Furu Anime Panikku

I came back from Ooita not too long ago and had quite a ball of a time wandering around some areas. I didn’t do any research before heading out, so I just went to whatever places that I fancied while strolling along the streets. For once, not having any plans is a good thing, since it feels more like embarking on a short surprised-filled adventure.

First, I explored the area around Ooita station to do a little shopping. The place consisted of a couple of shopping malls, a shopping street and some small shops all over the place. I spent about 2 to 3 hours slowly browsing through the stores, but I ended up with a mere t-shirt purchase from Uniqlo.

Even after visiting an Animate branch in one of the buildings, I didn’t spend any money there. When I entered the store, the hype I used to feel just wasn’t there. The excitement of finding something that would be of my liking was totally lacking. I think I’m changing.

There’s going to be some kind of a prefecture sports meet this weekend in Ooita, so many people are busy preparing for it. With much thanks to that event, my plans to return to Ooita for a one day trip were thwarted. Darn, I should have scheduled my trip a week earlier.

After I was done, I took a 10 minute train ride over to Beppu, another nearby town famous for its hot springs. I didn’t bother with the map stating where all the hot springs were, and just headed out of the station in a random search for one. After quite a distance, I found one and took a bath there.

The entrance fee was real cheap. Only 100 yen. However, I think the basic facilities explained the price. There was only 1 bath and no showers. When I entered, I totally forgot about the need for a towel, and was only reminded once I got out of the bath and needed to dry myself. With no other choice, I used the t-shirt I bought earlier as a makeshift towel instead.

After the onsen, I continued wandering. For the third or fourth time, I saw a chain departmental store named “Youme Town”. That departmental store seems like it’s almost everywhere in Kyuushuu. Besides the departmental store, most of the other shops along the streets were closed by 7 or 8 in the evening. There’s not much of a night life here, unless you take the night clubs into consideration.

Since there was nothing else to be done in the area, I headed back to the hotel. This is one of the less happening days of this trip, since I was alone the whole day and nothing particularly interesting occurred.