Came back from a fantastic couple of weeks in Japan recently, and having using this sub to partially plan the trip I thought I'd try and give back with this report. This was our third trip to Japan so we wanted to try something new. Our itinerary was 3 nights in Fukuoka, 3 nights in the Aso area, 2 nights in Kagoshima, 3 nights in Yakushima, and 3 nights back in Tokyo.
Day 1 – Arriving in Fukuoka from Haneda
We flew into Haneda, immigration was very quick as we'd filled it in beforehand, and then we transferred to the domestic terminal via a free bus, very easy and efficient. We'd allowed ~3 hours to transfer, but probably didn't even need an hour – partially as we only brought hand luggage. So we spent those 2 hours extra trying not to fall asleep, and visiting the Pokémon vending machine for my first of many bits of merch (Haneda Pikachu plush keychain). We wanted to get the skymark Pokémon plane, but sadly it wasn't flying the route we wanted on the day.
We arrived in Fukuoka in the late afternoon, so the only things we did that day to try and keep ourselves awake were getting some Okonimayiki from a place we stumbled upon (average) and visit the Pokémon centre and a Ghibli store for gifts/souvenirs.
Day 2: Cat Island (Ainoshima)
Suffering with the jet lag, but nonetheless we headed to a cat island. Easy to get to, train to the coast, then a walk (or bus) to the port, and then a fairly regular ferry to the island. link
It was only a 10-15 minute ferry, but it was choppy, I think that combined with the jet lag made me feel very nauseous – but over quickly so not too bad.
The island itself was lovely, I haven't been to the more famous cat island, but I liked this one because it was still a proper small fishing town, with shops, restaurants, etc. There were a lot of cats, everywhere we looked near the sea there were some, but the further you walked into town or around the island the less you saw. Cats were very friendly (except occasionally with eachother), definitely a good day out for a cat lover.
We had lunch at a really cute restaurant (Restaurant Umi), one sausage pizza, one seafood curry – both delicious. It seemed to be ran by just one lovely old fella who did everything, super friendly, gives small trinkets as gifts too 🙂 a couple of friendly cats in here too, one immediately came to sit on my lap.
We returned back to Fukuoka after that, had some delicious and very cheap tonkotsu ramen from Ganso Akanoren Setchan Ramen, would recommend!
Day 3: Daizafu
Had a nice walk around this town, visited the temple of course, very pretty and not too busy except the insanely busy section where I think students were queueing to pray for good luck in their studies. Worth a half day trip, had various street food snacks, small hike up to an Inari shrine, enjoyed.
In the evening we had a very fancy teppenyaki dinner at Miyachiku (A5 Wagyu, shellfish, foie gras, etc), delicious and expensive – but worth is as a one off as the service, food, and atmosphere were impeccable.
Day 4: Travel to Kurokawa Onsen, via Hita.
We got the Yufuin No Mori train to Hita, which was a nice experience, very pretty train – not necessarily worth going out of your way for, but if it's on the route you want to go I'd recommend trying to get it.
We spent a couple hours in Hita, a nice town with a variety of stuff, such as Mamedamachi shopping street and attack on titan statues/art – I particularly enjoyed the Edo period buildings and the relative quiet of the town.
We then hired a car from Toyota and drove to Kurokawa Onsen – driving in Japan was incredibly easy for us because they drive on the correct side of the road and wherever we were driving was pretty quiet.
Stopped off along the way to buy some Umeshu wine from a cute shop, other than that just enjoyed the beautiful scenery rolling past.
We stayed at Yamamizuki Ryokan, and it was a wonderful experience. Beautiful location, excellent service, delicious food (although quite fishy, a warning if you're not a big fish fan), and a lovely calm interior. My only minor complaint would be that the onsen in our room was bloody boiling, in other private onsens we've been to we had the option to put cold water in, but that was not the case here – maybe that is more traditional, I don't know. It was still lovely, but my delicate western body couldn't handle it for more than 10 mins at a time.
Day 5: Kurokawa Onsen
Other than chilling at the Onsen, we went into the town via a hike up the mountain to a scenic viewing point – a direct walk was 30 mins, but we enjoyed the ~2 hour hike we took through the quiet and pretty forest.
The town itself is quaint and beautiful, and would be rammed if it were more accessible. As it was there was quite a few tourists, but nothing crazy, the only queue we endured was for a katsu curry place (but you just put your name down and can wander about). The wooden buildings, hilly landscape, and the river running through the town made it super picturesque – great to have a wander around and get some food and souvenirs. Plenty of osnens there too for people who like Onsen hopping.
Day 6: Takachiho Gorge & Mt Aso
On leaving Kurokawa onsen we took another easy and scenic drive to Takachiho Gorge – as gorgeous in person as the pictures, we didn't do the boat ride, but still enjoyed the area.
We also drove to Daikanbo lookout, which had a stunning view of the Aso Caldera, would recommend as a quick trip if you're in the area.
We stayed at Minami Aso Luna Observatory, which was a super cool place to stay! Old style (western-ish) decor, great food, and most importantly for this place an observatory attached to the hotel. In the evening you get a guided tour of the observatory, a look through the big telescope (some clouds when we were there so not much to see sadly 🙁 ), and then stargazing where you are told about various constellations, the surroundings, etc. Really unique experience that I would 100% recommend!
Day 7: Kamishikimi Shrine, and travel to Kagoshima via Aso.
Kamishikimi Shrine is one of my favourite shrines in Japan after this visit, a fair few tourists considering how far out of the way it is, but still a beautiful serene shrine which is great for pictures and a small hike.
We then drove to Aso (another stunning drive), dropped off the car, had a little wander about Aso (nice town, didn't see much, but enjoyable). We got the Aso Boy train to Kumamoto, who was great, better than Yufuin No Mori in my opinion – we had panoramic seats and really enjoyed the views. We then got the shinkansen to Kagoshima.
Side note: we were only in Kumamoto region for a day or so, but we very quickly fell in love with Kumamon and can see why he raises so much money haha – merch everywhere!
Day 8: Kagoshima
Our shortest trip of the holiday, so didn't explore loads, but did get to see Sengan-en which was enjoyable and very pretty, good views of Sakurajima. We also got the boat (cheap and regular) over to Sakurajima and had a little wander, again nice views, lots of cats, and enjoyed the free onsen foot bath.
Had a very nice Yakiniku dinner, would recommend – Yakiniku Chokkyu Kalbi Konan Branch.
Day 9: Boat to Yakushima
In the morning I went to a temporary Pokémon centre (got a few more packs), sent a letter to UK (less than a quid and arrived within a week!), then got the boat to Yakushima. We booked the toppy boat in advance via Yes Yakushima (along with our hire car), experience was smooth – picked up our tickets about 30 mins before, boarded boat airline style, and then had a very smooth trip over (this is notable for me as someone who gets seasick easily, didn't feel a thing).
We stayed at "The Hotel Yakushima", it was right next to the port so very easy to get to, had nice rooms, great food (breakfast and dinner), excellent service, and loads of facilities (nice shop inside for souvenirs, and could hire clothes, equipment, cars). Hotel was extremely quiet as it was off season, as was the whole island!
Day 10: Shiratani Unsuikyo Gorge hike
After the great breakfast buffet at the hotel, we drove up to the gorge – easy drive, barely saw another car. You pay a small entry fee, which gives you a map and some advice on routes. A small portion had been flooded, so we were told to reroute another way – I think the reroute enhanced the experience as we really went off the beaten track for a bit!
The hike itself was gorgeous, best I've ever done, and worth coming to for that alone. I believe the area was the inspiration for Princess Mononoke and you could definitely get that sense from the moss covered everything. I especially loved how you started off at the bottom and it was green and relatively bright, but the further you hiked up the trees became denser (hence darker) and snow started covering everything – the transition from green to white was a cool experience.
We hiked to Taikoiwa Rock, where you get an amazing view of the whole area, even when it's a bit cloudy. The hike itself was relatively tough due to steepness and the snow, but very manageable for us and we're not experienced hikers (no special gear etc needed – just waterproofs!). Bring some food as there's nowhere to get anything, but there are toilets along the way, which is handy if you're taking your time. We saw some people with guides, but we did it without and it was fine. Probably my favourite part of the whole trip, would definitely recommend!
Day 11: General drive around the whole island.
We wanted to do the big Jomon Sugi hike, but there was too much snow so the road was closed 🙁 that was the downside of doing this in the off season, but I still felt it worth coming for the other hikes and quietness of the island.
So instead we drove around the island and stopped off at various stops – Yakasugi Museum, Oko waterfall, the west side nature trail (loads of monkeys and deer just chilling in the road), Yahazudake Shrine, etc. So not what we wanted to do, but still a good day and a beautiful drive.
Day 12-15: Flight to Tokyo, stay in Asakusa, leave.
This report is very long, so I'll summarise this as Tokyo is very widely reported on already! We flew to Tokyo with JAL via Kagoshima, very smooth experience once again.
We stayed in Asakusa, which on one hand was nice because we got Senso-Ji to ourselves in the evening, but I felt it was far away from all the other things we wanted to do so wasn't ideally located (still easy on the metro nonetheless).
We visited Kawagoe, which was good for shopping, nice Edo style streets, had some good ramen – worth a half day if you've seen other more famous parts of Tokyo.
Also went to Kamakura and Enoshima, which is a great day trip. The big Buddha (Kotoku-in) was cool and worth seeing, but I enjoyed the second part of the day at Enoshima more. Lots to see in Enoshima, really pretty island, can see Fuji, nice food, lots of good places to wander about and see – I enjoyed the caves at the back of the island.
We also went to Teamlabs borderless, which I actually preferred to planets – thought there was more to do, e.g. making your drawing come to life and have some nice tea/ice cream inside. My wife preferred planets though I think, so just my opinion.
Other than that I hit up various Pokémon centres, got quite a bit of merch and a few packs (and some nice pulls) – easy to get as they limit it per customer so they last throughout the day. Did various other shopping too for too many souvenirs, but all obviously required! Ate well too, particularly at Yakitori Omino which was a unique experience where they just keep giving you various things cooked Yakitori style (best tofu I've ever had, and confirmed liver is not for me).
My other main highlight from the trip was collecting stamps, loved the variety everywhere we went, makes a great souvenir.
And I think that's it, probably too long a review for many of you to read, so TL:DR my favourite bits were Yakushima and Kurokawa onsen, but there wasn't a thing I didn't enjoy! Feel free to ask me anything about this 🙂
by egg8