A giant snowstorm over the weekend left much of the prefecture blanketed in snow, shutting down the major highways and causing travel headaches for folks throughout the island. Steve, Nader and I however took the opportunity to visit the nearby mountains and see what we could see.

Nader takes a dip in one of the natural hot springs

The water comes out piping hot, with each pool getting progressively cooler

Taking the path less traveled

We hiked as far as Hebin'yu hot spring, where the deepest snow was almost up to...

Snow throughout most of Oita prefecture shut down all the highways for the...

Steve and Nader frolicking through the snow

A snowy graveyard hidden in the mountains