Kyūshū: The island of hot springs and bunnies
Konnichiwa and welcome back to another update from Japan! As university life is currently on break, transitioning from the first to the second quarter, me and a few friends decided to spend the week free of lectures with a road trip through Japan’s third-largest prefecture Kyūshū. I think this is a great opportunity to show off some other parts of Japan besides Tokyo, so here we go!
Day 1: Nokonoshima
Our first destination was a small island off the coast of Fukuoka: Nokonoshima. While a small population of people lives on the island, with even primary and high schools existing there, it appears to be mostly a weekend and vacation spot for local residents. The most popular area of the island is no doubt the Nokonoshima Island Park, located at the top of the island and featuring a variety of fun activities.
You can play the island’s very own sport Nokonoko ball, a simplified version of golf, go to the various petting areas including goats, bunnies and even small horses, or even visit a samurai museum combined with a pottery workshop. If you want to relax and have some food, you can check out some of the local cafes and restaurants, some of which feature the island’s signature (and deservedly so) view of their flower fields.
It’s truly a beautiful spot and if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend to check it out!
Day 2: Beppu
The next stop was one my buddy was very eager to get to, because he is a great appreciator of the Japanese onsen, was the city of Beppu. Being one of the most geothermally active areas in Japan, it is filled with many natural hot springs of various sizes and (surprisingly) colors, since each areas unique ground mineral compositions give the water a unique shading.
If you can bear the constant smell of sulfur (yuck), it is a wonderful way to learn about the Japanese hot spring culture and to see, smell and feel it on your own. Not being a fan of saunas personally I was sceptical initially, but the magical and relaxing feeling of bathing in water heated up by the planet itself is something truly special.
Day 3: Aso Kujū National Park
Have you ever climbed up an active volcano? No? Well, neither had I before that day but despite some nasty sunburns I am happy to declare that I managed to do it, somehow! Starting from the entrance of the Aso Kujū National Park, it starts off as a long hike over a deserted rocky and ashy (is that a word?) landscape, filled with debris from previous volcanic erruptions.
Since the volcanoes still blow a lot of nasty and sometimes harmful gasses into the air, you have to be careful and check the warnings beforehand to make sure it’s safe to traverse, which it luckily was on the day. After walking to the foot of the mountain, it was time to climb up some rocks, literally. I have hiked before but going almost vertical with no additional equipment was a first for me.
But it was well worth it and the view from the top was spectacular, seeing the crater landscape from above truly made me realize how much raw power our planet is containing. Still, I got to sit on the top and eat my butter croissant, together with a lot of water (did I mention it was like 35 degrees?!), so I’d call that a win in my book.
Day 4: Kumamoto
On our final day, we drove to the city of Kumamoto in the bay of Kyūshū, opposite of Nagasaki. This was quite the packed day, so I’ll have to skip out on the details a bit. In the morning, we went to the unluckiest castle in Japan: Kumamoto castle. Why unlucky? Because it can’t seem to catch a break from being demolished by earthquakes and enemy attacks. After a few hundred years, they decided to just rebuild it entirely using metal beams and concrete to stabilize it, but the outer walls are still being painstakingly restored stone by stone for history authenticity (good luck!).
After visiting some local markets and shrines, we spent the afternoon at Suizenji Ezuko Park, a beautiful garden built around a series of lakes connected by rivers. The best part was that you could take a little pedal boat out onto the lake, which was more exhausting than we anticipated, but also a lot of fun! Of course we chose the Snoopy boat, because, well just look at the little guy! As we were about to leave, a local news team actually showed up (this happens more than you would think) so we quickly left our boats as to not accidentally bump into an unlucky crew member.
And with that, we headed back home to Tokyo, well refreshed and eager to start our second quarter at TokyoTech! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I could give you some ideas for your next trip to Japan. Cheers!