Beppu Bay

BEPPU BAY AREA
First Home Leased in the city near Beppu Bay at 10 Kumi Yumigahama. At ¥20,000 ($55.55) / mo. it was inexpensive	Owner Yoshino Hideto signed page 2 of the lease agreement which was prepared in his native language	The conversion rate for the Yen was fixed at 360¥ per U.S. Dollar in 1949 and remained as such until 1972. Today a single dollar converts to less than one hundred yen while the national CPI inflation rate has driven prices up by as much as 21% in 1974. The lease at left, assuming it was still only ¥20,000, would translate to over $2300/mo. today!		Overlook on top of a mountain with a view of Beppu Bay
Sitting On The Dock of The Bay ... was a cool hangout for young boys	Safe Anchorage in Beppu's excellent harbor	U.S. Army Tug? with the number LI-792	The Tug probably maneuvered U.S. military cargo ships	Floating Crane unloads cargo to smaller vessels
View included a bridge in the foreground and a mountain backdrop	and sometimes ... laundry	Fumarole a volcanic vent spewing steam are common in Japan's volcanic regions	Onsen an Onsen (温泉) is a term for hot springs that are near these vents and typically guarded by these hellish figures	Kamado Jigoku literally a "hellish cauldron" or "cooking pot hell". A clever name for an Onsen near Beppu. Just makes you want to jump right in!
Garden of Trolls? a group of statuary at an Onsen gate	Countryside Shrine these small commemorative shrines are placed at or near the place of a person's death	"Mitch and Mel" at the Beppu Daibutsu (Great Buddha) Maurice 'Mitch" Mitchell and Mel Echelberger [on the right]	Mitch in downtown Beppu riding on a motorcycle he "inherited" when friend Mel Echelberger went back to the U.S.	Mitch and Monkey Mountain Mount Takasakiyama (3,000 ft) lies on the coast between Beppu and Oita City. It has an indigenous group of Macaque monkeys that beg food from visitors.
Daibutsu ... or, Great Buddha, near Beppu