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zach
woooooooooow!: outdoor onsen hotspring
jigoku: natural hotspring...not the type you bathe in, the type you watch boil and steam
minshuku: japanese bed and breakfast place
caldera: not Japanese vocab, but just general vocab, it's bowl shaped volcanic formation, caused after an eruption empties out the
magma chamber and the mountain falls in on itself...basically it's what's left when a volcano collapses on itself (I wikipedia-ed it).
basashi: horse meat, often served raw like sashimi, a specialty of Kyushu, especially Kumamoto-ken
iesu: the Japanese name for Jesus
unagi: grilled freshwater eel
For Spring break, Christine, Zach, Josh, Lara and I decided to hop on a ferry from Osaka to Oita-ken and take a little road trip around Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's 4 large main islands. It was a busy trip and a first time experience for me driving in Japan...heheheh...and little scary. The roads in the countryside of Japan are so narrow and dark at night. Also, Kyushu is a volcanic island, and thus very mountainous...making for windy, steep mountain roads, with no lights. PLUS everything about driving in Japan is opposite from America...you
drive on the left, not the right side of the road. As if that didn't increase the likelihood of me hitting something enough, the drivers side and passenger side are also opposite from America, so the driver sits on the right hand side of the car. To add to the disorientation, the turn signal and the windshield wiper are also switched, so every time I tried to signal for a turn, the windshield wipers started going...sigh...how embarrassing. And the shifting thingy (you know to shift it from park, drive, neutral and reverse) is also controlled by the left hand. I mean come on! For a country that does so little to accommodate lefties, this is really sending mixed signals. At least the gas and breaks were the same- haha, now that could have been disasterous.
But all in all, it was a good experience getting to drive around Kyushu- I learned a lot. For example, how expensive toll roads in Japan are. From one exit to the next, I think it was around 750 yen! And also, riding on the expressways is kind of weird because they are all up in the air. Since Japan is pretty dense with
at Osaka harbor
in the ferry building the signal lights in the cities and on the highways, the only way for the expressways to truly live up to their name is to raise them up above the regular traffic. Sooooooo, driving on these roads means that you get a speedy passage as well as a view of the slowpokes below. But it's definitely a weird feeling.
Wednesday, March 26: The Night Ferry Best way to travel long distances I say. The ferry has a really relaxed atmosphere and is much easier to sleep on than a night bus. It's kind of cool that Japan offers so many ways to travel outside of driving your own car. For instance, long distance trips that you want to get to same day can be made by plane, or by the even more convenient and somewhat evenly priced Shinkansen bullet train. If you're not in any hurry there's always local trains (which are cheaper, but take much longer), or even night buses and night trains, where you often leave late at night and arrive early in the morning so you get a full day of sightseeing. Plus they are often very reasonably priced (well, the buses, not the trains).
our boat
Lara, Zach and Christine in front of our ferry We decided on a night ferry- slower than a bus, but gets you there at the same time roughly, not to mention being able to fully recline for a good night of sleep. The atmosphere is way more relaxed and you don't feel confined like you do in the night bus- plenty of space to walk around on deck and pretty open sleeping areas.
Thursday, March 27: Oita Ken The ferry arrived in Beppu in Oita Ken, Kyushu early in the morning...before the car dealership was open, so we were able to catch some breakfast before heading out. Beppu is pretty much an onsen and jogoku mecca of Kyushu...the place literally seams from vents and ruptures in the ground, sending up sulphur scented plumes into the sky. The whole town is literally steaming. I guess Oitaken is also known for the Kabosu, a green, lime-like fruit.
After a few small technical difficulties with the car (christened Aquarius) and with the GPS system (with a female voice, which we named Momoko), we were on our way to Yufuin, a small onsen town nearby to go check out the mountain there, and drove up Yufuin dake, the mountain nearby.
our sleeping quarters
basically you sleep in a big room with raised platforms with a lot of other people on your own futon From there, we made our way to Usuki, a town outside of Beppu, where there are ravines with stone buddhas carved into the walls.
The rainy weather dampened things a bit, but we finally made it to our rest point for the day, at the foot of Aso-san, the largest volcano in Japan and it is still partially active. We stayed at a minshuku, a Japanese style house hotel, where you stay in one room of the larger house...kind of like a B&B I guess. It was run by this lady who spoke strange Japanese and we thought that maybe she was Korean maybe. But at any rate the place was warm and clean and put us in a good place to start the next day!
Friday, March 28: Kumamoto Ken On our way to our next destination, Kumamoto-ken, we drove up the mountain, to check out the massive caldera. First we stopped at a nearby glade called Kusansenri (literally meaning a thousand blades of grass or something like that). I imagine it's way more green and picturesque in the height of spring...but still it was impressive despite it's general lack of color! It's just that you
feel so high up, but it's still such a wide open space. It was definitely cold and windswept, but it had a nice feel to it.
We also went up to peer into the caldera itself at the top of Aso-san. It was windy and steamy and packed with tourists, so we didn't stick around too long. But from a distance it is a massive mountain and definitely commands attention.
Finally we made it into Kumamoto city, our destination for the night, at another minshuku run by a sweet man, with really nice clean rooms and two cute dogs. We visited Kumamoto castle and Suizenji park before the sun set. Kumamoto castle is a bit different in that is is black on some of the outside while most castles are white. Some of the sakura were in bloom there so we took it easy making our way through the castle grounds definitely took our share of pics.
Kumamoto is known for horse meat cuisine, so for dinner the boys and Lara decided to try it out and ordered a horse kabob...they said it was good, but I think I'll still continue on in my non-horse consuming ways....
christine and lara
in the dining area Saturday, March 29: Nagasaki Ken
Nagasaki- often remembered as the site of the second atomic bombing in WWII, it is now a pretty, flourishing city, clearly shaped by foreign influences...among other features, they host a China town and also an area known as the Dutch slopes and some Catholic churches, reminders of Nagasaki's role as a key port city in trade with Holland. This port was even our entrance into Nagasaki, arriving by car ferry.
The city itself sits on the harbor and it's architecture reflects it's European influences. It was really a pleasant place to stroll around and spend the day, sampling the local specialty castella (kind of like a pound cake) in various flavors like chocolate, vanilla and cheese, as well as champon, a chinese style noodle dish. After visiting the Dutch Slopes, Oura Church and Glover Garden, we headed for a brief stop in Chinatown and then headed to Heiwa Kouen, the memorial park dedicated to the victims of the atomic bomb and a symbol of the hope for world peace. Nearby was another Catholic church that we visited Urakami Cathedral, built by persecuted Christians after Japan repealed it's ban on Christianity.
From there,
wiiiiiiindy
we spent some time out on the deck to see the view- it was soooooooo cold and windy! we headed to our home for the night, planning to stop at an onsen on the way...the place was sooooo hard to find, extremely secluded and down a windy mountain road with no lighting. We though since it was so far off the beaten path, it would be a nice relaxing spot to clean up and have a nice soak in the outdoor rotemburo onsen. BUT there were TONS of people...it was definitely a very beautiful onsen though. Right alongside it was a river, so while you sat soaking in the hot water, you could here the river splashing along nearby.
Sunday, March 30: Fukuoka Ken
Our last day! Unfortunately it was grey and rainy 😞...On our way to Kita-Kyushu, our point of departure, we stopped at Yanagawa, a small town known for it's beautiful canal and for it's delicious unagi...but because of the rain, a boat ride down the canal seemed silly and it was too early for lunch....sooooo we continued on to Fukuoka where we went to a HUGE shopping mall called Canal City for some shopping and to try and hunt down the famous Hakata(Fukuoka) ramen, it's broth flavored with pork bones...but it was so
the rainbow bridge
It was really cool- at about 8pm, they light up the bridge with rainbow lights crowded we settled for an equally yummy garlic restaurant instead before heading home!
It was really a great trip, but definitely leaves me wanting more! I would love to visit Kyushu again when the flowers and fields are in full bloom! Anyone wanna come?
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Alan Fung-Schwarz
non-member comment
wow
How wonderfully intimate! :)