, just visit there and try this unique way of cooking. You will surely like it. And also, you have a chance to drink natural hot spring water and enjoy foot bath with free of charge. If you want to search any travel information, free internet is available at the site. (KI/KK)

The Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Beppu Ropeway）

'Shichi Fuku Jin' are the seven gods of good fortune which bring people good luck. It came out from syncretization of Shinto with Buddhism.'Shichi' means 'seven', 'Fuku' means 'good luck' and 'Jin' means 'god' in Japanese.

One of them, 'Daikokuten', who put his foot on bags of rice with a lucky hammer and a big sack in his hands is the god of success in business and matchmaking.

Another one, 'Fukurokujyu', who has an abnormally high forehead is the god of happiness, wealth and longevity.

There are many places that have Shichi Fuku Jin statues in Japan, even on Mt. Tsurumi located in the Aso-Kujyu National Park.
You can walk along the trail toward the top of Mt. Tsurumi from the mountaintop station to visit them while enjoying the seasonal landscape.

It takes 20 minutes by local bus from Beppu station to the foot of Mt. Tsurumi and 10 minutes by ropeway to get the mountaintop station.

(AW)

Series - "Onsen Town Beppu Is Ready To Welcome You!"

Part 2 : Lodging

Lodging is very important for the tourists to enjoy both sightseeing and Onsen in Beppu. Your first choice will be “minshuku” (also called as toujiyado) , guest house or “ryokan”, Japanese style inn.

You can stay at ryokan overnight with two meals for about 15,000 yen. Ryokan usually serves “kaiseki ryori”, a formal Japanese dinner. It will enchant you with a series of Japanese dishes served in a tiny, pretty china plates. While drinking Japanese sake, to have “kaiseki ryori” after Onsen bathing will give you a wonderful memory of Japan. 

Meanwhile, overnight at “minshuku” costs some 10,000 yen including two meals (dinner and breakfast). At “minshuku” you will enjoy home-cooked meals. If you are lucky, the landlady will cook for you by herself. Sometimes, you can stay at “minshuku” with room charge only, if you prefer. It costs about 5,000 yen and instead of a bed, you sleep on “futon” (Japanese sleeping mattress) spread on “tatami” mat. Many ryokan and minshuku are available in Kannawa area, one of Beppu’s eight major hot spring areas. As Kannawa is the center of Jigoku tour, the major sightseeing spots in Beppu, to stay there is very convenient for you to see Jigoku on the day and after.

Around the JR Beppu station, there are many modern hotels and ryokans. Meanwhile, hotels and ryokans standing at Beppu bay side provide you gorgeous view from open-air bath in the hotel. The range of the room charges of those hotels and ryokans is from 6,000 yen to 8,000 yen. They all have western style rooms and facilities.

For those who prefer economy class lodging, Beppu provides you of business hotels (about 4,000 yen) or dormitory type inns (from 1,500 yen) within 15 minute walk from JR Beppu station. Some economy class hotels or inns have in-house Onsen.(KI/KK)

Fantastic world of lights

This illumination is presented by the Suginoi Hotel and stretches for 600m on both sides of the street in its site. The lights of about 730,000 LED bulbs are powered by hotel's in-house geothermal generators.
You can enjoy it from 17:00 to 23:00 every day. The last day is unknown yet.

(AW)

Series-"Onsen Town Beppu is Ready to Welcome You."

When you plan to trip to Japan, we recommend you to include Beppu in your itinerary. Because Beppu has a lot of things to satisfy the full sense of tourists. We are presenting a series of topics on the tourism Beppu.

Part 1 : Onsen = Hot spring
Japanese people like to take bath everyday in the bath tub with full of water to ease their fatigue of the day. Beppu is the mecca of Onsen for such Japanese bath lovers. People in Beppu can relax in a local Onsens with rich minerals in a walking distance almost every day.

Fee for each municipal Onsen in Beppu is only 100 yen.

In today’s thin human relation society, it is a pleasure for local people to greet and chat with others in Onsen bath.

Many tourists from other parts of Japan and overseas may enjoy the same way of bathing in the municipal Onsen mingling with local people. On the other hand, Beppu has a lot of upscale Onsens with various types of Onsen in one building for the tourists to enjoy them easily. Also, you can experience unique Onsens such as mud bath (“doroyu”), sand bath (“sunayu”, steam bath (“mushiyu”) and popular open-air bath (“rotenburo”). Fee range for them is from 200 yen to 2,000 yen. (K.I. & K.K.)