Oita

Oita prefecture located in north-east Kyushu is perhaps the most famous prefecture for onsen (hot springs) in Japan. Places such as Beppu and Yufuin being especially popular onsen towns with millions of visitors all year around. These towns are extremely geothermal, giving them their rich number of different onsen, and you can find steam rising all over the towns. With countless beautiful spots to relax your mind and soul at the onsen and enjoy a more traditional Japanese atmosphere and local cuisine (fugu being a famous local speciality!), these are two unmissable spots on your list! In addition to the onsen are jigoku, which means "hell" in English: these are naturally occurring geothermal ponds that are constantly bubbling with geothermal energy and some are literally boiling. Unique natural conditions and the rocks etc. that they form at produce different color effects on the jigoku, one of them being so red that it is called Blood Pond Hell (Chinoike Jigoku).