Deep in the mountains of Aso-Kuju National Park, which straddles the border of Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, it's easy to believe you are in central Hokkaido rather than in central Kyushu. It's July, but the daytime temperature is in low 20s and evenings are, depending on your preference, either comfortably crisp or bone-chillingly cold.
For this reason, business at local hot springs is quite good. At the Kuju Kanko Hotel, scores of vacationing schoolchildren head for a soak in the baths. In front of the hotel, a few pause to stare at a huge contraption with pipes and hissing steam that appears to have come straight out of a Dr. Seuss tale or Tim Burton film.
What they are looking at is one of Japan's 19 geothermal plants.