mount aso - kumamoto / oita area

Private onsen experience, covered overnite with styro covers.
Check the view. Now that's a bathtub!

The air was fresh and full of good ions, the sky was magnificent that day.

Onsen house, detail. My mom painted our living room that color when I was a kid.

Onsen house, dark corners for reflection.

Outside, a minimalist fountain.

Private onsen house entrance at the place where we stayed, Mount Aso area.

Self-portrait, somewhat serious, but have camera will travel.

The summit of Mount Aso, a somewhat on and off affair. The parking lot is empty because as soon as we got there lot attendants made everyone leave. Sulphur gas (that small white cloud spewing up there) can spell disaster for asthmatics and people with heart issues. The Japanese are very tidy with health and safety issues, so I got dirty looks for lingering to take the photo but what the hell, we paid four bucks to come up to the summit, only to have to leave right away!

Onsen house foyer at the cabins.

The cabin. Idyllic.

Mount Aso: Active volcano on Kyushu.

Oh, don't let that fact scare you, it hasn't been spewing lava and stuff for a long time. However, the gas is occasionally smelly, it has large deposits of sulphur and other minerals, deposited throughout the area and in the water supply, making the area renowned for some excellent onsen (public soaking) baths. Sulphur baths make your skin and hair baby-soft and improve digestion and circulation. I was in the water before you could say 'naked'. Marvelous.

And the scenery was something to behold...it was the perfect weekend. Reason why there are no inside onsen photos is, well, everyone was naked...grandmas, guys, kids, ladies, the works. A little different experience than in Korea, where the sexes have seperate bathing areas. No problem if you can run interference with your small towel and/or your hands. Just try not to stare, ok?.

The entrance to the cabin my Japanese friend Tetsuya and I rented for the night.

You can see the stairs to the sleeping loft. A simple 'A-frame' cottage.

The view out the back window of the cabin's sleeping loft. At about fifty bucks a night, including kitchen and private onsen use, I felt like we were squatting. The myth of high prices in Japan has been busted! (At least for this trip!).

The downward path to the onsen house. Dreamy.

The living room in the cabin. The table you see is a futatsu or 'table-heater'. You sit under it, on the floor and pull the blanket over your legs. The heater is underneath. I had stiff legs after sitting under it, but they were warm!

Bedding in the sleeping loft, futon and covers. Cozy and warm.

The loft itself. Beautiful wood, simple design, ideal.

One of the small ranges near Mount Aso.

An almost Martian landscape, said Tetsu. Those dots along the lower ridge, are people.

A public onsen, this one really stinky but the results were great. I was promised volcanic mud but in the end it was all gone for the day. The murky pool is a natural spring like the tubs inside. Milky white. Steaming.

The clouds over the landscape that day. Magical.

I will definitely be going back to Mount Aso soon, the waters were so healing and the whole area has a superb natural beauty that is quite unique. There are farms and trees everywhere. Hope you enjoyed seeing it through my eyes.