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 ...

in Ōita Prefecture 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 March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643"Statistics: Population"
Beppu City Government website . Accessed 21 April 2017. and a population density of . The total area 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 the fourth-period 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

* Oita * Usa * Yufu * Hiji

History

The city was founded on April 1, 1924, with its population of 36,276.

Hot springs

Beppu is famous for its ''

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 ...

'' (

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 within 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

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 neighbouring 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 centre 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 connects Beppu with Mount Tsurumi.

Education

* Beppu University, a private university first chartered in 1954, also has a campus in Oita City. * Beppu 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.

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 cancelled in 2011 due to the earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

International relations

The city of Beppu has sister city 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, England, United Kingdom (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 (since January 17, 2003) * Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, South Korea (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, New Zealand (since July 10, 1987) * Yantai,

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

References

External links

Beppu City official website

Beppu Navi homepage

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