supermarket | Japanising.com

I am woken at 4:47 a.m. to an alarm coming from the direction of the ocean. I look out of the window, it is raining hard. I dart out of bed to check a computer. No active tsunami warnings. I have a look outside, the alarm is constant, the rain is heavy, but everywhere else is quiet. No one rushing around. No lights on in houses. No one else in the hostel awake.

I calm down from my initial panic and decide to take advantage of the onsen (hot spring) in the hostel; open 24 hours a day except during cleaning time. Thanks to the volcanic activity in Japan, there are lots of onsens all across the county. Onsen water is believed to have healing powers derived from its mineral content. I get out of the onsen and the alarms finally stop. I go for a nap.

In the hostel lobby I ask a few people what the sirens were all about this morning. Only one other person heard them. “If it was a tsunami warning you would know about it. Those things go on for ages,” he says. I tell him this morning’s sirens went on for at least an hour. He repeats, “Nah, if it was a tsunami warning you would know about it.” Not very helpful at all.

My original plan for today was a two hour bus trip to the top of Mount Aso; Japan’s most active volcano. It turns out though that due to heavy fog, the gate is closed and I wouldn’t have been able to ascend the crater. I decide to skip the volcano and head to Beppu Station. Outside the station there is even an onsen for hands. Beppu is part of Oita Prefecture. Today I take a train to Oita, the capital of the prefecture.

¥280 later and I get off the train and go inside an indoor shopping arcade to shelter from the rain. This huge arcade is packed full of people. There are so many restaurants, so much choice. Usually I spend a long time wandering around trying to find a decent looking restaurant, but here there are plenty I would eat at. I wander down Smile Smile Street, with its restaurants sandwiched between wedding boutiques and pachinko parlours. There is also a random boat in the middle of Smile Smile Street.

As I wander back through the arcade in search of breakfast, I am drawn to a restaurant called ‘Vegetbar’. It is not that the restaurant is vegetarian that draws me to it, but the incredible menu. I have developed something of a sweet tooth since arriving in Japan, yesterday I discovered that supermarkets sell strawberry and cream sandwiches. I notice a big sign in the window of Vegetbar that says, “Pancakes Meet Vegetables.” I go inside and order them not really knowing what to expect.

Waiting for my food, if the anticipation doesn’t kill me then the food just might. A plate comes out and I like what I see. Vegetables have been blended up and added to the pancake mix. The green one was my favourite. Served with the pancakes is raspberry sorbet, whipped cream, and a pile of fresh fruit. After I while I forget that I am eating vegetable pancakes. Meal and a drink, ¥1280.

As I head out of the arcade, I watch a Japanese woman running to give another woman her change. In Japan it is customary not to leave a tip. The service is almost always exceptional; the service cost included in the price. Boarding the train, I realise that today is the first time since Sunday that I have really seen lots of people in one place. I also notice how good my skin feels; the healing power of onsen having the promised effect.

Back at Beppu the rain has stopped. I decide to see what the indoor shopping arcade here looks like during the peak lunch time rush. As you can see in the photograph above, the arcade is full of closed shutter doors and an absence of people. The most interesting thing about Beppu indoor shopping arcade is probably the Boss Coffee vending machine at the entrance. “The boss of them all since 1992.”

I head back to Beppu Station and hop on a bus bound for Kintetsu Beppu Ropeway. The Ropeway starts at 503 metres above sea level and is a cable car that takes you to the top of Mount Tsurumi, 1,300 metres high with excellent views. On a clear day you can see the islands of Shikoku. The bus twists and turns as it climbs up the mountain and eventually arrives at the Ropeway some twenty minutes later.

Closed. The driver of the bus apologises and tells me where to stand for the return bus. I try to pay him the ¥420 for the fare but he refuses to take any money. Even the bus drivers are nice in Japan. I have to wait 25 minutes for a bus back to Beppu. The vending machine outside the closed Ropeway sells ‘Boss Ice Creamy Latte’ in a big can for ¥130. Every cloud. Speaking of clouds, it starts to rain again.

While I sit in the rain waiting for my bus, the cafe across the road is blaring out Japanese pop music. A few cars drive up to the entrance of the Ropeway, the passengers peek at the ‘closed’ sign before turning around and leaving. A wasted journey if not for the view. I take a bus back down the mountain and take in the beautiful scenery.

At the hostel I am surprised to see that working on the reception desk is my old friend Yojiro; the Japanese guy I met a few times in Tokyo. He arrived back here late yesterday evening and is having a party tonight at the Hot Bepper bar. I still haven’t been to this bar yet; it only opens on Friday and Saturday nights. He gives me a token for one free drink. I think about boiled eggs and wonder how real this ‘free’ drink will actually be.

I eat supermarket bought prawn tempura for dinner. Prawn on the Fourth of July. Brilliant. It gets to 6 p.m. and feeling that I’ve already done enough on what has been a very long day, I now have to get ready for a party.

After a few days of relaxing and enjoying the views, I decide it’s about time I head out and see the sights. A sign in my hostel reads, “Like us on Facebook! You get 1 free boiled egg.” I instantly like them on Facebook. I write for a few hours then hire a bike from the hostel. ¥1000 deposit, returned to me when I return the bike. Not bad, a free bike.

I cycle around the narrow streets. Mostly empty with the exception of the odd car. I pass a shop selling face masks of Manchester United players and former Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. As I cycle uphill I see a tower in the distance. It feels like I am cycling up a mountain. I suppose that I am. I park my bicycle at Global Tower. Here, I pay ¥300 to ride the elevator 100 metres to the top. Global Tower is the symbol for one of the largest most advanced conference facilities in Western Japan.

I take my first few steps out of the lift and onto the upper observation deck. I instinctively know that there is nothing below me. The platform hangs in mid-air. It takes me a while to find my feet; before I enjoy a lovely 360 degree panoramic view of Beppu and the ocean beyond. Very nice. I then start down a staircase encased with glass. The staircase literally floats in the sky between the upper and lower observation decks. It takes me a while to find my feet.

After leaving Global Tower, I cycle downhill in the direction of Beppu Park. My one speed bicycle gathers momentum, and I begin to overtake cars. I slow down and my brakes shriek. The loudest brakes I have ever heard. All around me in the distance I hear dogs barking at the sound of my shrieking brakes. I pass a random golf course made entirely from concrete, before arriving at Beppu Park.

The park has no entry fee, but I think it deservedly should. I cycle around the park. There are not many people here so I do a few laps and take in the lush greenery, the surrounding scenery, and the shelter of a bamboo forest. I leave the park and head further downhill toward the ocean where I stop off at a giant supermarket. Japanese supermarkets are amazing. They have a huge selection of ready to eat food in plastic trays, but it’s all fresh, mostly healthy, and mostly delicious. I spend an hour wandering the infinite aisles before settling on today’s lunch.

My lunch is amberjack sashimi, some shrimp cutlet with tartare sauce, and two side salads. I also find some cheese that for once isn’t in the shape of a Mushi Cake. Real cheese is scarce in Japan, so this is a big deal for me. With my meal I also drink a bottle containing seventeen different types of vegetable and three different types of fruit. Sounds quite healthy but tastes of disappointment.

Last night I took advantage of the free Nintendo Wii in the hostel and played Mario Kart with Ed, a guy from London. At the hostel, he asks me what I’m doing today. I tell him I don’t really fancy taking a bus anywhere (most tourist attractions here are accessed by bus), and that I’ve already hired a bicycle. We look at a map, Ed hires a bike, and we set off, uphill, in the direction of Kannawa. After about fifteen minutes we stop off for a ‘Cooling Break’ outside some netted complex that turns out to be a driving range.

Inside the driving range, we somehow communicate with a non-English speaking man at reception before receiving two clubs and ball tokens. I insert the token into the machine, expecting just a few balls, but at least 250 pour out—I wasn’t expecting this many. Taking our places on the driving range, we each have an auto tee-up machine, a little robotic arm that places a new golf ball onto the tee for us. We spend an hour hitting golf balls in the direction of a net. Beyond the net, all we can see is the ocean.

It’s approaching 2 p.m. and the sun is blazing. I asked yesterday if it ever rains here. The hostel manager told me that the day before I arrived they had just had two weeks of rain. Me and my good timing. Back on track and heading to Kannawa. After what seems like hours of more uphill cycling, we arrive at Kannawa Hyotan Onsen. Hot spring baths are everywhere in Beppu. Plumes of white smoke rise up in almost every direction. Even the cold water here comes out of the tap hot. We use the free outdoor foot onsen at the entrance and relax for a while before heading even further uphill.

We arrive in an area called “The Hells.” Eight connected outdoor springs each with their own theme. We pay ¥400 each and enter one of ‘The Hells’. Oniyama Jigoku, or Crocodile Hell. A sign inside says: “The force of the steam is so strong here that about one and a half train cars can be pulled by its pressure, and it creates ideal conditions for breeding crocodiles.” The sign is next to a really hot stream of spring water. The temperature, the sign says, is 99°C.

When the spring water cools in the winter, they put the crocodiles inside to breed. We wander around. The crocodiles are quite scary and there are lots of them. We stare at crocodiles for a long while. They do not move. They do not even blink. Playing dead a specialty of theirs. We find some enclosures with water and a few crocodiles swimming around. There is one giant crocodile that wants to eat Ed. At 5 p.m. Crocodile Hell closes, and a woman kindly asks us to leave.

Outside, the conversation turns to sushi, and we get on our bikes and head back to the hostel. The cycling is all downhill now. My favourite part. On our way we pass Beppu Port. A huge cruise ship waits at one of the terminals. A bright red lighthouse waits in the distance. Back at the hostel, still no sign of my free boiled egg, we ask for directions to the ¥100 sushi restaurant. It turns out that it’s inside the same shopping complex as the supermarket I had visited earlier today.

At the restaurant, nearly all of the sushi is ¥100. We order our food on a computer screen, it is then made in the kitchen before arriving to us on a train. We order plate after plate of sushi. It’s actually surprisingly fresh. Ed orders a beer, I order a Suntory whisky highball, and we get through eleven plates of raw fish on rice between us. The cost is about ¥1100 each.

After sushi we head back to the hostel and watch the news. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has revised Article 9. Four of us have a long discussion about the changes to the Constitution of Japan. It is massive news here and I’m hardly surprised. People have been protesting in the streets; on Sunday a man in Shinjuku made a statement by setting himself on fire. War, what is it good for? Abe-solutely nothing.

After we finish our discussion, three of us head out with a couple of beers and have a little wander around Beppu at night. Also, I took this photograph of a dragonfly that I quite liked:

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Global Tower, Beppu Park, Crocodile Hell