270px, Beppu City Hall is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...

on the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. As of November 30, 2023, the city had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 113,045 in 62702 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 900 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Beppu is famous for its hot springs.

Geography

Beppu is situated at the west end of Beppu Bay, around the east central prefecture. The north, west, and east of the city are the mountains or highlands with elevations of several hundreds meters above sea level. Most of those mountains are

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

volcanos. Particularly, such mountain as Mount Tsurumi is relatively new, and fumarolic activities are observed. Besides Mount Tsurumi, Mount Yufu, Mount Ohira and so forth shape a range of mountains. The west area of the city includes a number of scenic locations such as Yufugawa Canyon, which has been selected as one of One Hundred View of Oita, and/or some designated areas of Aso Kujū National Park, with a large amount of forests. The east area of the city consists of an alluvial fan as well as

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...

, made with rivers flowing into Beppu Bay, namely Asami River, Haruki River and Sakai River. The main urban area of Beppu has been formed within this relatively narrow land which spans approximately 5 km from east to west and 10 km from north to south. There are a large number of faults on the north and south of the alluvial fan, surrounding the urban area. Given the short distance from the sea shore on the east coast to the west part of the city with altitude of several hundreds meters or higher, the city has many slopes mainly on the east-west direction.

Neighboring municipalities

Ōita Prefecture * Ōita *

Usa The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Yufu is a city in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. The modern city of Yufu was established on October 1, 2005, from the merger of the towns of Hasama, Shōnai, and Yufuin (all from Ōita District). , the city has an estimated population of 33,120, and ...

* Hiji

Climate

Beppu has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Beppu is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1663 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.3 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Usuki is as shown below

History

The area of Beppu was part of ancient Bungo Province. Beppu Port was opened on May 30, 1871, with connections to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and other ports on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

. It was the main logistics hub for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

during the Satsuma Rebellion. Hot spring development as a tourist destination began in earnest from 1879. The village of Beppu was established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system and was raised to town status on April 11, 1893. It was raised to city status on April 1, 1924.

Government

Beppu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city council of 25 members. Beppu contributes five members to the Ōita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Ōita 3rd district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

The economy of Beppu is strongly influenced by tourism to its many

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

ho spring resorts.

Education

Colleges and universities

Beppu University is a private university in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. It has campuses at the cities of Beppu is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643Beppu Mizobe Gakuen College, established in 1986, is a private junior college located in the north of Beppu. *

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University , commonly referred to as APU, is a university in Japan. Ritsumeikan APU was established in April 2000 in Beppu, Ōita, Japan. APU was created through the collaboration of three parties from the public and private sectors: Ōita Prefecture, Be ...

, a private university established in 2000.

Primary and secondary education

Beppu has 14 public elementary schools and seven public junior high schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Ōita Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private elementary school, junior high school and two private high schools. The prefecture operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railways

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait ...

- Nippō Main Line * - - -

Highways

Higashikyushu Expressway The is one of the expressways of Japan from Kitakyūshū (and the bridge to Honshū) to east of Kagoshima linking with the Kyushu Expressway. It runs north to south, through the prefectures of Fukuoka, Oita, Miyazaki and the Kagoshima prefec ...

* * *

Local attractions

Hot springs

Beppu is famous for its ''

'' (

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

). It has eight major geothermal hot spots, sometimes referred to as the " eight hells of Beppu" among many others. Six of these are located close by in the Kannawa district up the hill, and two are in the nearby Shibaseki district down the hill. Beppu is also divided into eight major hot spring areas known as .

''Beppu Hattō'' hot spring areas

Some hot springs in the Beppu area are

Beppu Onsen is a group of hot springs in the city of Beppu, Ōita in Japan. Beppu Onsen is divided into eight major hot spring areas known as "Beppu Hatto". The most significant characteristic of Beppu's hot springs is the richness of its resources. The v ...

, Kankaiji, Kamegawa, Shibaseki, Kannawa, Myoban, Horita, Hamawaki, among others. In addition, Oniyama Jigoku, known as "monster mountain hell" for the large numbers of crocodiles bred and kept on the grounds surrounding this hot spring, is nearby. File:Natural iron hot spring.jpg, Natural iron hot spring, Beppu, Japan File:How to see Beppu.jpeg, 1937 travel poster, Beppu hot springs File:Beppu City.jpg, Kannawa area of Beppu city File:Beppu hotspring-well01.jpg, A hot spring-well in Beppu

Other visitor attractions

Beppu is part of the course of the annual

Beppu-Ōita Marathon The is an annual men's marathon race that takes place every February between the cities of Beppu and Ōita on the island of Kyushu in Japan. The race has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and is a listed course of AIMS (Association of Interna ...

, which traces a path between Beppu and its neighboring city of Ōita. The competition has been held every year since 1952 and is classed as an

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

Silver Label road race. Shidaka Lake is located

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Otobaru Waterfall is a local natural attraction, located in the mountain area of Beppu city, 20 minutes' walk from Wonder Rakutenchi, a traditional amusement park. Takasakiyama Monkey Park is located 10 minutes from the center of Beppu by bus. The park is home to more than 1500 Japanese macaques. Kijima Kogen is a resort which includes an 18-hole golf course and hotel alongside an amusement park. It is located on a plateau en route to Yufuin. Beppu has not only usual hot springs but some sand and foot baths as well. One famous spot is "Beppu Kaihin Sunayu, Ashiyu", ("Beppu marine beach sand bath and foot bath"). It is 15 minutes by bus from Beppu station, on Route 10. is located in the center of the city, a 15-minute walk from Beppu Station. Beppu Fireworks Festival, held in late July, is one of the biggest fireworks displays in Oita. Five thousand fireworks are set off from boats floating on Beppu Bay. Beppu Contemporary Art Festival "Mixed Bathing World" is an art festival held every three years in Beppu. The

Beppu Ropeway The is a Japanese aerial lift line in Beppu, Ōita. This is the only line operated by Beppu Ropeway, a subsidiary of the Kintetsu Group. Opened in 1962, the line climbs Mount Tsurumi near the Beppu '' onsen'' hot spring resort. The mountain is mo ...

connects Beppu with Mount Tsurumi.

Sports

Beppu is home to the

Oita Heat Devils The are a professional basketball team based in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, that will compete in the second division of the B.League, a new league that will commence in September 2016. The team was founded in 2005 as the Oita HeatDevils, one of t ...

basketball team. The team's season was canceled in 2011 due to the earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

International relations

The city of Beppu has

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

relationships with the following locations. * Atami, Shizuoka,

(since August 5, 1966) *

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(since October 31, 1994) *

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

, United States (since May 20, 1985) *

Jeju Jeju may refer to: * Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo **Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo **Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju l ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(since January 17, 2003) * Mokpo,

Jeollanam-do South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

(since October 1, 1984) *

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

Bay of Plenty Region The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(since July 10, 1987) *

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(since July 26, 1985)

Buildings

Beppu Tower is a 100-metre-tall (328 ft) lattice tower located in Beppu, Ōita, Japan. Initially built to help boost tourism in the area, today the tower is primarily used as TV transmission tower. It has an observation deck at a height of . History B ...

References

External links

Beppu City official website

Beppu Navi homepage

Information about hot spring baths in Beppu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beppu, Oita Cities in Ōita Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan