5 Days in Kyushu

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In the last 5 days we’ve visited 3 places in Kyushsu, an island just of the south of the main island. Started with the seaside town of Beppu. The whole of Kyushu is known for its various forms of volcanic activity and Beppu is bubbling with hot water pouring out of vents and drains. Nearby is the town on Kannawa where steam seems to be coming out of everywhere and has eight ‘Hells’ hot springs to visit. Some were impressive, quite like Rotarua in NZ. The second stop was the lovely Aso. It had been hit by serious flooding just a week or so ago and the train line was blocked due to a landslide but the railways had put on a bus between affected stations, it took a bit longer than planned to get there but was easy enough. A lovely place right at the foot of the huge Mt Aso volcano and sitting in the middle of an old caldera. Lush green lands all around. Spent the time there walking in the mountains and admiring the vast amount steam coming from the volcano crater. Stayed at a really nice backpackers, only 5 of us there, lots of people had cancelled after the flooding, a shame. We had beautiful weather while we were there. The last place was the city of Kumamoto, only one night there just to see the famous castle, one of the three finest in Japan. Much of it is a reconstruction but it looks impressive, sitting as it does over the city in huge grounds and surrounded by huge walls. Kumamoto is known as Japan’s hottest city, it certainly lived up to that the day we were there! On to Kanazawa now.

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