Ajimu in Oita Prefecture isn’t exactly a major tourist destination. Yes, it has luxuriant fields and picturesque farmhouses boasting unusual basque-relief paintings called kote-e, but most visitors spend a half-day at most in Ajimu, perusing its stone Buddhist carvings or the African Safari nature park, before heading to any of the fashionable hot-spring towns nearby. Although it has been dubbed the “Tibet of Oita Prefecture” for its remote location, there is nothing particularly exotic about this sleepy town.