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For the three-day weekend in early November I went on a road trip to Kyushu to hike and camp around Mt. Aso. In addition to hiking, we found ourselves onsening ALL the time. I had attempted to go to Mt. Aso and hike (I have a minor obsession with hiking) when I first got to Japan, yet came to a dead end because it is very hard to reach without a car. Don't worry to those that know me, I have no desire in my entire life to drive in Japan- I hate doing it in America! Since last year I was still trying to find a way to get to Aso. Fortunately my friend Nikki was as eager as I was to get to Aso, and alas, can drive a car- next thing I knew we were planning a road trip to Aso.

Submerged in the waters from Hell

Casey Lary
2007-03-10 16:58:47

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hiking as we could, we did what most Japanese don't do and walked that whole 1 km to the crater. The crater is definitely a Japanese tourist destination, selling sulfur and large Japanese tour groups all over. The caldera is still active today, and can be very dangerous because of its toxic emissions. If the wind blows a certain way, then they actually have to close the caldera to visitors. That would have sucked- thank God it did not happen to us! After gazing at the ice blue sulfur and getting our fair share of rotten eggs, we went in search of the peak. Again, not really having too much direction, we just wandered. Luckily we wandered in the right direction and soon found ourselves hiking up the side of the mountain- this is what I came to Aso for! We got to the ridge and it was an incredible view of the entire crater and surrounding area. We did not get to cmplete the whole hike because we were running out of daylight. Still it was definitely worthwhile and amazing. I couldn't have been any happier.

That night we headed back to Kurokawa. To our luck, this is a very famous and special little area in Kumamoto Prefecture. "Kurokawa" means "black river." The river is famous for its natural hot springs. Onsens have been built along the river to take advantage of the special water. Japanese people wander the streets in yukata with a special pass, allowing them to choose 3 of the 40 or so onsens to dip into. For those unfamiliar with onsens, they are natural hot spring baths. When at an onsen you strip down to your birthday suit and bathe in a shower outside the hot spring before entering. Once clean, you submerge your body into the piping hot water and sooth your aching muscles. Once you get over the whole getting naked thing, they are wonderful. The guidebooks did tell us to be careful because many of the onsens in Kurokawa are coed. We randomly picked one, went in to make sure sexes were segregated, and proceeded onward. Somehow we chose the ...