Welcome to another part of my big journey in November. Having just finished the Shimanami Kaido, the next two days were full of physical pain but there was no rest for me because I had a couple more cities to visit in November, the first of which being Matsuyama where I had arrived after my cycle.
As always, the other parts can be found below.
[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/178mxdx/one_year_in_japan_the_open_air_sauna_june_july/) | [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/17kfjpl/one_year_in_japan_escaping_the_heat_august_2022/) | [Part 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/17yfls8/one_year_in_japan_sapporo_my_beloved_august_22/) | [Part 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1b1mkrh/one_year_in_japan_big_news_first_mistakes/) | [Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1b88w18/one_year_in_japan_a_most_enjoyable_kyoto_october/) | [Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1bi2lvb/one_year_in_japan_kanazawa_and_nakasendo_november/) | [Part 7](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1bsgtgx/one_year_in_japan_onomichi_and_the_famous/)
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**Matsuyama**
When I woke up, I feared for the days ahead, to be quite honest. My hands hurt from holding onto the bike’s handlebars the day prior. My thighs were sore and most of all – my butt cheeks were screaming. Nevertheless, I wanted to make the most out of what little time I had in Matsuyama, so I immediately went to the castle. Great choice considering you can take a [lift up](https://i.imgur.com/cVIjWFQ.jpeg)…to about halfway there and then have to walk the rest, which was fun with my aching legs! But it was worth it because Matsuyama Castle is one of my favourite ones in Japan. Since it’s up on a hill, you can enjoy a[ fantastic view of the city and surroundings](https://imgur.com/a/RIZTEar), especially on a sunny and clear day. Inside the castle itself, there is a lot of historical stuff exhibited, [katana](https://imgur.com/a/0SPtRJK) among many other things. I enjoyed the view for a bit and then made the painful way down the many stairs again.
I was very beat that day and had planned to take the ferry to Hiroshima, so my time was limited. Therefore I wanted to at least check out [Dogo Onsen](https://i.imgur.com/PaO7JLg.jpeg) but unfortunately, at that time, there was some construction being done on both buildings so I could only get this one shot. A bit sad about that but oh well. And that was it for Matsuyama already as I made my way to the port and decided to get a ticket for the ferry that takes 3 hours from Matsuyama to Hiroshima. There’s also a high-speed option but it was obviously more expensive AND I kind of just wanted to have a longer break, so those 3 hours were a great way to do it.
At the time, there were barely any people on the ferry so I had the deck to myself almost all the time. Honestly, this was a very much needed break. 3 hours may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things but the week leading up to this was somewhat hard. A whole day of hiking through the mountains, then hiking around the hillside of Onomichi, then the 75k cycle – these 3 hours of just doing nothing but enjoying the sea were my [reward](https://imgur.com/a/Tbx0BIT)! These more quiet moments were always stand-outs for me and I always look back fondly on these… it was a very stress-free time in my life.
I don’t really have much more to say here. There was a short stop at [Kure](https://imgur.com/a/3hOwtpr) before we eventually arrived in Hiroshima, where I got onto a tram and ended at my hotel. Dinner on that day was CoCo Ichi, a hot lemon tea from the konbini and some crisps – there was no energy left for me to look for anything that night haha. And with that, the day was done.
**Hiroshima**
Although I’ve been to Japan a bunch of times before, I had still never visited Hiroshima at that point so I was excited to finally see the city. Maybe it’s just me imagining things but the city just had a very relaxing atmosphere around it. It’s a fairly beautiful one as well, especially in Autumn with the different [colours](https://i.imgur.com/JVQFLPl.jpeg) of the trees showing. But of course, I had to make the trip to [the dome and peace memorial park](https://imgur.com/a/vu5LHWk). Seeing it on pictures and videos is one thing but being there in person is so much different. Actually unbelievable that a nuclear bomb went off here decades ago and you can just walk around here now. The [memorial park is very beautiful](https://imgur.com/a/DUujCYR). On my way to the museum, a group of school children came up to me with their teacher, asking me questions in English and then gave me [this](https://i.imgur.com/j2Prwkc.jpeg) as a gift. Neat! Just a few minutes later, two university students also came up to me and asked me – in English – about environmental change. Perhaps I was just looking very approachable! Totally couldn’t have been because I was the only foreigner around in that moment!
I of course have no pictures from inside the museum but I very much recommended anyone to visit it. The exhibition is incredible and has some fairly jarring pieces in there. Once I was done with the museum, I walked around[ Hiroshima castle, there was some flower festival going around which had a miniature of the castle keep in it too](https://imgur.com/a/x7ehldz). Right next to the castle is[ Shukkeien Garden](https://imgur.com/a/YbsYvCT), which was my last stop for the day. I’ve never heard of it and thought it would be smaller than it actually was! Pretty cute and just like every garden in Japan during Autumn, the colours are great and it offers a little bit of calm in a big city (although Hiroshima is pretty chill in general). Now, one thing I always wanted to try was Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki and fortunately, there was a [place](https://maps.app.goo.gl/NXz4ibLyfakDahBn8) near my hotel and my god was it good! Having only had Osaka style okonomiyaki before and not finding it _all that great_, I really enjoyed [this](https://i.imgur.com/0ZY3H3k.jpg) much more. The noodles on the bottom really add another layer both literally and figuratively to the dish. With that meal done, the day had come to an end too and I went back to my hotel and went to sleep.
The next day, my plan was to go to Miyajima…but for the first time since arriving in Japan, I had stomach problems. Now, I won’t blame the okonomiyaki because months later I’d have it again at the same place with my mother and I didn’t have problems at all. Rather, I will choose to blame the abhorrent Boss Hot Chocolate I got from a konbini the evening before. I was pretty bummed because I was looking forward to Miyajima as it would have been my first visit but I chose to just stay in my hotel and sit it out. I’ve made the mistake of pushing through stomach problems on my very first trip to Japan in 2017 and that led to a whole lot of unpleasant consequences and I learned my lesson from that. I spent the day planning out what I’d do the next few days at the other destinations…
**Fukuoka**
…one of which was Fukuoka! This was a city I was highly anticipating to visit because every other influencer raves about it as their favourite city in all of Japan, so my expectations were high. Not just because I wanted to find out what exactly makes this city so great in general but because at this point in time, tonkotsu ramen had been my least favourite type of ramen and I was hoping the place of its origin would change my opinion. Small spoiler: it absolutely did! I arrived in the city at around 1pm, left my suitcase at the hotel and went out to check some of my pre-marked spots on Google maps out.
The first place I checked out was [Tochoji Temple](https://imgur.com/a/HNPTXPh). The temple itself was alright but what made me want to check it out were the reviews mentioning an exhibition “corridor” that depicted hell. I don’t want to go into too much detail because it’s best experienced by yourself so if you do visit Fukuoka, head in there – it’s definitely an interesting experience.
Right next to Tochoji is [Shofokuji](https://i.imgur.com/rtgZeEf.jpeg), which isn’t all that impressive but since it’s closeby, might as well go there and see it to check that off the imaginary list. Once I had done that, I properly checked into my hotel and took a break because once again, I felt ill for some reason. Must have been some “aftershocks” of that Boss Hot Chocolate that already ruined my Miyajima plans! Either way, I took some meds, planned my next days but felt better in the evening so I risked it for the biscuit and headed out in search of some hakata/tonkotsu ramen.
I decided to go to [this place](https://maps.app.goo.gl/yctkFVDy9x1tcfj38), which wasn’t exactly the highest rated place but if I had learned anything in those months of living in Japan, it’s that places rated 4.5 or higher were usually rated that highly because they are visited by tourists who may skew the ratings by dishing out 5s even if a place isn’t _really_ that great. My favourite spots always hovered around ~4.0 but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t spots that were pretty bad at that rating so your mileage may vary. That being said – I enjoyed the ramen I ordered here. I’m not a fan of tonkotsu ramen that reeks of pork bones and this place barely had that smell. Some people may say that for a proper tonkotsu, it has to smell like that or whatever but it was always the reason I didn’t like that type of ramen. This one was nice and “clean” and I finished the entire bowl. The price was incredible too, but recent reviews say there’s been a hike in pricing. I was stuffed after that, headed back to the hotel and went to sleep.
The plan for the next day was to take the train to Dazaifu and explore around. It is most famous for the Tenmangu Shrine, which is one of the most important tenmangu shrines in Japan and regularly draws a lot of people to it. The shrine area is pretty big and lined with lots of shops and a [pond](https://imgur.com/a/rjY9qws) leading up to the “[main attraction](https://imgur.com/a/0ZWW1He)”. It was fairly busy that day so I couldn’t get a clean shot of the shrine itself. I also wanted to see Komyozenji Temple but unfortunately, it was closed for renovations and apparently still is. No problem however as there were some more places to check out that weren’t too far away from the station either. I walked over to [Kanzeonji Temple](https://imgur.com/a/sZc1jwF), which was completely empty. In general, I felt like people really only went to Dazaifu for the tenmangu shrine and didn’t care much for everything else – good for me!
Pretty much right next to Kanzeonji Temple lie the government ruins. Some of the locals struck up conversation with me! I really enjoyed taking a [break here](https://imgur.com/a/dWiROay) as the surroudnings were beautiful, the people were nice and it was just really a relaxing time. I must have stayed there for about an hour before making my way back to the station and returning to Fukuoka proper. But the day wasn’t done yet. Once I got back to Fukuoka, I visited the Gokoku Shrine with its giant [torii gate](https://i.imgur.com/Jl5HnwX.jpeg) and golden exterior. [The sky made for some great pictures](https://imgur.com/a/wIFMoTy). From there, I once again just walked my way towards Fukuoka Tower, another famous lookout tower in Japan. It seems like a lot of major cities HAVE TO HAVE ONE in Japan but I was not complaining. You get a really nice [view of the city](https://imgur.com/a/XgMSeyf) from up there, especially when the sun has set and the city lights turn on. The tower itself also looks really [cool since it’s lit up.](https://imgur.com/a/FNoq9eL)
That was my final stop for the day. Now, one thing people always mention about Fukuoka are the yatai food stalls along the river side but to be quite honest, for me personally, I don’t see the big appeal. Most of them were packed to the brim and I felt like it was fairly difficult to find one you could just sit down at. I don’t doubt that you can have a nice experience once you actually do sit down and get to talk to some locals but I didn’t get to enjoy that part myself, unfortunately. At least the river[ was already decorated with Christmas lights](https://files.catbox.moe/2xpj0a.jpg) and such – Japan really loves switching on the Christmas vibe as soon as November begins.
On my last full day in Fukuoka, I took a trip to Nanzoin Temple. I’ve seen it in a video before and wanted to check it out because it looked interesting and boy was I not disappointed. The [way to the buddha itself was really quaint with torii, statues and once again beautiful surrounding mountains](https://imgur.com/a/vKropiP). The buddha is absolutely [massive](https://imgur.com/a/q4yDzHK), it’s hard to convey on a picture. Massive [feet](https://files.catbox.moe/77iv5o.jpg), as well. There’s some ice cream being sold there as well, which is nothing special but hey, I felt like I should get it just because. Checking through my photos and my timeline on Google Maps makes me realise I didn’t really do much else that day besides going back to Fukuoka and having some really good Udon at this place.
And that anecdote about my timeline is kind of representative of my time in Fukuoka to be honest. I went to all the sights I wanted to go to and enjoyed them but most of those were outside the city itself and ultimately, I found myself to be a bit disappointed with it. As I mentioned before, perhaps it’s just because I am not a nightlife kind of person and the yatai weren’t exactly “inviting” so I might have missed out on what people usually mean when they mention Fukuoka is their favourite city. If anyone reading this is one of the people who DOES love Fukuoka, please go ahead and tell me what I should have done because I felt a bit underwhelmed in the end.
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The thread is going to be kept a bit shorter this time because I didn’t want to start the final leg of my November trip in here, it would have been to long in the end. To summarise this portion though: despite only being there for half a day, I really liked the vibe of Matsuyama and the ferry ride to Hiroshima is one of my favourite memories, especially because I felt like I really accomplished one of my long standing goals of cycling the Shimanami Kaido the day before and that ferry felt like a bit of a reward afterwards. Hiroshima is fantastic and I have visited it again in Spring 2023 with my mother to finally see Miyajima and also loved it (hopefully I can get that March/April report out before May ends lol). My last point about Fukuoka might make it seem like I didn’t like it at all, which is wrong – I liked it and especially the parts in the prefecture, outside the city – it was just a bit underwhelming because I have set it up better in my mind from all the hype it was receiving online.
The next report will feature the last few cities of my November journey – Nagasaki (one of my top 3 favourite cities in all of Japan!), Kumamoto and Kagoshima. I hope you enjoyed reading this one and see you in the next. As always, if you have any questions or would like to talk about your time in any of the cities, feel free to comment!
by Dumbidiot1323
