kenleewrites in 日本

Jigokudani (地獄谷) or Hell Valley is in Noboribetsu (登別), Hokkaido.

It’s barren and smells of sulphur. No wonder they call it Hell Valley. ^^.

There’s also an onsen (温泉) nearby too. Guess people in Hell Valley do know how to enjoy the heat. ^^.

Here’s a map of the entire area.

I wonder if they have street names like “Hell Valley Promenade” down there… not that I would like to find out myself though. ^^.

What you need to know about Noboribetsu Hot Spring Resort.

Check the original size if you want to read the fine print. ^^.

What’s the number to call for the police in your country? In Japan it’s 110.

I’m pretty sure the rock formation there is manmade.

Rocks don’t pile themselves up in nature right?

There’s a hot spring well at the end. I saw some discolored coins in it. Do you like throwing coins in wells and making wishes?

It’s a long walk out of Hell Valley. ^^.

What’s that greenish looking thing?

7 color Fuji.

I liked the range of colors that I saw there.

I don’t suppose that’s the River Styx.

There’s a small shrine. How much do you know about the “Tomoe”? The 3 swirls that resembles a comma.

There’s this joke I know.

One day, an engineer died and was sent to Hell. He wondered why it was so hot. So he took a look at the air conditioner and found out someone reversed the controls! Instead of keeping hell at a moderate temperature, it heated up the place. So, being an engineer, he fixed it. After fixing it, he looked around. There were no proper toilets. So, he got permission from the big guy down there and went ahead building a complex sanitation system. The entrance would look something like this I suppose.

The engineer didn’t stop there, he went on to build shopping complexes, resorts, high-speed internet etc etc. So one day, God decided to go down to hell to take a look at how things were going. It was cool, there were proper toilets, unlimited high-speed downloads… it wasn’t hell! So he asked the devil, “What happened here?”.

The devil replied, “I should really thank you. You sent that engineer down here and he fixed all our problems.”.

“What?!? What engineer, there must be a mistake. I’m bringing him up with me right now!”

“No, you can’t do that, it was already decided that he was to belong here.”, replied the devil.

“Ok then, I’ll sue you.”, God said in a big booming voice.

To which the devil, with his fingers together, grinned… “But where are you going to find a lawyer?”