And also the 'hell' thing has always attracted me...so I was super super excited to go there! ワクワクだった～
This is what Beppu station looks like:
This guy is called ピカピカノおじさん(pika pika ojisan) (shiny uncle).
Why shiny? because of his bald head!haha..
So who is Pika Pika Ojisan? His real name's くまはちあぶらやKumahachi Aburaya.
He'd a really amazing life from what I read off the plaque. Since young, he'd been known for being a hard worker.
When he was 30, he went to Osaka, made a lot of money from rice speculation and became known as "Aburaya general".
At 34, he lost all his money from speculation then took a ship (smelly and hot bottom of the ship) to America.
For about 3 years he travelled around, from Canada to Mexico. At 38 he returned to Japan. He was baptized in the US.
When he was 46 he moved to Beppu and started running a hotel. He took what marketing skills he learnt in America to make Beppu famous. Basically he improved the tourism of Beppu a whole lot.
His catchphrase was: 山は富士山、海は瀬戸内、湯は別府。（If you're looking for a mountain, it should be Fuji mountain. For the sea, Seto Inland sea. For hot-spring, Beppu.
Anyway I gotta admit I admire him, to have lost everything and re-made himself. That's quite an accomplishment don't you think?
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