You’ve seen Tokyo and Kyoto in the photos. Oita is the Japan you haven’t seen yet.

On Kyushu, Japan’s southern island, steam rises from the streets of Beppu — the country’s hot-spring capital, with more than 2,800 springs. Walk lanes clouded with vapour, see the blue and red “Hells,” cook lunch over natural steam, then bury yourself in warm sand and soak like a local.

Thirty minutes inland, Yufuin waits beneath Mt. Yufu: morning mist on Lake Kinrin, small cafés, crafts, and quiet mountain villages. Between them, the Yamanami Highway winds through the Kuju mountains — made for slow travel, roof down, no timetable.

Add honest local food — tori-ten chicken, fresh Beppu Bay seafood, kabosu citrus — and evenings that end in an onsen, not a crowd.

Slow down. Drive Oita.