#Blood Pond Hot Spring – JAPAN

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

U.A. High School Field Trip Around Japan: Day 6 Translations

This is Day 6 of Shonen Jump’s special commemoration of My Hero Academia reaching one hundred million copies worldwide, which is being rolled out daily across one-week in each prefecture’s newspaper.

The schedule:

April 4th, Day 1: Hokkaidō & Tōhōku regions

April 5th, Day 2: Kantō region

April 6th, Day 3: Chūbu region

April 7th, Day 4: Kansai region

April 8th, Day 5: Chūgoku & Shikoku regions

April 9th, Day 6: Kyūshū & Okinawa regions

April 10th, Day 7: Nationwide release

You can see the illustrations on their website here, where they are released digitally the day after the newspaper release.

Here we go!

Kyūshū Region

Fukuoka

Photo credit: twitter user nika2_prpr

Hawks: "Aren't we all just dying for free time? I just want everyone to be happy, you know." Tokoyami: "That ambition is what I, too, wish to realize." Jirou: "He has a rockin' vibe even when sleeping, doesn't he!!"

Nanzo-in Temple is home to one of the largest bronze statues in the world depicting a reclining Buddha, called Shaka Nehan (Nirvana). The statue holds ashes of Buddha and two adherents, which were gifts from Myanmar as thanks for Nanzo-in's donations of medical supplies.

Saga

Photo credit: twitter user yukino_096

Ashido: "The squid are dancing!!" Tokoyami: "The squid, such speed!" Aizawa: "For drying a large amount of squid at once, it's a really reasonable method." Tokoyami: "A magnificent display of stormy turmoil!!!"

This is a fixture at Yobuko Town's morning market which rapidly dries squid by rotating in circles. The Japanese name, ikaguruguru, uses an onomatopoeia for going around in circles so you could call it a "squidy-go-round." Tokoyami uses the Japanese term for the German aesthetic Sturm und Drang. By the way, the term for dried squid, surume, is also used to mean something that grows on you over time. It's one of the most popular snacks in Japan!

Nagasaki

Photo credit: twitter user ssb_uchuubar_

Aoyama: "Merci for the million dollar nightscape~" Asui: "The night views from the sky are exception!"

Nagasaki is considered to have one of the top three best night skylines in Japan. You can visit Mount Inasa's Observatory to see it for free, but they got something even better!

Kumamoto

Photo credit: twitter user 18Miyakonbu

Sero: "Bakugou... did you do that!?" Kouda: "The mountain is burning!" Shouji: "Quick, put it out! Bakugou, you help too!" Nedzu: "Hang on! Dry grass being burnt down helps new grass sprout. This nurtures the animals as well. Humans and nature in symbiosis, that's what burning the fields represents!" Bakugou: "Hey, you bastards, APOLOGIZE!"

The city of Aso lights its mountain on fire every year as part of the Aso Fire Festival, a coordinated effort between farmers to replenish the fertility of their soil. My favorite part is that Katsuki doesn't deny that he blew the mountain up in flames... he's saying, "see, I'm helping, all right!!"

Ōita

Photo credit: twitter user im_mim_966

Kaminari: "Now then, who's getting in!! To soothe your travel weariness!" Iida: "STOP! Do you want to be boiled alive!? Swimming in the Blood Pond Hell area is prohibited!!" Kaminari: "So this is a 'bitterness of denied entry' type hell, then! (cry)"

They are trying to bathe in the Blood Pond Hell in Beppu City, where iron oxide and magnesium oxide mix and get pushed to the surface to turn the water blood red. Beppu is known for its Eight Hells, hot springs that are so hot (often greater than 200 degrees Fahrenheit), they are meant for viewing rather than bathing--hence their being called a "hell," not a "hot spring!"

Miyazaki

Photo credit: twitter user

Yaoyorozu: "The myth of Princess Toyotama and Yamasachihiko exchanging love letters has been passed down in Aoshima, so there is a legend that if you send a love letter with this postbox, your love will come true." Kaminari: "Make a postcard for me right now, Yaomomo!" Mineta: "Make me a hundred! It's my lifelong wish!!" Yaoyorozu: "It's just one apiece for someone special..." Postboxes in Japan are red, so this one, called the "Yellow Postbox of Good Luck," is unique. The couple Yaoyorozu mentions are from the Kojiki and Nihon Shiki, which contain some of the earliest written records of Japanese myths and ancient history. Poor Kaminari... he just asked for one!

Kagoshima

Photo credit: twitter user Door_20200783

All Might: "Continuing to watch over everything for all eternity!! This here, this is the Symbol of Peace!!" Izuku (mumbling): "It's a well-known fact among fans that All Might loves Yakusugi--" Izuku (out loud): "I'm thrilled we can all go together!! Right, Kacchan!!?" Kacchan: "I... Don't drag me into this!! (pleased, though)"

Yakusugi refers to cedars of at least a thousand years old on the island Yakushima, where there are dense coniferous forests with many old-growth trees. The most famous is the Jōmon Sugi, which is estimated to be at least 2,000 years old. Did Kacchan follow them on their tree tour, trying to not be noticed, and Izuku called him out on it~? Or did they companionably embark all together while he put up a grumpy front? Hee!

Okinawa Region

Okinawa

Photo credit: twitter user kkko25

Endeavor: "Shouto, how is it? How is the soba!?" Todoroki: "Okinawa soba is tasty." Endeavor: "RIGHT!? SHOUTOOOOOOO!! (joy)" Todoroki: "Let me eat in peace."

Unlike Todoroki's beloved mainland soba, which is made with buckwheat flour, Okinawa soba is made with wheat flour and is closer to udon noodles.

Aaand that's Day 6, the last release is the grand finale!

[angelnumber27]

Beppu, Japan

[kuroitamago]

血の池地獄 / blood pond hell, Beppu

[juliasnrubs]

Fantasy/sci-fi world building inspiration (part 1)

aka. travel bucket list ideas, aka. places they should film the next Star Wars

Sea of Stars, Vaadhoo Island (bioluminescent tide)

Lake Baykal, Russia (deepest lake in the world)

Shibazakura flowers, Takinoue park (neon flower festival)

Five-Flower Lake, Jiuzhaigou national park (clearest water in the world)

Lake Kaindy, Kazakhstan (sunken forest)

Abraham lake, Alberta (frozen ice bubbles)

Antelope canyon, Arizona (wind-sculpted tunnels ranging from red to orange to purple)

Fingal’s cave, Scotland (real-life Minecraft)

Kelimutu crater, Indonesia (neon volcanic crater lakes)

Tunnel of Love, Ukraine (ivy-covered abandoned railway)

Marble caves, Argentina/Chile (Elsa meets the Phantom of the Opera)

Whitehaven beach, Australia (pure white sand beach)

Zhangeye Danxia, China (rainbow mountains)

Chinoike Jigoku, Japan (blood pond hot spring. Or tomato soup lake)

Stone Forest, China (Minecraft extreme biomes meets Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Rio Tinto, Spain (looks like a lava river)

Kliluk Spotted Lake, Canada (a watercolor artist’s palette)

Vale da Lua, Brazil (if the moon landing was faked, they probably filmed it here)

Grand Prismatic Spring, Wyoming (rainbow lake)

Giant’s Causeway, Ireland (chunky stepping stones. They filmed Star Wars nearby)

Joshua Tree National Park, California (real-life Dr Seuss trees. Where the streets have no name)

[somethingweirdisawtoday]

Blood Pond Hell of Beppu

[weirdgoogleearth]

Blood Pond Hell

Literally called blood pond hell, Chinoike Jigoku is a natural hot spring reddened by the presence of iron oxide. Not to mention, its boiling waters literally make it too hot for a soothing bath Name: Blood Pond Hell Lat, Long: 33.3273403,131.4782341 Location: Beppu, Japan

[asterism-of-the-sun]

Title: Safflower Author: fenren (aka jp-omegaverse-hcs, via my asterism-of-the-sun sideblog for this verse) Rating: T Warnings: Some angst. Implied sexual content, death, messed up family dynamics, etc. Partially set in the middle of a war, so all that implies. Pairings: M/M (Alpha/Beta), mentions of Alpha/Omega & poly Word Count: 8,002 Summary: Affection is as pale as a bolt of cloth passed just once through safflower dye. Everyone expected Kihada’s alpha brother to someday leave him behind, but Kihada never once entertained the thought–until the day Sohi walked away from the righteous path to stand by a murderer and traitor to the country. Notes: I did not intend for this to get so long, but here we are. Written for Beta Day hosted by the omegaverse-council.

The setting is a fantasy land based off ancient Japan. The poem about safflower dye, based off one found in The Tale of Genji.

“Pay that new brother of yours no heed,” Kihada’s mother tells him as she holds his head still and runs a glossy black comb through his dark hair. The soothing press of fingers against his scalp do not calm his nerves as they usually would, each of his mother’s words igniting curiosity in his mind. He’d seen the four-year-old bounce around a nursemaid’s heels in the courtyard, very nearly pulling them both into the pond. He’d heard, in the halls, that the newest addition to the estate is not the child of a servant, but Kihada’s very own brother.

“Why didn’t I know about him?” Kihada asks, completely ignoring his mother. She sighs, but continues to comb his hair into a ponytail. Her cold, sweet scent of peaches and spring blossoms tickles his nose, but he holds back the need to sneeze, which would ruin all of her hard work. Times like these are rare, but special. He knows that his mother sets aside time just for him and he should perhaps not ask something that bothers her so much, but he needs to know. The servants just smiled when he asked earlier.

“You had no need to know about him,” his mother says. She finishes tying his hair up and turns him around to pluck at his fringe. “He will be living here from now on, but it is for your own good that you stay away. Understand? I only want what is best for you. You know that.”

“I know, Mother,” Kihada recites.

“Do you?” She stares him in the eyes and holds his shoulders firmly when he tries to look away.

His mother is a tall and beautiful omega. His father often says that there is no omega prettier than her, no mate he would rather have at his side. Unlike Kihada, she never cries when she is upset and never screams when she is angry. She just stares.

“I do, Mother, I do!” Kihada says, clasping his hands together. He does understand, really he does, but he cannot help but think about that boy. Sitting down again, he lets her finish fixing his hair. He understands, but he had also been excited when he heard that he has a brother. He had wanted to at least know his name.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with the child of a second mate,” his mother explains a few minutes later. Kihada glances up at her. It’s as if she can read his thoughts. He shrinks guiltily under her steady brown eyes. Her lips turn into a frown and she guides him to his feet, straightening his back and tilting his chin up like she has done so many times before. “Do not mope. Only by standing tall and proud, as confident as the mountain against the wind and rain, will you be able to grow into an alpha as strong and powerful as your father. Kiha. We could not be prouder to have you as a son. Remember that.”

“Yes, Mother,” Kihada says despite not understanding everything she said. Things are often like this between them. If he wants to find out that boy’s name, he will have to listen to the servants in the halls for a hint. That’s fine. The last thing he wants is to upset his mother.

Two weeks later, Kihada finally learns his brother’s name. It’s hard not to learn it with the servants shouting it as they chase the four-year-old through the gardens and even under the house. Kihada’s brush stops above the paper he was practicing on to stare at the dirty child crawling out from beneath the veranda, smiling like a fox as he starts to run again. The omega servants chasing him are trying very hard not to be too loud, but Kihada can hear them clearly.

“Sohi! Sohi! Please, come back here! You need to stop running! The garden is not your playground!”

“Don’t you want any sweets after this? You won’t get them if you keep being bad!”

Kihada turns back to his calligraphy practice for a few minutes, remembering his mother’s words. Maybe she was right. No, she was right. Of course. She always is.

If Kihada itches to join in the chase under the warm spring sun, it’s fine. Because, unlike his new brother, he knows better than to actually do it. It’s more important to practice and learn, even if the lessons are a little boring.

However, the noises in the garden do not stop even after the teacher yells at them.

“What useless servants! Can’t even discipline one kid. Honestly, don’t they even think about how they’re making others’ lives harder?” The teacher huffs under her breath as she shuts the doors and window. The entire room immediately falls under a shadow, making Kihada frown. How can he see to make sure he doesn’t drip ink all over the place now? Just as he puts the brush to paper again, he hears a rattling noise.

The door slams open, stopping with a clatter that startles Kihada. His hand moves with him, smearing ink across the entire page and the desk. Kihada’s eyes widen and he lifts his hand, but it’s too late. He turns around in time to see the teacher reach out to whack the kid–his brother–on the head, but he’s too fast and moves out of the way in time. As if the teacher isn’t even here, the kid dashes past him and runs right up to Kihada’s desk. He can’t help but look up at the kid. He’s tiny, covered in dirt, and if his clothes were nice this morning, now they look like commoners’ rags.

“What’re you doin’?” the boy asks.

Kihada frowns. He isn’t sure what the boy said, for a second. In the next, he blurts out, “Why do you talk funny?”

“Kihada!” his teacher gasps, rushing forward to pull the four-year-old away. He squirms out of her grip, trips on the straw mats, and crashes right into Kihada’s desk.

Kihada scrambles out of the way, wincing as the ink well is pushed off the desk and papers go flying. But he ignores it, crawling over as quickly as possible, leaning over his younger brother who hasn’t moved since falling face-first on the table. The teacher is screaming out the door. Kihada’s hands grip the back of his clothes at the collar.

“Are you okay?” he asks, shaking him a bit. “S-Sohi, right? Are you okay?”

Hearing his name, the boy shifts and rolls to the side, showing off a wide grin and a face smeared in ink. Kihada can’t help it–he sees the bit of blood coming from his nose–but he starts to laugh. Spots of ink dot his forehead and his cheeks have vertical lines on them from where he was trying to write the character for ‘river’.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s not funny,” Kihada tries to apologize, though he is still laughing and doesn’t sound it at all. The boy slowly straightens up, smiling up at him. It’s not a fox’s smile at all, Kihada thinks.

“I’m okay!” the boy, Sohi, says. He wobbles to his feet and beams, as if he has just scored the highest on a test only he even knows the questions to. “I’m really, really okay! Okay?”

He knows his mother said not to talk to his new brother, but in this case, it would be even worse to be rude to him. He has to answer, right?

“Okay,” Kihada smiles.

Looking back on it, it’s sort of obvious that Sohi would have ended up an alpha. Kihada was the only one who noticed the first signs that even Sohi waved off as an incoming cold.

“It’s karma like they all say,” he’d laughed a week ago, just after delving into a shivering fit followed by the itchy sort of hot that was infuriating. Even though Kihada was piling blankets on top of him, he was still laughing when he said, “I had it coming, right? After all those trips to the river or running in the rain or, what else, what else?”

“Or playing with well water, or thinking it’s a good idea to bury each other in the snow,” Kihada had snapped as he shoved Sohi back into the mass of blankets. It wasn’t a nest or anything, just a temporary mountain to keep him warm until the hot fits struck again and he kicked everything off. It really did seem like a fever. The servants all ran around fretting like he was going to die or something, trying to pull Kihada away as if he could catch it, too.

“Yes! Well, it’s gotta be karma, right? Otherwise you’d be sick, too!” Sohi wriggled around a bit, freeing an arm that shot out to grip the edge of Kihada’s sleeve and yank him off balance.

He scowled and pushed himself away, swatting at Sohi’s hand. “Only because you drag me into it! Now, behave and stop moving around! I don’t want to get sick and you shouldn’t want to get any sicker!”

He should have known that Sohi wasn’t actually sick. He’d even said it himself: “Sick people shouldn’t be running their mouths nonstop. Will you shut it and act like a normal person for once?”

In the years since their first meeting, Kihada had been very bad about listening to his mother’s warnings. He still shrinks away from her accusing eyes every time she hears about his antics and stops by to scold him into behaving–though it generally only lasts for a few days before Sohi drags them off to the next adventure.

Honestly, there really is no helping it. By the time Kihada forms a sound argument why they shouldn’t take a boat down the Sai River by themselves in the middle of the lantern festival, they’re already halfway there. And Sohi will end up doing it anyway, with or without Kihada. It was either let his half-brother drown or join him and hopefully make sure the boat didn’t capsize in the first place.

It did capsize, but that’s besides the point. He wouldn’t be his father’s son if he didn’t at least try to keep the damage to a minimum. His mother has always harped on and on about doing things the righteous, proper way even if it proves the more difficult path to embark upon. Theirs is a small family of nobility not even large enough to form a clan, but that is no reason to throw away their pride. His mother has always said that.

Which is why, when Kihada walked up to her the other day and told her that he suspects Sohi is an alpha, she actually picked the inkwell off her desk and threw it at the far wall. He heard it land in the garden with a thud, along with the shouts of alarm from the servants in the hall.

Kihada has been avoiding her. Everyone who can possibly avoid contact with her has been doing so with a scary amount of persistence and dedication. Still, half of the household can hear her ranting in her room at any given hour of the day. The servants even shuffled Sohi and his belongings to the very far side of the house to avoid any mishaps.

It does bother him a bit that his younger brother is presenting before him and it’s the reason why he hasn’t gone to visit him at all after that day. Though, Kihada is annoyed for a different reason than his mother, who seems under the impression that he is ‘doomed to be an omega’ now that he is going to end up presenting after Sohi. He doesn’t really understand what her issue is, being an omega herself. “Would that really so bad?” he’d asked under his breath. She hadn’t heard him, which he is thankful for. The last thing he needs is another scolding.

Still, three days into Sohi’s first rut and Kihada figures that he should at least make an appearance. The guilt has been clawing at his stomach for the same amount of time, and this is the first day that his mother hasn’t talked his ear off all morning.

The room where they secluded Sohi is part of a separate building on the far side of the estate. It smells heavily of the dark, aromatic mix of agarwood and star anise. It stings his nose as he slides the door open, which releases an even thicker concentration of the incense into the air. Kihada chokes as he enters the room, his eyes watering a bit as he seeks out the lump in the middle of the room that is his brother.

“How are you feeling?” Kihada asks.

“Go away,” Sohi snaps. It’s not a half-feral snarl, which is a good thing, but the aggressive tone makes Kihada pause. Sohi glares at him from the mound of blankets which he can still smell faintly through the incense.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kihada says, taking a seat next to the futon. Sohi’s lip curls into a silent snarl, but he doesn’t protest any further. “How does it feel?”

“Like I’m dying.” Sohi gives a half-shrug. “Your mom must be pissed.”

“Don’t remind me.” Kihada frowns when Sohi isn’t looking. He’s never this grumpy. Kihada can’t remember a time in which Sohi was ever angry, disgruntled, or even irritated before. Not to the point of being hostile like this. “You’re lucky.”

Sohi glares at him, though it’s more out of surprise than anything. So, there still is something left of him in the haze of his rut.

“How? I feel like I’m burning to death and–and if we weren’t brothers, I swear, I’d probably jump you. You’re the lucky one.”

It’s Kihada’s turn to be surprised. He wonders if this isn’t just one of Sohi’s dramatic examples at work, just a lot less playful than usual.

“What dynamic do you think I’ll present as?” Kihada asks out of the blue. The answer is a bit obvious, but he asks anyway. Alphas tend to present early. If he hasn’t presented as one yet, he probably won’t in the future. Betas can go either way. And omegas usually present much later, at fifteen or sixteen. He’s either a beta or an omega.

Sohi doesn’t answer him. He thinks that maybe he is ignoring him, as Sohi is known to do when he doesn’t want to think about something, or that he really doesn’t know.

“Beta,” Sohi says, certainty clearly displayed on his face and in his voice. Kihada blinks once.

“Then I’ll have your back. I’ll always have your back,” Kihada says, and he isn’t being sarcastic or wry. He doesn’t know why he trusts what Sohi says when he’s been wrong about so many things before, but somehow, he doesn’t doubt his prediction. “But don’t think that means you can leave me to clean up all your messes! I’m not your maid! If you’re going to be the head of this family, you can’t just run off having fun and letting others take the blame. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve had to cover for you?”

In the midst of his ranting, Sohi began to laugh.

“I never asked you to!”

“If I don’t bail you out, who will!?”

When Kihada presented as a beta a year later, people began to whisper loud enough for him to hear, “It’s a pity. Kihada had a lot of promise. Way more than that delinquent brother of his.”

“Well, it’s not like he’s walking with one foot in the grave, you know.”

“But you do have to wonder what’ll become of the Saikawa family now.”

“I heard that Sohi is going to get kicked out soon! If he causes just one more incident…This is Kikuenji! You can’t just fool around here.”

“Aren’t they already doomed? Even if it’s against tradition, maybe it’s best to let the older brother take the reins…”

Kihada hated listening to their drivel.

“Do you have something to say?” Kihada said angrily when he rounded the corner to face the students gossiping about them. Gossip is common in the halls and no one usually says anything or even takes it seriously, but Kihada can’t help it. “Why don’t you say it to our faces if you have an issue with us? Or are you cowards who just run their mouths without having the guts to back it up? What sort of divine incarnations are you? Can you really protect the country with such half-assed attitudes?”

The others stuttered and wore appeasing smiles, saying things like, “No, of course not! We were just–”

“Well!?” Kihada said, not quite a snarl. He knew better than to do that. The others scattered, each muttering half-hearted apologies.

“You really should have been an alpha,” Sohi joked from around the corner. Kihada rolled his eyes and stomped up to him, jabbing angrily at his chest.

“And you! Stop getting into trouble! Did you really think it was okay to sleep on the roof instead of going to class? Again? Or tricking a teacher into eating chicken? This is a temple! You’re lucky you’re a divine incarnation, otherwise the heavens would strike you dead!”

Sohi only smiled, like he did every single time he got into trouble since he was at least four-years-old.

Kihada didn’t mention anything about covering for him or the fact that Sohi had been doing things that Kihada couldn’t possibly make excuses for. No amount of glaring at his brother did anything except elicit another silly smile.

“Hard-headed, stubborn alphas, all of you!” Kihada fumed. “Do you have no sense of responsibility?”

Sohi laughed. Responsibility. It’s a funny word to him, for some reason.

It’s the last archery competition of the year and Kihada knows that it’s going to go very, very wrong the second Sohi volunteers to participate. Kihada was going to pass on the event altogether, but the second he saw his brother walk up to sign his name on that damn roll of paper, he knew that he couldn’t possibly sit on the sidelines and watch this painful turn of events unfold. So, he signed his name, too. ‘Sohi of Saikawa’ and right underneath it, ‘Kihada of Saikawa’.

“I’m going to beat you,” he grumbled to Sohi right before the competition started.

“Are you still angry at those omegas who said you couldn’t beat me even though I don’t ever practice at all?”

“No!”

He is, admittedly, still annoyed. He doesn’t chase after the omegas’ tails like the alphas do, including Sohi, yet he can’t even hold a conversation without one of them comparing him to his delinquent brother.

The competition goes as well as any competition between young boys and girls can ever go. Someone’s arrow flies into the crowd at some point and a string snaps in someone’s face, sending them to a healer while the rest of the participants take turns slinging insults at one each other and suggesting that they postpone the competition because it’s about to rain.

The instructors scold–more like threaten them with extra chores and writing lines–and eventually, the last three competitors are shooting under a steady veil of fine, misty rain.

Sohi opens his mouth, but shuts it when one of the instructors threatens to disqualify anyone who speaks for the rest of the round. It’s Sohi, Kihada, and an alpha from Kihada’s year, a boy called Tokiwa.

Kihada is so preoccupied trying to hit more targets than his brother that he never notices how steady Tokiwa’s aim is, nor how he hits the target dead-center every time, until they announce the results. Sohi shrugs and claps a hand over Kihada’s shoulder, congratulating him at the same time he calls out for Tokiwa to join them. Kihada is still silent and consumed with berating himself for focusing only on his brother. He looks up briefly to see Tokiwa smile shakily and run off a second later after giving a hasty bow.

“Is it a natural talent or a curse that has you scare off every damn person you meet?” Kihada mumbles as he shakes off Sohi’s hand.

“Hasn’t worked with you yet!”

“Because we’re family!”

There is an old poem from the pages of a story so popular that even the servants know several retellings of it.

It laments of a love so tenuous that it is like a bolt of cloth run through safflower dye just one time.

Once, his mother recited it to him and warned him that people’s affections often run no deeper that. It is ‘but a pale imitation of the sun’. And, once she found out that he had presented as a beta, she again warned him of this poem.

“Mother, his love for me as a brother is real. What are you going on about now?” he’d asked, angry, but restraining himself and the pain that twisted in his chest.

“It may in fact be real, but that does not mean it will not fade. For just once in your life, please listen to your mother.”

“If this is because he’s an alpha–” Everyone knows how his father’s relationship with her had become strained in recent years. The number of half-siblings he has–four in addition to Sohi–probably have something to do with it.

“It does not matter whether he is an alpha, beta, or omega,” his mother argued, eyes narrowed dangerously. “You have seen him disrespect your father, even though he never treated that boy any different than he does you. You have seen him wreak havoc across this estate and even in school, which is a privilege in and of itself to attend. And I’ve seen him lead you around by the nose ever since you were children, making you do things you would never have done otherwise just because he was there. I simply do not want you to get hurt by him one day. Why don’t you understand that?”

“I do, Mother, I do,” Kihada promised.

He lied. He really didn’t understand.

At least, not at that moment.

Kihada stumbles into a certain room on an estate blanketed in snow already ankle-deep. The chilling winds are nothing like the warm, sweet breezes of his childhood home. It’s been years since he last walked the paths winding through the fields on either side of the Sai River. Nowadays, it’s the cold and distant mountains of the north that he sees from the window every morning. The mountains are beautiful in their own ways, but to Kihada, the winters are nothing but cold and cruel.

“Kihada,” says a voice from the alpha sitting in the room. It’s a searching voice, but Kihada doesn’t have the energy to protest it. He closes the door behind him and drags his feet inside to collapse at the table across from his friend and former classmate. “Kihada.”

“Are omegas really that alluring?” Kihada asks tiredly, leaning heavily on the table. The world feels thick and warm, a little hazy at the edges.

“What?” Bewilderment. It lights a fire anew in Kihada’s heart, but he snuffs it out quickly. Who has the time to deal with such fickle things when they’re in the middle of a war? Still, he can’t help but continue, clenching his fists, staring into the lanterns glowing gold in the corners of the room.

“Can alphas really not help themselves against their charms?”

“What? No. Not at all. And I do not like what you are insinuating.” There is no growl, but the displeasure in the other’s voice is loud and clear. It’s almost venomous. “Kihada.”

“Tokiwa.” Kihada sounds petulant. He can’t bring himself to care. He doesn’t even look the alpha in the eye, afraid that he will see the same uncaring look in his eyes as he did when he watched his brother walk away from him. From them. From the country he’d sworn his sword to, from the life that had been granted to him.

Tokiwa stands up and moves around the table, positioning himself at Kihada’s side.

“What happened?” he asks patiently. “It isn’t like you to listen to gossip. In fact, I really thought you were going to bite our heads off that one time.”

Despite himself, Kihada laughs, even if it sounds like a dead and bitter thing. He remembers. He hadn’t realized that Tokiwa was among the group he heard gossiping about the ‘downfall of the Saikawa family’ that night long ago. Not until his brother brought it up when he learned that Kihada had kissed him on impulse one night when everyone in their section went out for drinks.

“You were right about that, though.”

“About what?”

“That my brother would bring our family to ruin.”

Tokiwa falls silent.

“Was it not enough? Was it not enough that he was born an alpha and was going to inherit everything despite being the son of my father’s second mate? Despite never taking life seriously, we ended up with the same status in the same army, serving the same general. My father never even pressured him to find a mate. I promised that I’d stand by him no matter what. And what does he do? He goes off chasing an omega’s tail, a murderer who wants to destroy this country! My mother was right. He’s an ungrateful, disloyal wretch. How can he even be a divine incarnation?”

Upon finishing, Kihada is out of breath. His chest is tight and everything burns with pain. No matter how many times he asked ‘why’, he never received a response. His brother had just walked away, telling him that ‘this is the way it has to be’.

A soft touch from calloused fingers draws his attention back to the waking world. Tokiwa is short for an alpha, but his grip is strong. Even after training with every weapon standard for a soldier of this country to wield, Tokiwa has always gone back to the bow. Unable to accept that he could never beat him in a competition, Kihada had chosen to focus on other aspects of onmyou. Because of it, he isn’t as physically strong as Tokiwa, but he doesn’t really need it with an arsenal of spirit familiars at his disposal.

“You don’t mean any of that,” Tokiwa says.

“I do,” Kihada argues weakly. He shakes his head. “Just…forget it. Why am I telling you this? I don’t want to talk about–think about–him anymore.”

“You’ll have to eventually. He’s your brother, after all.”

“Half-brother.”

Kihada breathes an angry, shaky sigh. He feels a bit nauseous, but that’s probably from drinking so much on an empty stomach. The lanterns in the room hold a steady flame despite the winds howling outside. He stares at them to steady himself, wondering exactly how he expected Tokiwa to help. Or understand. Tokiwa is an alpha, and his parents’ only child. His family can hardly be called nobility, even though they officially have that rank.

It must be nice.

Kihada finally takes a breath deep enough to allow him the courage to face him. Tokiwa is gazing at him with steady eyes two shades lighter than anyone Kihada knows from the east. “Mixed blood,” Tokiwa said the first time he’d caught Kihada staring. “Don’t worry, I can’t suck out your soul.”

His brother had made some quip about that being a shame because if it was true, Kihada could call upon him any time like one of his familiars. He had whacked him over the head for that while Tokiwa excused himself to go hide his embarrassment.

“I don’t want to think about him anymore,” Kihada announces again, firmer this time. He really means it. Between the searing pain and burning anger, he can’t take it anymore. After a beat, he turns to Tokiwa and reaches up to grab the sides of his head, dragging him into a harsh, sloppy kiss that knocks their noses against each other painfully. Tokiwa jerks and grabs his wrists, but Kihada doesn’t want to stop just because of a sore nose.

“Stop,” Tokiwa says when they separate for a breath of air. He forces Kihada’s hands down and backs off with a stern gaze. Come to think of it, Kihada has never heard him growl before. Not even a small one. He’s certainly displeased enough to warn him off with one now, but he sounds as if the thought never even crossed his mind.

“Let go.” Kihada wrestles control away from him. Tokiwa releases him, but refuses to be pulled into another kiss. “Tokiwa.”

“Not if you’re going to be like this,” Tokiwa says, narrowing his eyes. Those light, nearly golden, eyes. They look darker in this room, but under the sun, they remind him of that color his mother warned him about so many times. If they are a few shades darker, doesn’t that just mean he won’t leave as quickly?

Kihada gets up. He doesn’t want to be here if that’s all it means.

“Kihada,” Tokiwa calls out.

They make up over sex one night a few weeks later. It started because the northern lands are trapped in the coldest days of the year and neither of them are particularly fond of the snow, ice, and frost that invades this part of the country every year. It continued because Kihada has missed the warmth of Tokiwa’s arms wrapped loosely around him, and because Tokiwa would rather spend the night with him than being teased for being a ‘soul-stealing ghoul’ by the others.

“Were we fighting in the first place?” Tokiwa asks when he brings it up with a laugh. Kihada pauses. Tokiwa is astute in some things–he has never failed to notice anything as tiny as a crooked belt or slightly dulled blade–but not in others. Or, maybe it was all in Kihada’s head. Misora, his actual second-in-command whose summons give everyone a massive headache, did mention something like that a few days ago when she urged him to just go talk to Tokiwa instead of moping and taking it out on the newbies.

“I made some unfair accusations,” Kihada sighs, shifting out of his embrace to sit upright. He winces, a little stiff and sore, but otherwise lethargic and happy despite the topic of the conversation. Tokiwa follows him, frowning slightly. “I would’ve been pissed if I were you.”

“If I were you, I would’ve probably already smacked me in the head for saying it.” Tokiwa pauses. “I’m not angry. I never was.”

Without any clothes on, Kihada can see the lines marking his shoulder and upper left arm where arrows had dug into his flesh during one battle or another. Kihada, annoyingly enough, only has a ragged scar on his thigh from where he and his brother nearly drowned in the river when they were twelve. All of his current work is from the backlines. In other words, if the enemy ever gets far enough to injure him, then Yamatai will be in its twilight days.

“What’re you thinking about?” Tokiwa asks as he leans forward with a small searching smile on his face. Kihada doesn’t really remember how this thing between them started, only that he’d really liked that smile for the few times he had a chance to speak to him face-to-face before he darted off again.

Tokiwa has stopped doing that. Kihada can’t help but smile at the thought.

“What is it? Come on. Don’t tease me.” This time, it’s Tokiwa who half-crawls into his arms. Invading his space, at least. Kihada doesn’t mind, especially since the cold is creeping up on them again.

“Nothing,” Kihada says.

“Liar.”

Kihada pauses. If his mother knew that his brother not only betrayed their country but Kihada also has an alpha for a lover, she’d never recover from the shock. Sure, she’d be happy that he would inherit the family by default. But for him to be involved with an alpha…In a grim sort of way, it’s good that she might never have to know. No one knows where a war like this will take them, after all.

“If we get out of this alive, I want to introduce you to my family,” Kihada says, wrapping his arms over Tokiwa’s shoulders and resting his head against him. He inhales his warm, slightly earthy scent, like pines mingled with the creamy scent of sandalwood. Not for the first time in his life, he wonders what he would smell like to an omega, or another alpha. Would it be the same? Omegas go on and on about intoxicating alpha scents, describing them as a type of madness.

Because he used the same words one would say in regards to bringing a new mate home, Tokiwa laughs warmly, eyes probably alight with mirth. Kihada stares down his back at the pale scar that skids up his shoulder from the pointed bone back there.

“Would that be alright? Won’t it give them a shock?” Tokiwa says, voice trembling a little as he tries to recover from his laughter.

“Look,” Kihada says, pulling away so he can see the last of the laughter fade from his eyes. “They should be used to it. Bringing home an alpha lover isn’t nearly as bad as half the stuff I did as a kid. Did I tell you about the time we tried to bury a deer in the garden? Or when we tried to ‘save’ the fish we were supposed to have for dinner by tossing them in the well…”

He doesn’t know what to think anymore.

What is real, or not real.

What is right, or wrong.

The reason for this war, for his younger sister disappearing after going ‘mad’ all those years ago.

The only thing he is really, truly sure of is the man standing at his side, his hand brushing against Kihada’s knuckles. And his warm scent drifting over as a damp summer breeze swims across the land.

“You don’t have to forgive me, but I want you to know that I’m sorry,” says his brother, who has limped all the way here just to speak to him. Kihada bristles, not calming down even after Tokiwa grasps his clenched fist. “I didn’t want to fight you. But I had to.”

“Did you–did you really, truly think you were saving me? You, my younger brother? And from what? Huh? Tell me, what were you saving me from by abandoning us!?”

Kihada is screaming. He’s losing it entirely. He knows this. But he doesn’t care that his voice carries, that Tokiwa is trying to soothe him with familiar croons. No. Kihada is a beta. He might like those croons, finding them endearing and enjoying the vibrations as he leans his head against Tokiwa’s chest, but he won’t be manipulated by them. No. He doesn’t move away, but he doesn’t stop, either. His brother is lucky that he isn’t sending his inugami over to take another bite out of him. He deserves it.

It’s evident by the way he doesn’t respond to Kihada no matter how much of the truth he slings at him.

“I knew you wouldn’t let someone who backed a murderer go, even if it was your own brother. I used that. I’m sorry.” It’s all that his brother can say ever since the truth came out. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ It sounds wrong. This alpha standing across from him doesn’t resemble his brother in the slightest. Sohi never sounded sincere when apologizing for anything. Never.

“I won’t forgive you, no matter how many times you say it,” Kihada spits. “If you dare show your face around the estate again, I’ll kick you out with a, ‘come the day before yesterday’ no matter what you say. Got it?”

“Kihada…” Tokiwa says hesitantly. It isn’t his place to speak and he knows it. Kihada ignores him.

His brother nods, though, no longer smiling even a painfully transparent smile.

“Have a safe trip home,” he says, mostly addressing Tokiwa. So, he really will be staying here. Kihada frowns. The Sakurazawa omega that he originally thought his brother had betrayed the country for already had a mate and was apparently returning to the Tensou Asterism after all is said and done with the legalities of it. But his brother is implying that he will remain here, in the east, where he has never visited before this leg of the war.

He shouldn’t be bothered by the knowledge, but it doesn’t leave his mind as he walks away.

“Kihada,” Tokiwa says in a low voice. It’s not quite a whisper.

“This is fine,” Kihada says. “I’m the next head of the family, right? I can’t think just for myself anymore. Taking him back in…personal reasons aside, he’s already proved once that he’ll betray us if he thinks it’s ‘for our own good’. We don’t need that sort of person on our side. It’s better he stays here, where that sort of thing is apparently normal.”

He spits the last word like it’s a curse.

“He’s your younger brother,” Tokiwa says. Then, “He may have turned his back you. He might not have trusted you. But he does still love you. I know you see that.”

Kihada flinches. Tokiwa misses a lot of things, but when it comes to tiny details, there is no one more observant than him.

“I also know you don’t want to see it,” Tokiwa says, wrapping  an arm around his waist and pulling him closer. It makes it difficult to walk, but it’s fine. Kihada has missed his warmth in the weeks they were apart. “You don’t have to forgive him.”

“Then what, exactly, are you implying?” Kihada says, harsher than intended.

“Let him make it up to you, if that’s really what he wants.” Tokiwa doesn’t have siblings, so he’s only thinking in hypotheticals. Still, Kihada wants to listen to him. To have his steady advice to lean on–only, this time, he really doesn’t know if he’s only falling into another pitfall.

“I’ll think about it,” Kihada says at last.

Affection is fleeting, like morning dew on blades of grass, like a flower that blossoms once every thousand years. Like the resonating chime of the massive bell in Renkouji, the one that was nearly scrapped for metal during the war.

“But, if the dew never faded and the flowers were always blossoming and falling, or the bell never stopped ringing, they’d all stop being beautiful. Instead, they would all be considered annoying by everyone.”

“You’re the first person I’ve ever heard put it that way.”

The flowers in the garden withered while everyone was away. The estate is just starting to recover its life thanks to his younger siblings returning to help patch it up, each bringing their own mates or lovers, or even children. There isn’t much to play with anymore, but like all children, they don’t seem to particularly care.

“Do you want any?”

“Yes. No. Not right now. We don’t really have the time.”

“You should join them every now and again. They’d like to hear your stories.”

“Yeah, and their parents would very much like to kill me if I dare put any ideas into their heads. My stories are only good to tell a mature audience who won’t go off padding a damn boat down the river, in the dark, on one of the the busiest nights of the year.”

He sees his nieces chasing after his inugami, which for all intents and purposes is their babysitter for now. He wouldn’t trust anyone else, really. The dog can’t change diapers or feed them, but she’s great at everything else.

“Do you want any?”

“Hm? One day.”

Oh, his mother had indeed rained holy hell upon them when she found out that Tokiwa wasn’t just one of his war buddies there to visit for a few weeks. She hadn’t said anything to Tokiwa’s face, but she had pulled Kihada aside and given her usual lecture about the dangers of trusting people–alphas in particular, he has figured out by now.

“Did I not tell you that that boy would bring you nothing but grief?” she’d said, switching from ranting about ‘no grandchildren’ one minute to his conspicuously absent younger brother the next. “When will you listen to me? When this family has been razed to the ground? That…Tokiwa seems to be a polite young man. I am quite sure his parents have an omega already picked out and waiting to be his mate. Just because misfortune plagues our family does not mean you should go ruining others.”

Well, that was certainly a new argument for her.

But, well, she also didn’t know the reason Tokiwa doesn’t have any prospects waiting for him at home. Kihada had wanted to avoid telling her if she didn’t notice the oddly light color of Tokiwa’s eyes when they met face-to-face.

Currently, that is the reason she refuses to emerge from her room except for meals.

“Have you thought about what I said?”

Kihada panics.

“…Yes?”

A few weeks ago, he had formally asked Tokiwa to be his mate. Or to be Tokiwa’s mate. Whichever way it went. Tokiwa had given him that rare smile of his–the scary one that looks perfectly content and lovely, except it never reaches his eyes and is always followed by a ‘suggestion’ that Kihada would be hard-pressed to disregard.

Tokiwa had accepted, slightly amused, then given him that look.

“Before we make it official, I want you to talk to your brother. You don’t have to forgive him or make up or anything. I just want you two to talk. I already wrote him a letter. He agreed.” Just to make sure that Kihada wouldn’t be able to back out of this, he waved an opened letter in front of his face.

“You’re unexpectedly mean,” Kihada said after a beat. “I’ll think about it.”

And now, he brings it up again…

“Fine,” Kihada says at last.

Tokiwa gives him a warm smile. He hates how his chest warm with affection and turns away. He makes it a point not to stare him in the eyes, especially since the bright sunny day makes them almost golden in color.

It was bound to end in an argument. A screaming match. Kihada was a quiet child, but only up until he met his younger brother. After that, he tended to lose it way too quickly and often with explosive consequences. ‘An alpha in temper,’ he was called. It baffled people how he could be a beta with that temper, but for Kihada, it was never ‘strange’ or ‘peculiar’. He didn’t intend on changing just to suit their expectations, either.

That is why the last way he expected this meeting to end is in tears.

They are his, mainly, because he still can’t accept that his brother thought he couldn’t handle keeping a secret or wouldn’t believe him when he claimed that the Yellow Emperor was a fake and imposter. That his brother thought he needed to be protected, when all these years, it was Kihada who had done the protecting.

“This wasn’t a matter of getting whacked over the knuckles or made to do laps or write lines,” Sohi had said, sounding more desperate than Kihada had ever heard him sound. “If you lied for me and got caught, it would’ve meant imprisonment. Even execution. You covered for me all my life, was I supposed to think you would suddenly stop because I told you to?”

It’s the truth, even though Kihada had wanted to argue against it. In the first place, Sohi had never asked Kihada to cover for him.

“Still,” Kihada said, weakly. “Still.”

He doesn’t know exactly how he ended up like this–crying in a corner, feeling more frustrated than upset, while Sohi is sitting still and quiet for once at the table. Tears are falling from his eyes, too, but he isn’t saying anything.

“You…Tokiwa said that he would agree to mate with you as long as we tried to talk it over, right?” Sohi says after a slight sniffle.

Kihada should say, ‘Yes, so let’s leave it at this. I’ll show you out.’

But, then again, there are a lot of things Kihada should have done throughout his life. A lot of rules he broke and a lot of things he never noticed enough to say, or could set aside his pride to utter.

Tokiwa’s smile that day wasn’t just one of satisfaction.

“You alphas really are stubborn, and stupidly annoying,” Kihada says, wiping away the tears. “Can’t you guys leave well enough alone?”

Sohi shrugs. It’s his half-shrug, the one he hasn’t seen in years.

“I. I guess not,” he says, lips twitching upwards. And Kihada had thought the day would never come when he saw Sohi struggle to smile. As his younger brother stands up, Kihada walks over and takes a deep breath.

He holds his arms open and huffs when Sohi jumps at him, rather than walk up like a normal person. It seems his leg healed up just fine, too. Though Kihada hadn’t noticed whether he still walks with a limp.

“I, uh,” Sohi mumbles as they let go of each other.

Kihada frowns. He sort of wants to laugh at the startled, wary expression on Sohi’s face. “Are you sure you’re Sohi? My younger brother? I never thought I’d see the day you, of all people, were speechless.”

Sohi smiles. It’s a bit more relaxed.

“Well. We’re not kids anymore.” The way he says this, however, doesn’t inspire confidence. It comes with a tiny tilt of his lips, a sort of half-smirk that he had whenever he was about to get into deep trouble in the past. “Speaking of which.”

“What…?” Kihada says. It’s his turn to be wary. His reaction is perfectly natural, though, given all the stuff Sohi has gotten them into. He honestly fears the worst. ‘Kids’? They did a lot of stuff as kids, almost none of it wise or appropriate.

“I want you to meet mine!” Almost as fast as the draw of a sword and Sohi’s tone of voice completely changes. It’s playful, excited. No, not any of that–just, what he remembers his brother to always sound like. And, like usual, the words coming from his mouth are downright outrageous.

“What?” Kihada chokes. Kids? “You?”

Sohi nods, a huge, silly grin on his face.

“When?”

“She’s adorable. Ah, of course I’d say that about my own kid, right? But it’s true. No, you really do have to meet her. I mean, she doesn’t understand much yet, but it’s never too early to talk to them, right?”

“Sohi!”

“Look, I don’t fool around when it comes to my own kid, okay? You can trust me, really. I’m almost positive that they see you as the ‘un-fun uncle’.”

“Sohi!”

At this point, he’s probably doing it on purpose.

“But, I bet if you just tell them a few embarrassing stories from when we were kids, they’ll warm right up to you. By the way, your mate. Well, almost-mate, told me you were thinking about kids? Adopting, right? Well–”

“SOHI!” Kihada roars.

Judging by the ensuing laugh as his brother runs out of the room with him chasing at his heels, he did indeed do all of that on purpose.

Just like old times.

[chuck-clenney]

#tbt to visiting Beppu's Chinoike Jigoku (Bloody Pond Hell); certainly the most idiosyncratic of Beppu's 9 "hell" hot springs. At 78 degrees C (172 F), this pool and it's vivid red iron oxide were traditionally used to dye fabrics as well as to torture and boil enemies. The name ain't no misnomer. #別府 #別府温泉 #血の池地獄 #地獄 #池 #赤 #大分 #大分観光 #鉄 #染め #暑い #地獄めぐり #japan #japanese #travel #beppu #hotsprings #chinoike #jigoku #hell #red #ironoxide #oita #nature #pond #blood #dye #beppuonsen (at Chinoike-Jigoku Beppu) https://www.instagram.com/p/COhe5nVlJT6/?igshid=h3affn3evuad

[trendinbuzz]

The best hot spring destinations in Japan - The Complete Guide

Image source: concreteplayground.com Hot spring baths or popularly known as Onsen are a staple of Japanese culture. The tectonic plates in Japan have resulted in forming thousands of natural hot springs and some of them have even time-honored healing qualities.                                 The presence of these onsen has become a bona fide tourist attraction that creates a sightseeing experience in the towns situated around the geothermal baths. As of now, almost all the premium onsen resorts are easily accessible to foreign travellers. We have listed some of the most popular hot spring destinations in Japan and you can check out the same. 1. Hakone- The Mountainous Town

Hakone is one of the finest hot spring destination and also the Popular Onsen Town in Japan. It is just a day trip away from Tokyo. The breathtaking views of Mount Fiji can be experienced from this small mountain town. It also has the beautiful Lake Ashinoko. If you are travelling to Hakone and cannot stay overnight then the place also offers daytime passes that shall grant you day-long access to the baths, showers and other facilities in the vicinity. The day-trippers are catered by Hakone Yuryo where you buy towels. 2. Kusatsu- The Center of Spring’s Source

Image source: tripsavvy.com Kusatsu is situated in scenic Gunma region and is just 3 hours away from Tokyo. It has an actual hot water field located in the town center. Kusatsu is one of the tops recommended Onsen to visit in Japan. The place is the country’s most dominant source of geothermal waters, with 100 hot springs gushing a total of 34000 liters of water each minute. The water is reported to heal many human ailments like arthritis, indigestion and poor circulation. 3. Beppu- Home of Hot Springs

Image source: travel.gaijinpot.com Beppu is Japan’s one of the most well-known hot travel destination which is located in eastern Kyushu. The hot springs here either soothe or titillate. It is quite a strange sight with a collection of blood-red pools, pond with mud bubbles, boiling blue lagoons in addition to the waters where now crocodiles live. All of these are just meant for viewing and are not for bathing. If your sole purpose is to relax then skip these attractions and head straight to the spa and open-air baths at Suginoi Hotel. To experience the regular hot baths, milky sulfurous and the ‘bedrock bath’, head to Ebisu Ryokan. 4. Noboribetsu- Most Famous for Natural Hot Springs

Image Source: zekkeijapan.com Noboribetsu is a small town situated at Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido and one of the tops recommended Onsen to visit in Japan. Travellers are advised to hike around the sublime Jigokudani where there is a steaming river that runs hot, forested areas for foot bathing, and the Oyunuma pond which is sulfurous. The amazing thing about Noboribetsu’s onsen is that it produces water naturally infused with at least seven different elements and minerals. Needless to say that each of these elements has its own healing qualities. 5. Shibu- The Spa Town

Image Source: his.com.sg Situated in a snowy valley in Japan’s Nagano location, this onsen town is famous for its bathing snow monkeys. They roam the area freely and don’t really care to bathe alongside their human counterparts. Visit Jigokudani Monkey Park to see the snow monkeys enjoying the hot spring baths. The picturesque little town, Shibu, is cozy and quaint in the months of winters and got some of the Best Hot Springs in Japan. 6. Ibusuki- The Natural Steam Sand Baths

Image Source: kagoshima-kankou.com Ibusuki is in Kyushu’s Kagoshima region and is situated at the tip of one of the southernmost peninsulas of the island. The entire area is popular for its excellent hot springs, as well as its delicious satsumaimo (sweet potatoes) that grow in Kagoshima’s rich volcanic soil. When you go to Ibusuki’s famous beachside sand baths, you need to wear a yukata and an attendant would cover your entire body in warm, black sand.  7. Kinosaki- Picturesque village on the Japan Sea Coast

Image Source: tripsavvy.com The Kinosaki onsen village is accessible by train from both Kyoto and Osaka. Also, one of the Popular Onsen Towns in Japan. It is located on the Sea of Japan and this town has been a hot spring destination for over a thousand years. The strange thing is that only a few people outside of Japan know about this hidden gem. Kinosaki’s seven-bath stroll is very famous as people wearing a yukata, walk around the town center from bath to bath. They stop to eat sweets and seafood along the way. 8. Minakami- The Outdoor Adventure Capital of Japan

Image Source: tripsavvy.com This exotic travel destination, Minakami is just a few hours away from Tokyo but the place feels like worlds away from the high energy capital of Japan. Guests can chill in the outdoor baths while enjoying the scenery around in one of the Best Hot Springs in Japan. The Takaragawa onsen is highly recommended which has both shared gender facilities as well as only women arrangement too. So, wait no more and book cheap flight tickets to these fantastic Hot spring destinations in Japan. #Japan #JapanTravelGuide #TravelDestination #HotSpringDestinations #Onsen #TravelJapan #HotSprings #JapanTemples #JapanPhotography Read the full article

[referrina]

My Bucket List

Have One Million Dollars

Visit the Globe Theatre

Visit Madame Tussauds

Go Rock Climbing

Run in a Marathon

Get a professional makeover

Learn to play the Piano

Learn a Martial Art

Try out vegetarianism for 28 days

Learn to fold and origami crane, then make one every day and keep them in a jar. 

Go rock climbing 

Visit the Dead Sea

See the London Eye (or ride on it!)

Go on a Meditation Retreat

See cherry blossoms in Japan

Hit bull’s-eye on a dartboard

Visit a Volcano

See the Mona Lisa

Pose nude for an art class

Get a tattoo- Got my first one 2011, it was the Deathly Hallows symbol behind my ear! 

Get an exotic piercing- Got my nose pierced in may 2010 at the ink shop on independence.

Learn archery

Reach 100,000 views on DeviantART

Attend a traditional circus carnival- Went to see the final Barnam and Bailey show with Allie and her family! The tigers were my favorite part! 

Learn a foreign language

Make a mural/do graffiti (chalk counts)- That time I illegally chalked campus with Cassidy all day. Happened April 2013.

Celebrate my birthday at some other country

Graduate high school- Graduated in May 2009 from the AIS 

Visit all the continents

Have a white Christmas- It snowed one year at 11pm on Christmas day in 2011. That counts! Me and dad went out for a walk in the snow at midnight. 

Write a song/sing it and put it on the internet- I wrote The Date Song in Summer 2012 while ‘dating’ Kyle. It got 10k notes on Tumblr!

Give my hair some kind of color treatment- I got blonde highlights that I died purple in October 2011. Then I dyed my hair under my top layer blonde! I prefer my natural color now. 

Kiss in the snow - Allie and I did this in 2017! It snowed at her old apartment.  

Kiss in the rain- I kissed Kyle in the rain after school circa 2006 while we were waiting for our parents to pick us up. We kissed behind the cafeteria while it was pouring. I remember he smelled like a wet dog and I was worried about my hair the whole time.  

Lose my virginity- I lost my virginity to Jeremy April 5th (the day after Easter) in 2010. It was nice, we had lamb roast after. 

Sing in public- Done it loads of times since the talent show in high school (Feb 2009), but my most notable time was when I sung Ariana’s part in Bang Bang with my a capella club in college (Nov 2014)

See the pyramids

Go to a concert for an underground band- Went to go see HEALTH with Kyle and Jonathan in summer 2010. I also so Motion City Soundtrack’s final show in Nov 2013, and discovered Now, now at the same show. 

Learn how to juggle

Own an I Heart NY Shirt from New York- I bought a black one from my New York senior trip in high school. 

Sleep in a cheap motel- Me, Allie, and Mariana slept in a waterfront hotel for 40$ a night (thats cheap!). It was pretty nice for the price, would try again!

Watch the sun rise- Me, Cassidy, and Lynn Jia stayed out all night one Thursday and saw the sunrise from east deck. 

See some World Wonders:

Great Pyramid Of Giza, El Giza Egypt 

Great Wall of China, Huairou, China

Machu Picchu, Andes Mountains, Peru

Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

The Colosseum, Rome Italy 

Eiffel Tower, Paris France

Leaning tower of Pisa, Italy 

Stonehenge, England

Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Venice, Italy

Lençóis Maranhenses, Brazil

Victoria Falls, Livingstone, Zambia

Santa Maria dell’Isola, Italy

Sydney Opera House, Australia 

Quinta de Regaleira, Portugal

Montreal Botanical Garden, Canada

See the  Sistine Chapel

Visit some USA Wonders: 

Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Redwood National Park, California, USA

Yellowstone National Park, USA

The Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, USA

Statue of Liberty, New York

Seattle Space Needle, Seattle

Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston

Niagara Falls

Drive from Miami to Key West

Visit the Alamo in San Antonio

French Quarter in New Orleans

Ride the Millennium Force at Cedar Point

Visit the Iowa State Fair

Swim in a Great Lake

Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

Visit Vegas (as an adult)

See the northern lights in Alaska

Go to the State Fair- Went to the state fair September 2013 with Ron, Allie, and Amanda Honey. I ate so much fried food, I got sick when I came home. To this day, smelling onion rings still makes me nauseous. 

Be on a reality TV show

Graduate from college- Graduated with a Bachelors of Science from UNCC Dec 13th 2014

Sleep under the stars- Went camping plenty of times, a few with my dad (May 2015 Kings Mountain, Nov 2015 Cherokee), and most notable with Allie and Jaden in April 2017 (Asheville).

Live past 50

Spend a night in an igloo

Plant a tree

Get a speeding ticket- My first speeding ticket was Oct 2010 going 55 in a 25 zone off of farm pond road. The police officer was nice and only gave me a ticket instead of arresting me. I was also high as a kite, coming from Saun and Tylers house. 

See the sun set in the desert

Go to all 50 states

Milk a cow

Go to a drive in movie

Stay awake for 24 hours

Sleep on the beach

Send a message in a bottle

Visit all Disneylands

Have a picture taken in a photo booth - Did this at work for NH! 

Find a four leaf clover- I have 2 that I found in my parents backyard. I have them preserved between two strips of clear masking tape. 

Watch all Disney Animated Films before 2000

Skinny dip

Get a masters degree

Get a book published

Run though a field of wheat

Wish on a shooting star- Wished on a shooting star on my way home one night from college in summer 2013. It streaked across the sky and I wished that I would find someone to love me. I met Allie that year. 

Get featured in a magazine/newspaper

Have my portrait painted- Allie did this October 2013 and its still THE BEST THING EVER. She drew me in a watercolor with a flower crown!

Swim with a dolphin

Be an extra in a film

Write a fan letter to someone who inspired me- I wrote a fan letter to Marina Herald, who wrong the ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ fan fiction novel which was a HUGE part of my life in 2010. She wrote me back and complimented my art and asked me to keep drawing things for her story because I was as important to the VR fandom as her. It meant alot. 

Learn to ballroom dance properly

Sit on a jury

Stay out all night dancing and go to work the next day without having gone home (just once)- Summer of 2011 I went out with Ashley and her Brazilian friends from NY. We went to no less than 5 bars and I didn’t get home until 9 am, and I had to be at work at Healthy Home Market by 10 on Sunday. I was dog tired all day, but I made it until 6 and passed out at home. It was a good day. 

Go out dancing period for that matter- I’ve gone out dancing a few times since. 

Spend a night in a haunted house

See a lunar or solar eclipse - 2017 I went with my family to the zoo in South Carolina and we saw the solar eclipse! 

Write my own will

Spend a whole day reading a great novel- Summer 2015 I spent all of a single day reading A Thousand Splendid Suns in my hammock. That same summer I spent a day reading A Great and Terrible Beauty, also in the hammock.

Animate something!- I learned how to animate GIFs in 2010!

Go up in a hot-air balloon

Create my own web site

Make a hole-in-one

Make a sex tape

Fly a kite- I flew kites with my friends at Kitty Hawke in April 2013

Ride a mechanical bull- I rode a mechanical bull while in Cherokee 2007 with my family during Christmas.

Ride a roller coaster- My first Roller Coaster was Thunder Road at Carowinds

Adopt an accent for an entire day- 2012, adopted a British accent at work with Healthy Home Market for a Sunday, and literally it was all anyone could talk about and people were SO much nicer.

Fire a gun- Shot my first gun at Megs house in Marion with Cassidy and Lynn Jia. I found it exhilarating, but not something I was good at. Spring 2013.

Climb a tall tree all the way to the top (or as far as you can go!)

Meet someone I met on the Internet in real life- Krystal Johnson, Dec 2013.

Vote- First vote cast during Obama’s second term, Nov 2012

Be on TV/radio - When I was in line to meet Hilary Clinton, NPR interviewed me and put it on thier show! I am still embarrassed!! 

Provide the police with an anonymous tip- Called about a car accident both me and Allie witnessed. The driver ran into an electrical pole during a rainstorm.

Hitchhike

Dance in the pouring rain- When Robbie died, I was alone in the house and I listened to the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack while dancing out in the pouring rain on a summer afternoon, 2008.

Receive a dozen roses- For the first time from Hayden during Valentines day 2013. 

Get drivers license- Licensed driver in NC since Summer 2008. I got my first car (a chevy Lumina) in summer fall 2009 for community college.

See the Ball drop for New Years in Times Square

Donate Blood- Donated blood fall 2013 and faint during a group fitness class the next day.

Witness a miracle

Get Contacts

See a muscial ON BROADWAY- Saw Mama Mia in New York on Broadway, spring 2009.

Make $10 dollars an hour- Myers Park Presbyterian, May 2015

Make $20 dollars an hour- Novant Health, July 2016

Make $50 dollars an hour

Ride in a horse and carriage

Have my fortune told

Own a diamond

Buy a piece of art from a street artist- Bought two prints from a street artist in New York after seeing Mama Mia on Broadway, Spring 2009.

Receive a love letter

Read a book to a child- Read a little readers book to my niece in Summer 2015 to help her with her homework. She is not very bright.

Play in the mud during a rainstorm

Have a snowball fight- Had one with Allie Amanda Honey, Ad, and Meg at their apartment when it snowed, spring 2014.

Go to Japan

Go to England

Go to Australia

Go to Greece 

Read a work of fiction more than 300 pages long- Harry Potter, naturally. But I had read many long books (HP was just the first)

Smoke a joint- Smoked my first joint with Sean and Tyler at thier house on Farmpond road. I also got pulled over for speeding that night.

Drink champagne FROM champagne- My parents brought back Champagne from France and I had a glass when they opened it (Spring 2014). It tasted more or less the same as regular champagne.

Build a sandcastle WITH a moat- Built plenty of sandcastles with my father, the most notable one was a mayan temple we made in the Dominican Republic that a kid smashed once we had left.

Go camping. In a tent.- Camped with my dad in May 2015, and Nov 2015, and then again with Allie in Spring 2016, and again with Jaden and Allie in April 2017. I love camping.

Cook a meal over an open flame- Cooked my first meal over an open flame with my dad on our May 2015 camping trip. I even made the fire. It was hot dogs and baked beans.

Smoke a cigarette- Smoked my first cigarette with Cassidy and Lynn while staying up late on campus, Fall 2012.

Be someones brides maid or maid of honor - I was my sisters maid of honor! 

Learn how to whistle with a blade of grass or an acorn top

Catch a fish- I caught my first fish with my father when I was about 11, and my second fish on my own with Meg on our second solo trip to Marion one weekend at the lake.

Drink Absinthe- Drank authentic Absinthe with India at her parents house in Asheville. It was bitter and made us sweat and text our exes.

Sign up to be an organ donor- Signed up to donate organs in Spring 2017

Go to a drag show- Saw a drag show Dec 2011 with David, Jarrell, and Renee at Scorpios.

Watch a sunset, then stay up to watch the following sunrise- Did this with Cassidy, and Lynn on campus. We smoked cigarettes at sunrise, had waffle house at midnight, and drank orange juice at sunrise on east deck.

Meet a Drag Queen- Met a famous Queen City Drag Queen with Violetta at the annual summer heart walk in 2011. Also met two Drag Queens at pride 2016.

Go on a cross-country road trip (at least 3-5 states!)

Learn to surf

Volunteer at a soup kitchen

See gay marriage legalized in all of USA- June 26th 2015 :)

See marijuana become legal in my state

Bet on the Kentucky Derby

Cosplay

Break a world record

Open a Swiss bank account

Start a food fight

Go the wrong way on an escalator - I did this ONCE in New Jersey and I fell and busted my ass. I ripped open an injury on my knee. It was chaos. 

Get buried in the sand- Got buried in wet, cold sand by Allie in Oct 2015 before our parents knew we were dating. It was so ridiculous and fun!

Sleep on a roof

Play hide and seek at night in a graveyard

Kiss someone underwater- Kissed Allie underwater at her friends pool. It was oddly difficult!

Go to a midnight movie premiere- Went to the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with Liz, Pippin, and Zoe at Concord Mills. Many people dressed up, and there was a fan play before the screens came on. We made a lot of friends and the movie was amazing!

Buy something with all pennies

Be in 2 places at once- On our trip to Carowinds, me, Kat, Joey and Allie stood on the two state lines dividing North Carolina and South Carolina.

Ride on the top of a double decker bus in England

Dress up as Waldo and walk around a crowded place

Be in a musical

Have a song written about me

Ride a horse- I ridden a horse to a spa with my parents, but more recently I rode one of Megs quarter horses both times I came to visit her in Marion (once during Spring of 2013 with Cassidy, and Lynn, and another time during Summer 2013 with Kat)

Go to the spa

Have a pint in England

Go on a helicopter ride

Go to a Mardi Gras in New Orleans

See ‘the wizarding world of harry potter’ in orlando- My parents took me Dec 2013 to celebrate my making the Deans list for a year! It was wonderful, AND I got to meet my internet friend Krystal.

Go to a convention, of any sort- Went to Heroes con Summer 2011 with Raven, Pippin, and Zoe! I bought a batman shirt. 

Go to San Diego Comic Con

Learn to make candles - I do this every fall now! 

Solve the Rubik’s Cube

Go to a SuperBowl

Learn to sculpt with clay, throw pottery on the wheel- Beka taught me how to throw on the wheel during the Raku event in Fall 2015. Allie taught me how to hand build that same year. I prefer throwing.

Learn to knit

Join a roller derby team

Read every novel that has won a Pulitzer Prize in the Fiction Category

Read every novel in TIME’s most influential novels of the 21st century category

Have a threesome

Make a web comic - I made a web comic in 2017! I got 4 issues in before I realized this was NOT for me. Maybe I’ll try again! 

Audition for American idol- Auditioned summer 2012. Did not get in, but had a blast!

Have a tea party with a child- Had a tea party with my nieces in Summer 2016 with my old tea set and yoohoo. 

Try yoga (in a class)

See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Try churros- Had Churros from the State Fair in 2013. I have loved them ever since.

Own a real fur coat

Have sex in public- Allie, Caleb, Jason :)

Eat a girl out- Allie :)

Try anal- Caleb :)

Play slots (gamble)

Adopt a kitten - I adopted Anders the same year we put Jinxie down. Hes my baby boy :)

See my name in the credits of something

Go on a blind date- I went on a date with Dale. We saw a movie and got Mexican food. It was awkward, and he kissed me like he was starving for attention back at his car.

Skip school- Me and Courtney skipped school during a fire drill (we escaped from the track where we were all being held). Another time with Renee where we went to the Bistro and said school let out early for exams (it had not.)

Witness someone die

Swim in the Atlantic Ocean- Myrtle Beach with Allie and Mariana, Spring 2013.

Swim in the Pacific Ocean - Did this when I saw Jaden! It was SO COLD!!

Make prank phone calls- Once with Violetta, Audrey, and David, we made prank calls until sunrise.

Laugh until some kind of beverage comes out of your nose- Did this once while eating at crown. It was orange juice.

Catch a snowflake on my tongue- Caught a snowflake on my tongue during the snow of Feb 2013 with my friends. We went outside at night while snowing so meg could get some snow for snow cream.

Write a letter to Santa Claus - I used to do this all the time as a kid. I never realized they probably didnt go anywhere. 

Kiss under the mistletoe - Allie and I do this every year now. Its her favorite thing! 

Blow bubbles in summer- I’ve done this many summers since the first time making this list in 2004.

Go to Disneyworld- On my freshman trip during high school, I got my first kiss from Kyle at Disneyland, during the fireworks event at the castle. Our friends had been tricking us into hanging out together all day, and mysteriously disapeared once the fireworks started. When Kyle kissed me, our friends reappeared an started clapping. A few teachers said it was about time. It was a good trip.

Ride on an elephant

Go water-skiing

See the Northern Lights

Swim in the Mediterranean- Swam on a rocky beach in 2009 while visiting Croatia. Dad tried to eat a raw sea urchin. It was a good vacation.

Have a one night stand with a stranger- Jason, Andy :)

Have one of my videos go viral

Own a Niner Nation shirt- AD gave me her stash of Niner Nation shirts and I think I wore them a grand total of once. My mom also bought me one when I graduated.

Eat at Bistro 49 at UNCC- The Dean of Students is a personal friend and took me here during my first semester in Spring 2012. I had a spinach salad because I wanted to be fancy and could barely choke it down.

Have a bake sale outside the Union- Had a Bakesale for PotterWatch in Spring 2013 with Mariana, Cait, and ANel.

See a concert on campus- Saw Motion City Soundtrack play in the Student Union during my first fall semester with ANel

Go see KEANE live

Go see Tswift Live- Went to my first Tswfit concert March 2013 with Meg and Kat after I had JUST broken up with Hayden. I had a GREAT time, and it was really uplifting.

Go to Amelie’s in the middle of the night.-Me and Cassidy went at 3am and talked to these two guys (both named Keith) til sunrise. It was so weird, but it was good conversation and I’m still friends with Kieth #2.

With friends, create photo evidence suggesting that you went on an adventure that didn’t really happen.

Build forts out of furniture and blankets, and wage war with paper airplanes.

Write a book.

Have that book published.

Play hide and seek in the park.

Drive somewhere unknown and have dinner in a city you’ve never been to. With fake names.

Get both a red card and a yellow card in quidditch- My first Yellow card was in our first game every at Blacksburg Brawl. I pulled a girls hair. My first Red card was at the Greensboro Gauntlet when I knocked a girl unconscious (I had to sit out for one game)

Play a movie you’ve never seen before. Set on mute and improvise dialogue.

Go to the airport, get the cheapest, soonest departing flight to anywhere when you show up, and stay there for a weekend.

In the Middle of the night, drive to the beach, so you arrive just as the sun is rising. Have a breakfast picnic, then fall asleep together. Bring a sun umbrella.

With camera and pair of boots, make photolog of a day in the life of the invisible man.

Write an autobiography

Make pressed flowers

Purchase a house- I bought my first house on September 16th 2016 at 3015 Summercroft Lane for 78k.

Own more than one housing property

Throw Tomatoes at La Tomatina

Visit Area 51

Solve a 100+ piece puzzle

Eat a meal in a really famous / expensive restaurant

Help a complete stranger in trouble

Get a Deep-Tissue Massage

Get a Volcanic Clay mud mask 

Find my way through a hedge or corn maze

Ride in a gondola

Get Married

Go on a Cruise - Did this in 2018! 

Fly first class

Help someone cross something off THEIR bucketlist

Learn the Thriller dance routine

See Wicked- Saw it with my Mom in March 2013 and it was JUST AS AMAZING AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

See the Phantom of the Opera- I saw it with Renee in 2010 and it was actually REALLY good!

Go to a real Ballet. Dress up.- Allie has taken me to 2 ballets, Peter Pan (March 2016) and Sleeping Beauty (2017)

Do the 365 day project (Take picture everyday)

Make a music video

Be able to do a split

Throw a surprise party for someone Did this for Allie in 2021! it was only a few people but she really was surprised. 

Have a surprise birthday party thrown for you- Amanda Honey, and Allie got me to go outside in the snow while Meg stayed upstairs and baked me a cake! Then we all ate tacos and watched Game of Thrones. It was a REALLY good birthday, because of the snow and the surprise! 

Sing at a Karaoke Bar- Sang ‘You Oughta Know’ at Jeffs Bucket Shop and dedicated it to every girl who has ever been cheated on by a guy. I got everyone cheering and singing along and Allie said it was the best performance of the night.

Audition for a game show

Attend a Murder Mystery Dinner

Ride a Cable Car in San Francisco - Did this during san fran pride when we all visited Jaden. 

Visit Hershey’s Chocolate World

Take a Cooking Class

Visit Toys ‘R’ Us Times Square- Visited during my Senior field trip Spring 2009

Go to homecoming- The only UNCC football game I ever went to was Homecoming. I tailgated with my friends in Fall 2013.

Take a picture with UNCC mascot- Took one with Allie during Fall Fest 2014

Visit the botanical gardens on campus and Bonnie Cones Grave- I did this with Allie and Lucas Nov 2014 right before a graduated for good luck

Join an acapella group- Joined the Finer Niners in Sept 2013 after a girl interrupted quidditch practice to leave to go audition. I went with her with a few friends from the team and I was the only one who made it in.

[snowkatze]

answer the 20 question and tag 20 people!

Thank you @vincentsunflowerss for tagging me :)

name: Jana

nicknames: none

orientation: ?? (probably demisexual but I don’t really like labels)

nationality: german

favorite fruit: raspberry, strawberry, banana

favorite season: spring

favorite book(s): Carry On (my favorite one, but I also really like) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz, An Amber in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

favorite flower: roses and daffodil (and the other day I saw some dandelions and I was just really amazed and happy because I haven’t seen any of those in like 10 years because of winter)

favorite scent: petrichor, books, citrus

favorite color(s): black, red as blood

favorite animal: I used to love wolves but I don’t really have one now

coffee, tea, or hot cocoa: hot cocoa

average sleep hours: aprox. 7 hours

cat or dog person: my family has two cats but I think I would go really well with a dog because we could go on walks and it would be nice

favorite fictional character(s): My absolute favorite is Baz Pitch and Ianto Jones, and some I really really like (but not as much) are: Penny Bunce, Simon Snow, Clara Oswald, Amelia Pond, Rory Williams, the Doctor, Charlie Bradbury, Dean and Sam Winchester, Sherlock Holmes, Lorelei Gilmore, Luke Danes, Jughead Jones, Daenerys Targeryen, Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, Ygritte and Jon Snow, Jane Villanueva, Micheal Cordero, Kirito and Asuna, Lelouch vi Britannia

number of blankets you sleep with: one

dream trip: I’ve been to England quite often but I love it there and I want to go again. Also, I want to go to America, New York because I want to see the broadway. Or Japan.

blog created: sometime in spring 2016? wow this blog is about a year old now

number of followers: 630

i tag: @glitterytrashhh, @ccpokemonmaster, @chapter-61, @sunlightschadow, @eroticgropefest, @antlered-pluto, @takemetogalleries, @ronniethebakerstreetgirl, @arituzz, @carry-on-kissing-snowbaz, @andonewillbringhisfall (If you want to do it :) )

[topteny]

Top Ten Strangest Places on Earth (various photos)

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[yumatomiyasu]

The Hell 2015 Beppu Contemporary Art Festival 2015 ‘Mixed Bathing World’ Installation View, Oita, Japan Videos, sound, pencil and ink on old paper, photos, tube TV, found objects, water, bath additive (the sea hell and the blood pond hell), others As well as the other work “Room of a Pagan (who lived in the future)” (#Room0fAPagan), this installation work is the earliest one of my “room-like” installation series. This work is to consider the notion of life after death in multicultural perspective, by dealing with the motifs like the hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy, images of ghosts, and Beppu Jigoku Meguri (Hell Tour) that is a tour of eight Beppu hot spring locations called “Jigoku (hell)” in this exhibited area in Japan. The work consists of videos, photography, sound, and drawings in a closed restaurant. 死後について (考察) 2015 別府現代芸術フェスティバル2015「混浴温泉世界」, 大分 映像、サウンド、ブラウン管テレビ、古紙に鉛筆・インク、写真、ファウンドオブジェクト、電球、水、入浴剤（海地獄、血の池地獄） 別府の地獄巡りやダンテの神曲に於ける地獄、幽霊の概念、リトアニアの十字架の丘などをモチーフに、死後の世界について多文化的視点から考察する試みのインスタレーション作品。廃業したレストランの厨房を設置場所に使い、迷路状に映像、写真、サウンド、ドローイングなどが配置された。

[mayuko-t-blog]

Onsen prefecture

     Tourism Oita was added in Japanese DMO last year. Oita prefecture in Japan is famous for hot spring. The number of hot spring wells and the yield of hot water are the largest in Japan. Oita is also called “Onsen prefecture”. That is why the logo shows wooden bath oke and towel. In addition, the steam is written by “OITA”. The message under the logo means Japan's number one Onsen. Also, it is wririten that Oita is full of charm. However, there is device on kanji of “charm”. The correct kanji is replaced by different kanji, and the word means “taste”. That is to say, Oita has many attractions of food too. Kabosu which is a kind of citrus fruit, pear and Shiitake mushroom are specialty of Oita. Oita also has sea, so it can get a lot of fish such as horse mackerel, puffer fish, prawn and something like that.

     The brand of Oita is absolutely Onsen. Even among them, Beppu Jigoku Meguri (Beppu Hell Tour) is a unique spot. The name, Jigoku (hell), was derived from the fact that the site is unapproachable, because of fumarolic gas of around 100 degrees. Thermal mud and hot springs have been gushing tremendously from the ground for over 1,000 years. There are 8 Jigokus in total at Beppu consisting of ‘Umi Jigoku (the cobalt blue ocean hell), Chi-no Ike Jigoku (deep-red blood pond hell), Oniishi Bozu Jigoku’ (Onishi Shaven Head Hell), Yama Jigoku (Mountain Hell), Kamado Jigoku (Boiling Hell), Oniyama Jigoku (Demon Mountain Hell), Shiraike Hell (White Pond Hell) and ‘Tatsumaki Jigoku’ (Geyser Hell). That is in no other place than there. The visitors can enjoy unusual hot springs there.

     Travelers to Oita are increasing today. The targets are people who seek relaxing places and foreigners who are interested in Japanese culture. I think it is a good point to focus on foreigners. However, there are two issues. Few staffs can speak English. Oita should have many bilingual staffs. Also, about half of hot springs doesn’t allow people with tattoo to use them. They should be lenient for everybody to enjoy hot springs. (352 words) Nov 19th, 2017

[justforustravel-blog]

The Strange Wonders Of The World - #APoolOfBlood, #Argentina, #CarreraLake, #Chile, #Discover, #GiantSCauseway, #Japan, #LakeRetba, #MarbleCaves, #NaturalHotSprings, #NorthernIreland, #Pamukkale, #PamukkaleTravertine, #Senegal, #TheMarbleCaves, #Tourist, #Tourists, #Travertine, #Turkey, #UNESCOSWorldHeritage

New Post has been published on http://justforustravel.com/2017/10/06/the-strange-wonders-of-the-world/

The Strange Wonders Of The World

for thousands of years mankind has wanted to discover in the world that almost 4.5 billion years old. Winds, waves, pressure, minerals, and natural elements such as water, our earth is altering every day.

besides the natural beauty we have become accustomed to no longer see you when we want to understand the many ‘strange’ s formation. This amazes those who see themselves the wonders of nature.

located in different parts of the world to see all the natural wonders that have occurred over millions of years and it’s not easy, but one of the most beautiful ones in our country.

  Pamukkale (Turkey)

people in the pool thought to find healing Pamukkale travertine, the most popular tourist region in the country.

dense in the groundwater, the calcium carbonate solidifies when unpressurized environment. The accumulation of calcium carbonate in thin layers on the rocks collapsing over time, which consisted of travertine is soft like a pillow.

every year, hosting thousands of tourists in the region, is impressed by the environmental pollution, if conscious, thanks to the sanctions, it still retains its natural beauty.

  Lake retba (Senegal)

“pink Lake” also known as Lake Retba, is one of the strangest formations on earth.

this interesting pink tone, an algae called dunaliella Salina in the waters of intense amount. Due to its density of salt, the salinity in the lake to have developed a lot of algae at certain times of year %40lara is approaching. This means you can effortlessly stay on the water!

the natives of great interest to tourists, salt from the lake by its area of working long hours they’re making.

  the marble Caves (the marble Caves) (Chile)

Chile’s Marble Caves in the region near the border with Argentina another corner of heaven !

the waves by erosion over the centuries a view of the winning mermerimsi caves, Carrera Lake’s stunning blue waters coupled with green, creating tremendous visual feast.

natural hot springs, a pool of blood (Japan)

filled with natural wonders Japan’s held in Beppu located in the area, the spa offers both creepy and attractive visualization. It’s not difficult to understand where the name came from. Nine separate hot springs fed from a hot water source because of the dense Iron contained in the waters of the red one. Even the vapors rising from the blood-red pond monitor enough to be taken in.

giant’s Causeway (Northern Ireland)

17. discovered at the beginning of the century, giant’s Causeway today, UNESCO’s World Heritage List’is taking place in. Tightly clenching occurs from a volcanic explosion approximately pentagonal shaped of 40000 basalt columns.

the mist-covered located on the northern Irish coast, the giant’s Causeway, like part of another world.

according to Irish folk legend, the columns the staff of the island’s a giant named Finn MacCool lit lover to go to.

[yumatomiyasu]

The Hell 2015 Beppu Contemporary Art Festival 2015 ‘Mixed Bathing World’, Oita Videos, sound, pencil and ink on old paper, photos, tube TV, found objects, water, bath additive (the sea hell and the blood pond hell), others This installation work is to consider the notion of life after death in multicultural perspective, by dealing with the motifs like the hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy, images of ghosts, and Beppu Jigoku Meguri (Hell Tour) that is a tour of eight Beppu hot spring locations called “Jigoku (hell)” in this exhibited area in Japan. The work consists of videos, photography, sound, and drawings in a closed restaurant. 死後について (考察) 2015 別府現代芸術フェスティバル2015「混浴温泉世界」, 大分 映像、サウンド、ブラウン管テレビ、古紙に鉛筆・インク、写真、ファウンドオブジェクト、電球、水、入浴剤（海地獄、血の池地獄） 別府の地獄巡りやダンテの神曲に於ける地獄、幽霊の概念、リトアニアの十字架の丘などをモチーフに、死後の世界について多文化的視点から考察する試みのインスタレーション作品。廃業したレストランの厨房を設置場所に使い、迷路状に映像、写真、サウンド、ドローイングなどが配置された。