08.06.2025 別府・湯布院 Beppu & Yufuin, Japan

Onsen Steam Trails

A journey through Japan’s Kyushu island—onsen towns and the surreal landscapes of Beppu.

Shot 2023
Ricoh FF-9
Nikon F3
Kodak Gold 200
Ilford HP5
25 frames

We flew from Taipei to Fukuoka in early December. Rented a car. No plan. Our friend Kumiko as our local guide. Kyushu in winter moves slow—open skies, roadside shrines, warm meals at cold tables.

We followed the steam. It was everywhere. Curling from manholes, drifting across streets, rising like breath from the hills. Beppu felt less like a city and more like a living thing—humid, quiet, surreal.

I shot everything on film. Nikon F3 and Ricoh FF-9. Ilford HP5 and Kodak Gold 200. Some frames feel like they caught something between real and imagined.

This is a record of two days of steam, silence, and small discoveries.

A window in a japanese house in Yufuincho Kawakami — 202335BW3-21

View through a wired-glass hotel window down onto a multi-storey car park and a red hotel sign, Fukuoka, Japan — 202335C14-03

Sunlit street corner with a red crosswalk, a 30 speed limit sign and steam rising between houses in the distance, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-26

Red Coca-Cola vending machine labelled "Welcome to Beppu" under the overhang of a white building, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-16

Self-portrait of the photographer in a hotel room mirror, holding a camera to his face, Japan — 202335C14-04

View through a hotel window with wired glass onto a brick building with rusted rooftop vents, Fukuoka, Japan — 202335C14-02

Black and white view over a dense city of office blocks and hotels with a mountain range on the horizon, Kyushu, Japan — 202335BW3-26

Black and white view across an empty road and guardrail to a low tiled building with steam rising from a pipe, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW3-32

Spiky yucca plants and a black railing in front of a steaming turquoise hot spring pool, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-20

Steam rising from a metal pipe in a garden of rocks and clipped shrubs, behind a bamboo barrier with a no-entry sign, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-21

Steam rising from silver pipes behind a weathered wall, with two wooden benches on a dirt lot under blue sky, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-15

Parking lot in Beppu, Kyushu, Japan — 202335BW3-30

Black and white image of steam pouring from vents in front of a traditional building with a hand-painted sign, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-13

Black and white image of steam clouds billowing from rocks behind a wooden fence, with tall palm trees above, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-08

Black and white image of steam rising from a wooden steam-cooking counter in a dim open-air kitchen, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-16

Black and white image of thick steam rising in front of a densely wooded hillside, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-06

Black and white backlit plaza where a child runs through a cloud of steam rising from the pavement, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-22

Black and white street scene of three people walking past a traditional building as steam drifts across the ground, Beppu, Japan — 202335BW4-14

Dense steam rising from a hot spring pool between rocks, a green shrub and the trunk of a palm tree, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-19

Empty parking lot beside a white building, with steam rising from a wooded hillside and an orange autumn tree, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-18

Black and white view of forested hills and a farmhouse in a rural valley under streaked clouds, Kyushu, Japan — 202335BW3-14

Black and white image of a car parked under a small open shed on a quiet street, with power lines and a street lamp, Kyushu, Japan — 202335BW4-21

Black and white close-up of a bronze temple bell with relief carvings hanging under a wooden roof, Kyushu, Japan — 202335BW4-19

Sunlight and shadow on a sliding glass door with pale blue floral curtains and white wooden siding, Beppu, Japan — 202335C14-17

Empty restaurant table with chopsticks and a menu by the window, a pink child seat on the tatami beside it, Kyushu, Japan — 202335C14-29