Beppu vs. Ajimu

WHOSH! That’s the sound of time/life flying by! That’s what I’ve been hearing everyday for the past 3ish weeks as I’ve been settling into my new life in Beppu. I knew I’d have to hit the ground running as soon as I got back to Japan, so all the moving and driving and meeting and unpacking and cleaning and shopping and freaking out has gone rather well.

Here’s a quick rundown of Ajimu (my old home) versus Beppu (my new home) to give you an idea of where I’m living now.

AJIMU
- Population: about 8,000
- Number of…
Grocery stores: 2 (both small)
Restaurants: 1.5 (Joyfull was my standby and then there was another place open only for lunch during the week)
Bars: never really found one
People between 20 and 30 years old: well, there was me and…
- Famous for: turtle soup and wine
- Notable features: countryside beauty, Kyushu’s tallest waterfall, lots of rice fields.

BEPPU
- Population: A lot more than Ajimu
- Number of…
Grocery stores: Tons! Including a large one right down the street!
Restaurants: Innumerable! All my favorites, many within walking distance.
Bars: Still counting! Downtown is about 10 minutes walk from my apartment!
People between 20 and 30 years old: A whole lot! With APU (international university) in town, Beppu has the largest foreign population after Tokyo!
- Famous for: Onsen! It’s the hot spring capital of Japan.
- Notable features: beautiful green mountains that border a blue sea, a ferry to Osaka, lots of hills for good running workout.

Okay, so it looks like Beppu might sort of beat out Ajimu…but I still have a lot of love for my old inaka town. I’ve been by a few times to pick up some of my stuff and I always stop just to look and remember all the good times there. Sure it was really dark at night and sometimes spiders the size of face-huggers from ALIENS would run around my house and it took half an hour to get anywhere and that was only by car because there were no trains in my town…BUT still, it’s a very nice place (and all the isolating inspired great things like Shark Friend).

So yeah, Beppu is rocking and I’m happy to be here. I’ll have more soon…got to go and make some dinner before heading off to work.

Justin's Europe Trip

Here's where I was in September!