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Jesse is taking the Canadian holidays so we had booked a stay at a ryokan in Beppu in Kyushu (the southern island) for the long weekend which we were both looking forward to. On our way south, we also stopped to catch a baseball game in Fukuoka. (Jesse handed in his two weeks notice just before this trip so it was also an early celebration of freedom from Pay TM!)
May 18th - Baseball Game
Baseball is incredibly popular in Japan, so we knew that we should make a point of seeing a game while we are here. It is very common to see groups of kids at a park or even just in front of their apartment with a bat and ball, same as we might see people playing basketball or street hockey. Now that the baseball season is starting up we see folks in jerseys on game day.
There was a ramen shop in Hiroshima near our first apartment that was super tasty, and the owner was clearly a huge Carps fan. He had jerseys hung up along the main wall, and there was usually a game playing on the TV. One night there were a few friends or regulars who had come for supper and they were all watching the game together and cheering on the team which was fun.
Jesse's Japanese coworker had said we should see the Softbank Hawks play at PayPay Dome in Fukuoka, rather than the team in Hiroshima because the Fukuoka team is better funded so attending a game there is more exciting. I can't compare to Hiroshima, but I do agree it was an eventful afternoon! We also happened to be there during a series of home games that were raising money for breast cancer research, so they were giving out free shirts with each ticket. Did you know the Hawks have 8 current mascots, all with names and backstories? 8!!
While the t-shirts aren't very good quality, it was nice to get one because then I didn't have to worry about wearing the wrong colour in the wrong seating area. See, dedicated Japanese fans are hardcore, and there is a specific away team cheering seating section, and a home team cheering section. Folks everywhere cheer when something big happens, but those sections are where the drums, flags, and most dedicated folks sit. When the away team was announced, their fans cheered for what I think was 10 minutes straight. (You can just see the blue away team section in the gif to the left).
There is also a Fukuoka specific tradition that as the Hawks are up to bat in the 7th inning, the spectators inflate and then release balloons. I don't know why or when this tradition started, and usually the balloons are yellow, but the stadium was indeed full of balloons in the 7th inning! Even the away fans had balloons in blue for when their team was up to bat. I was also surprised that none of the balloons ended up on the pitch. There were a couple in the netting, and because you have to use the balloons bought at the venue, perhaps their valves also help control the balloon's flight.
May 19th - Ryokan
The ryokan we were staying at wasn't necessarily super modern or flashy, but it was large and had a private bath which was reason we had picked it. I remember the futons not being as bad as some previous times, but I can't tell how much is me getting used to them, and how much of a difference doubling up makes when we borrow extra futons from the closets.
The bath was really nice! The nights were still cool so while it was very chilly to wash up outside, it was lovely to get into the hot bath and enjoy the contrast of the cool air on your face. I took this photo in front of the Japanese maple which was growing over the bath.
In winter you can slide the outer door closed so the bath and shower water will heat up the air near the shower station, but we kept it open. I will miss the Japanese bathhouses, they are quite nice. And because it was private, we even had ice cream in the bath one night. :D
Beppu Ropeway and Mt Tsurumi
During the day of the 19th, we did a little bit of exploring, but we didn't have too much planned because we mostly wanted to relax. There was a ropeway not too far up the road, with a restaurant nearby so we caught a bus from near the ryokan to go visit.
The food was what typical for a rural Japanese restaurant, but they also had a local dessert which I really liked! It was these very thick, chewy noodles, that were covered in a toasted soybean flour. The flour was quite nutty, but not very sweet so there was a pile of pure sugar on the side of the plate. I'm not sure exactly how you were supposed to add the sugar, but we tried just picking up a little bit on our chopsticks and setting it on the noodle before we ate it.
After lunch we took the ropeway up and then realized there was a nice hike at the top as well! We were so high up that the view was sometimes obscured because we were inside a cloud. While it was very warm down below, up top we had to keep walking because the altitude and breeze meant it was almost cold. It was a lovely place to spend an hour though, before we took the ropeway back down again.
Jesse flew his drone a bit, but it was tricky to fly safely and avoid the clouds blowing by. The bottom left photo below is one of the few he got, but you can see how the clouds are covering the top of the mountain. We are too small to see in the picture, but the path ended between the radio towers.
May 20th - Beppu Hot Springs
On the 20th we checked out of our Ryokan and then explored Beppu some more. See, Beppu has both the most hot springs of any city, as well as the largest volume of water emanating from hot springs in all of Japan. When you arrive, you can smell the sulfur in the air, and there are many places throughout the town where you can see steam rising up.
One of the main attractions in Beppu are "the 7 Hells", which are places where particularly hot water (generally over 95 C) spouts from the ground in various ways. Sometimes they form bubbling mud pools, or mineral deposits in the water create red banks on a steaming pond, or my favourite which was the geyser that spouts every 30 to 40 minutes. The hot water is also used for other things such as to grow tropical plants or cook food.
After exploring the town for the morning and visiting all 7 "Hells", we then took a few trains back to Hiroshima.
Oh! And on the way back we picked up some mochi! They had really unique flavours at this stall, so I tried to get two I was sure we would like along with two adventurous flavours.
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