10 days in Kyushu trip report – Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Unzen, Kumamoto, Mt. Aso & Beppu

Hi All! We’ve been back home a week now and had so much fun. Here’s the [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/xpkjui/10_days_in_kyushu_november_2022_honeymoon/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) to my original post before we left on our trip. An FYI the foreign currency exchange rate while I was overseas fluctuated from 148 until the last day we left which dropped to 138. So all in all an excellent time to go to Japan!

Because my husband and I are AT&T users and I really wanted to unplug from work during my honeymoon, we opted out of paying for $10/day with AT&T. Instead we rented a wifi hotspot from Japan-Wireless. 10 days of unlimited usage using their premium wifi + insurance = $53.35. I think insurance on the wifi rental cost me an extra 88 yen a day. So you could go definitely go cheaper than that. With two data heavy phones (pulling on directions on google maps + amazon music and all sort of stuff) we found the wifi hotspot to last close to 12 hours. They also included an extra battery pack in case you needed more juice. Couldn’t be happier with how well the hotspot worked. If we had gone with AT&T it’d have cost us $200. Perhaps we could have tapped into 5G if we did… oh well. The pickup at Haneda was really easy (they shared spaced with the Ninja Wifi people). The key is to order it at least 2 days before you fly so that they have it waiting for you. We kept our wifi from the time we landed until we entered security at Narita Terminal 1. There was a large post box literally outside of the security line. So super convenient.

Fri Nov 4/Sat Nov 5: Unfortunately the AMEX Centurion lounge was closed due to renovations, and all we got was a grab-n-go bag comprising of a cold sandwich, a cold can of illy coffee, and a chocolate brownie. We flew out on UA Flight 875 around noon, and arrived at Tokyo Haneda Airport a little after 3pm local time. LPT: If you can avoid flying United, avoid flying United. We flew Economy Plus on the way over and regular Economy flight back on an ANA flight back. The difference was night and day. Fly anything but United.

A data point for those who are curious about Covid checks at the airport. At the check in counter at SFO the airline staff immediately asked to see our MySOS app to ensure that everything was filled out before they’d provide us with our boarding passes and take our luggage. When we deplaned in Japan, the had a whole slew of staff at the airport asking us to show them the blue screen on our way to the passport control area. Once we did so, we were handed a blue card, and was whisked through a rather short line. They scanned our temperature, and looked at the phone. We were onto passport control within 5 minutes of entering the Covid screening area. There were another group of people who didn’t have their stuff all loaded up and you can see them downloading the app.

We loved how handy Haneda was and how nice it was that the trains covered all the terminals. With our one night stopover, we managed to find a coin locker at Haneda to leave our bags and travel light. Coin lockers are plentiful, although the larger ones tend to go first. The best tips is to look for one that’s not right next to a main subway entrance. There’s usually more around the corner. Between 3pm to 8am the next day, our luggage storage cost us 1,200 yen (it was 600 x 2 days – resets at midnight).

There were tons of currency exchange places open when we were there. But we didn’t use them. Local 7-11 ATMs gave us a better exchange rate. And whenever we were able to use credit cards I charged in yen. That gave me a better rate compared to paying in USD.

We spent our one in Ginza visiting the flagship Uniqlo store and just basking in the busyness that Tokyo is. We ate in a delicious hole in the wall curry place, and we hoofed it over to our hotel in Toyosu (which was a brisk 45 minute walk).

Sun Nov 6: I wake up way too early at the crack of dawn to realize that Toyosu closes on Sundays. Not just the market – the restaurants in the market too. Good news is that we had to return back to Haneda for our flight to Fukuoka at 10:30am. So I managed to trek back to the old Tsukiji market, ate an absolutely magical tamagoyaki on a stick (100 yen for the win), and ate some off the chain sashimi & nigiri. Two people = $61 USD (which cannot be had in the SF Bay Area).

We arrived in Fukuoka around 12:30pm. Fukuoka’s airport does it right! To get from the airport to Hakata station (where you could catch the Shinkansen and a major transit hub) takes 6 minutes! We spent our day visiting Canal City (giant multi-level shopping center with an awesome ramen stadium), Kushida Shrine and saw the Yatai (outdoor eating stalls in action).

Mon Nov 7: Our one full day in Fukuoka. We spent it visiting Ohori park (they have an awesome Japanese garden but alas it’s closed on Mondays), explored the Tenjin shopping district, visited a Don Quijote, hit a bunch of baseballs at a batting cage at a Round 1, and bought a few lovely bottles of Dassai at their Fukuoka location located inside an Iwataya Dept store.

Tues Nov 8: We picked up a rental car and we were on our way. Unfortunately the Kyushu Express Pass is no longer available (so no unlimited toll driving for us). After looking at the itinerary, we opted to drive on the non-toll roads rather than take the expressway. It was definitely more scenic and there were so many cool shops and sights we got to see as a result of this. We spent the morning at Daizaifu and observed at the shrine. We arrived just as a bunch of elementary school kids were visiting, and it was the cutest thing ever watching them pay their respects. Purchased a fortune for 100 yen. It was good! Bought a traffic safety talisman and we trekked on.

My original plan was to visit Imari and Arita to see some pottery. Unfortunately I didn’t research this thoroughly enough that the vendors who line their wares outside their shops close on Mondays and Tuesdays. So while I was able to see some stuff, I didn’t get the shopping experience I hoped. I did visit an awesome steak house called [Steak House Restaurant Sho](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1023545-d1696934-Reviews-Steak_House_Restaurant_Sho-Imari_Saga_Prefecture_Kyushu.html) in Imari. Easily the best A5 wagyu I’ve ever had in my life. They gave us a butter knife to cut it. For two people, each of us had a 150g (a little over 5 oz) tenderloin with salad and soup came to $74 USD.

We ended up in Nakasaki as the sun was going down. So we proceeded to one of the highlights of our trip. Inasasama (Mt. Inasa) has awesome night views and a ropeway. It’s supposedly got one of the best night views in the world. We managed to see it on a clear night and it was spectacular. They have a restaurant at the observatory but I heard the reviews were meh so we saved our appetite for Nagasaki Chinatown.

By the time we got to our hotel and parked our car (Dormy Inn Nagasaki), it was pretty late in the evening. The place where we had planned to get our kakuni bun had just closed. So we managed to eat at [Yokesaibo Sushitei](https://m.facebook.com/suishitei/). They had champon, they had shrimp toast, and our favorite was the sara udon. We loved Dormy Inn. If you’re into onsen bathing absolutely go check it out.

Weds Nov 9: We woke up earlier than I’d have liked only to find out Chinatown does not wake up early in Nagasaki. I did not want to leave town without eating that yummy Kakuni Bun, so off to [Dejima](https://nagasakidejima.jp/) we went. Not only is it a fantastic place to go if you’re the cosplay kimono kind (we weren’t but we saw people who did), it’s open early (as early as 8am!) and we learned so much about how foreigners interacted with Japan and how Japan kept Christianity at bay by limiting access to foreigners. More on that a little later. Super cool place to stop for an hour or two.

We returned to fetch our rental car (did I mention Dejima is like a less than 10 minute walk from Chinatown?) and I finally ate the Kakuni bun. It was yummy! They sell a regular and a fatty version. If I did it again, I’d go for the regular version. The fatty one got to be too much by bite 4-5.

Our next stop was the site of the atomic bomb detonation. It was somber. It was a beautiful monument. We opted to not go into the museum, but there is one there if you really want to go into the finer details.

We left Nagasaki and headed in the direction of the Shimabara peninsula in our rental car. Our first stop was Obama Onzen (where yes, you can buy a foot towel with President Obama’s face on it for 600 Yen). We got to try a local cuisine where you steam your food using the steam from the hot springs at [Mushigamaya](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1022852-d8637726-Reviews-Mushigamaya-Unzen_Nagasaki_Prefecture_Kyushu.html). Definitely one of the highlights of our trip – we pigged out on veggies and seafood. Once you pick out what you want to eat, you take it to the steamer and their staff hand you a timer. When it dings you go and collect your food. Obama Onzen is also famous for its 105 meter long foot bath ([Hot Foot 105](https://www.discover-nagasaki.com/en/sightseeing/50084)). I loved that there are stretches of this with grooves so that you can get some acupressure going there, and at the end there’s about a few meters for you to let your dogs get a soak too.

After making our feet all warm and happy, we trekked to our final destination for the day which was Unzen Onsen. Unzen Onsen is next to Mt. Unzen. In addition to the beautiful national park, there are a series of small “hells” where hot spring water and Sulphur gasses shoot out. Super cool to see. They’re located really close to each other and you can see it all walking in under an hour. We stayed at [Kyushu Hotel Unzen](https://kyushuhtl.co.jp/en) and it was definitely the splurge night of our honeymoon. But it included a beautiful 9 course dinner and the breakfast the next day was fabulous. And the in room hot springs bath was delightful. We honestly had never had this kind of white glove service in our entire lives.

Thurs Nov 10: We departed Unzen headed towards Shimabara port to take the ferry to Kumamoto. But before we did that, we got a chance to see Shimabara Castle. It’s undergoing renovations right now so it’s wrapped up pretty tight, but it was super cool learning about Christianity making it to Japan and how there was a rebellion to quash it. I thought it was super cool.

The Shimabara ferry departs pretty regularly throughout the course of the day. Because we were traveling with a car, we had to get there at least 30 minutes before departure to get a place in queue. I highly recommend getting a reservation if you were thinking of travelling on a weekend, or if you’re travelling during a holiday. If you’re traveling on a car, the driver gets to ride the ferry for free. With the two of us + car it came to 3,940 yen.

After being in a rural onsen town it was a bit of a transition to come back to a cosmopolitan town. And its mascot Kumamon was EVERYWHERE. We spent a few hours visiting Kumamoto castle and checking out the surrounding castle town. We tried Kumamoto style ramen (a little bit too intense garlic flavor for us), and spent our evening checking out their shopping arcade area.

Fri Nov 11: By far the most car intense travel day of our trip. We headed out of Kumamoto headed east into the mountains. Our first stop was [Shirakawa Springs](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1121539-d1385080-Reviews-Shirakawa_Springs-Minamiaso_mura_Aso_gun_Kumamoto_Prefecture_Kyushu.html), where the water really did taste like RO water from my tap back home! They have a 200 yen admissions to access the spring, and a shop sold empty water bottles in case you forgot to bring a water bottle with you. The whole place was super cute, and it was one of the cutest rest stops we’ve seen on the trip. FYI – they do have ladles so it’s not like people are literally dunking their water bottles into the water themselves… so super clean.

After we got our water all filled up, we continued on our way to our next stop [Takachiho Gorge](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e8052.html). Was it kind of middle of nowhere? Absolutely. Was it worthwhile? Totally. Due to some damage from mudslides or heavy rainstorm unfortunately the path at the bottom of the gorge got washed out. So most of the sightseeing is going to be from up top unless you manage to hire a rowboat. The wait for one the morning we went was over 90 minutes, so we gave up doing that. But it was super scenic and really pretty.

We were getting pretty hungry by the time we were done at the gorge, so we needed to grab something to eat to keep going. Our next stop was [Takamori Dengaku Hozonkai](https://dengaku-hozonkai.com/). This was one of the coolest eating experiences I’ve ever done. Apparently this style of cooking has been around for 700-800 years. The place we ate at is 3rd generation. The owner who served us spoke excellent English (apparently he spent a few years studying in Australia). We ordered a set made up of chicken, fish, various vegetables, fried tofu, and an amazing cup of soup. When he heard we were on our honeymoon he gifted us a bottle of sake to go (zero tolerance driving in Japan). We were so touched! My favorite was the yamame fish of the lot.

A local shrine that’s literally across the street from the restaurant we just ate at – [Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1121537-d9707472-Reviews-Kamishikimi_Kumanoimasu_Shrine-Takamori_machi_Aso_gun_Kumamoto_Prefecture_Kyushu.html). You want instagram worthy pictures? You’ll find it here. It’s about almost 300 steps from bottom to top. If you need a toilet, there’s one 1/3 from the bottom on the left hand side. And there’s a large parking lot across the street from the shrine if you need to find a place to park. If I didn’t have a car there’s no way I would have stopped here – it’s pretty nondescript until you turn in.

By this time it was around 3pm in the afternoon and the day light is going fast. Our next stop was [Daikanbo Viewpoint](https://explore-kumamoto.com/daikanbo-viewpoint/). You’re looking at the world’s largest caldera. We did see a hand glider jump off. That was kind of cool.

We ended our day staying in large scale ryokan in Uchinomaki Onsen. It’s been fascinating traveling in Japan on this trip because the lack of foreign tourists. We got a chance to see a lot of tour buses full of Japanese people. I doubt I’ll have a trip quite like this again. The ryokan had an all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner deal with sashimi and teppanyaki (you cook it yourself) for 6,600 yen a person. I tried the in house brewed shochu. It was yummy.

Sat Nov 12: We left Mt. Aso to visit one of Japan’s most attractive hot spring towns, [Kurokawa Onsen](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4575.html). If you are into going onsen hopping, this is the place to go! We purchased an onsen hopping pass for 1,300 yen at the visitor center and visited 3 different onsen. If you go to the visitor center they’ll give you an English map listing out all of the onsens in the area and what composition the water is. I’ve been to many onsen towns in Japan. This one was spectacular.

After being soaked and feeling very clean, we continued on a very brief stop to Yufuin. I feel awful at how little time we’ve spent there. But we managed to go see the Yufuin Floral Village (which is literally a little square within a tourist block based on story book characters). If we had more time we’d totally go check out the rest of Yufuin. It looks absolutely lovely.

We ended our evening at our ryokan in Beppu, eating enough food to feed 6 people (but there were only 2 of us).

Sun Nov 13: We started our morning after a hearty ryokan breakfast sightseeing the 7 “hells” of Beppu. You can choose to pay 400 yen per hell, or you can buy the entire set of all 7 hells for 2,000 yen. We opted to do all 7. LPT: If you’re doing this and you have a car, park in the parking lot that is near Kamado Jigoku and Oniyama Jigoku. Yes, it’s a little bit of a trek to hike back to Umi Jigoku (where they recommend you start touring), but it was so much nicer to just be able to jump back into the car after seeing the 5, and then driving 3 km away to the last 2.

We spent the remainder of the day driving leisurely back from Beppu back to Fukuoka and returned our rental car. It was a pity we were unable to obtain sumo wrestling tickets. We had an amazing last night meal at [Chikae Fukuoka](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g14127491-d1238126-Reviews-Chikae_Fukuoka-Chuo_Fukuoka_Fukuoka_Prefecture_Kyushu.html). We ordered 2 omakase sets and it was about 11 courses of deliciousness.

Mon Nov 14: Our last day in Japan. We flew back from Fukuoka to Haneda with a 5 hour layover to Narita… so we trekked to Asakusa to visit Senjo-ji, eat some famous melon pan, and visited Kappabashi Dougu Street (for all of your restaurant/kitchen stocking needs).

For those who need to fly out of Narita Airport – Terminal 1 has close to no real food. Our flight departed at 5pm, and at the entire terminal there were plenty of duty free shops, but only 3 restaurants. Do you fancy McDonald’s? An Ippudo? Yeah. They have that. With a line long enough to make you revisit your life choices. Do yourself a favor and eat before you get to the airport. The days of a proper food court is unfortunately over.

An absolutely lovely vacation and I look forward to my next trip to Japan.