I visited western Kyushu with my twin sister this March and wanted to share my experience with Saga. I just read that it is voted one of the least popular prefectures in Japan, but we had a lot of fun. I’ll include a brief description about our other activities in Kyushu. This was our second trip to Japan. I speak and read a bit of Japanese but my sister only knows a few basic phrases.
Our basic itinerary was:
Seoul (2 nights) > flew to Fukuoka (3 nights, day trip to Dazaifu) > train to Ureshino (2 nights) > train to Nagasaki (2 nights) > train to Fukuoka (4 nights, day trips to Shimonoseki and Mojiko) > JR Beetle ferry to Busan (2 nights) > train to Gyeongju (2 nights) > train to Seoul (2 nights)
The reason we flew into Seoul was because at the time we purchased tickets (November 2022), Delta was reorganizing its Japanese flights out of Atlanta so the price for flights to Tokyo jumped up to nearly $1800 from where we live. We decided to fly to Seoul since it was much cheaper at the time and I had wanted to spend a bit of time in Korea before planning a longer trip there.
If anyone is curious about other parts of our trip (I may post a bit later about Shimonoseki and Mojiko since I don’t see much about them) you can ask me to go into detail and I’ll make an additional post or edit this one.
**Day 1** \- Yoshinogari Koen (March 21)
After breakfast in Hakata Station, we boarded the Midori-Huis Ten Bosch for Yoshinogari Koen. We started a bit later than I had hoped since we had to mail a package. We arrived around 10 or 10:30 AM.
The gate was not manned, and according to the Google reviews of the station this is a common occurrence. This would be troublesome for a rail pass holder, so tickets might need to be purchased if you have a pass. There is a ticket machine which only accepts cash in the station. (We should have purchased all our tickets for the day in Hakata, but this was my first time without a rail pass. Lesson learned.) There were a few people working in the tourist information center downstairs. When one of them saw our luggage we were directed into the office where we were able to leave the luggage for 200 yen per piece. We were given laminated paper slips to reclaim our luggage, though that wasn’t really necessary since we were recognized immediately when we returned and our luggage brought out before I handed the papers back.
It had been raining and drizzling on and off in Fukuoka, and a heavy rain was ongoing when we left the station for the 15-20 min walk to Yoshinogari Koen. There is a walking path which crosses the street twice, but otherwise is safe from cars. Helpful signs with Yayoi cartoon people let us know how many meters we were from the park. We both only brought raincoats since we hadn’t expected much heavy rain in March (Google said drizzles were more common in Kyushu this time of year, which wasn’t completely off base since that was our experience for the rest of our time in Kyushu). Upon arrival we were both quite wet. After buying tickets from the cash only machine (it was about 950 yen for both of us), a park employee dressed in Yayoi clothes handed me two English maps and explained the park layout in Japanese to a man who had just arrived and invited me to listen as well. She explained about the free bus, which we didn’t end up taking since the stops weren’t covered and it was raining. She also lent us two umbrellas for our use in the park, which I was to be extremely grateful for quite soon. They were labeled as east gate (東口), which seems to be the main entrance to the park. There is also a west gate according to the map, which I believe would take you into town, but we only used the east gate due to the rain.
We first visited the indoor museum in a vain hope that the rain would slow. We passed by a moat area with defensive stakes on our way to the museum. The museum is mostly in Japanese, with the titles of sections mostly translated into English but not the main text. I translated a few things for my sister which I found interesting, but I didn’t read everything since I’m quite lazy and my Japanese isn’t that great. There were pictures and models of many things which would help you understand even if you can’t read much Japanese. There is one of the tomb jars in the museum if you don’t have time to reach the north village with the cemetery (which we eventually decided to skip due to the rain).
After leaving the museum, we went to the south village, which is closest to the museum. There are two sections in the south village: one showing the lives of nobles (Minami Naikaku) and one showing the lives of farming/artisan families (simply called Minaminomura). The house construction was quite similar for both, but the nobles section was more interesting due to the variety of buildings (the nobles had extra watchtowers and multi-building houses, while the peasant homes had one building small homes without much decoration and storehouses). The houses of the nobles also included life size models of people dressed in Yayoi period costume.
There were a few other visitors in the south village (the museum had been deserted). The park was not crowded but I was surprised to see Japanese people visiting an outdoor park when they could choose to visit on a less rainy day (maybe they didn’t like crowds). Like us they gravitated toward the covered areas, like the homes you could step inside or the guardhouses.
At this point it was close to noon and we were quite hungry. I had planned to leave the park at eat at one of the many restaurants in town, but with the rain I just couldn’t bear to walk any further than required. We ate at the on-site restaurant. All ordering is done through a cash only ticketing machine in Japanese only. My sister ordered the meat sauce pasta, I ordered the meat udon. My meal was quite nice, not the best I’ve ever eaten but not unappetizing. She said the meat sauce pasta wasn’t very good. There is a special meal you can order here which is supposed to be similar to the food eaten by the Yayoi. It is a mussel soup served in a special clay pot (which you can purchase in the gift shop for about 900 yen) along with onigiri made from a special rice which was supposed to be historical. A lot of items were sold out (about 1/3 of the menu), so we were not able to eat our first choices. You can see the restaurant menu on their website (Japanese only) here: [https://www.yoshinogari.jp/information/shop/](https://www.yoshinogari.jp/information/shop/)
After eating we set out again to the park. We completed the peasant area of the south village before walking to the ceremonial area (Kita Naikaku). The showiest things are here, including the very tall building with a horned decoration you can see throughout the rest of the park. Inside there is a feast demonstrated with life size model people on the lower floor, along with a video reenactment of the activities portrayed on the lower and upper floors. The upper floor shows a priestess performing a ceremony. There were people sheltering below the building from the rain, but we were the only ones inside of the main ceremonial building. There is also an unusually decorated building that is supposed to be the home of the priestess.
We decided to leave at this point, though we missed a few things like the northern burial area and the market. I would have stayed to see those if it had not been raining. But we were both tired and decided to head to our next destination, Ureshino Onsen. We got on a local train (only the local train and Midori-Huis Ten Bosch stop at Yoshinogari Koen), then switched to the Kamome Relay at Saga. We purchased the 750 yen express supplements from the cash only machine, but as we were running a bit low on cash at this point we decided to tap in with our Suica (we used the mobile version and reloaded with Apple Card, which worked out well for us on the whole). Everything worked fine until we tried to tap out at Takeo Onsen (I planned to pay for the shinkansen tickets to Ureshino with card). There is no way to tap out with Suica at Takeo Onsen due to the shinkansen. The station employee helpfully wrote us a form/note sort of thing explaining our situation and told us to take it to a large station like Nagasaki or Hakata to resolve the issue (The station employees at Nagasaki took care of it a few days later when we arrived there). This is just something to be aware of when traveling through here. I suggest buying all tickets in advance if you need to pay with card.
After arriving at Ureshino Onsen Station, we took a taxi to our hotel (after getting cash from an ATM). We stayed at Motoyu Onsen, which was great all around (and easy to book for someone in the US since you can book online). After drying off a bit we went to dinner, which was held in the 2nd floor restaurant and was several courses. I was quite full by the end even though I’d only had a small lunch. The food used local specialties like tea and tofu, and some of the combinations were strange (there was a cold creamy soup like dish with cha-soba that I was unable to identify), though there were many familiar dishes like sashimi, chawanmushi, and grilled fish.
There are two baths the hotel guests can use, one of which is the “One Hundred Year” Bath next door and the other of which is inside on the second floor (next to the restaurant). This evening we chose to visit the next door bath, which was a good thing since it was closed the next night of our visit. Neither of us have visited an onsen before but we found this very relaxing after spending so much of the day soaked in rainwater.
Our room was quite spacious, with two tatami rooms: a bedroom with a view over the bath next door, and sitting room with a large table, kettle, tea set, and fridge (which we used for canned coffee from a nearby konbini). There was a shower and bathtub room with a sink/vanity and also a toilet room near the entranceway.
**Day 2** \- Ureshino Onsen (March 22)
Breakfast this day and the next was yudofu in sesame sauce. This was my first time eating yudofu and I love it now. We were offered a choice between plain rice and green tea rice porridge the night before, and I chose rice this morning (I kind of regret it since the green tea rice porridge I ate the next day was so delicious). There were a few other typical breakfast standards, like grilled fish, but breakfast was only one course unlike dinner.
We set off to explore the town after breakfast. The day was sunny and quite warm. First we walked to Todoroki Falls (Todoroki no Taki/轟の滝) which was far more beautiful than I expected. At times I felt like we were in a Ghibli movie, with a lot of cute and beautiful scenery. There are many types of flowering trees here which bloom at various times of year. We saw red camellias and a few cherry blossoms which were just starting to bloom. There were a few other people here when we arrived but the park was so spacious we hardly noticed each other. After seeing the park and walking back to the main part of town it was close to lunchtime. We at at Hirakawa Tofu & Cafe, which was highly rated on Google. The menu consisted of one main dish (yudofu set) and several wagashi based around tofu and green tea. We both ordered the yudofu set and a green tea soymilk mochi for dessert. The yudofu set was quite similar to the one for breakfast, but vegetables were included and we were able to grind our own sesame seeds to mix with the sesame paste. I didn’t mind having the dish for the second time that day (I could have eaten it for a third). The soymilk mochi was good, a bit creamier than regular mochi with a green tea sugar sauce which was a little bit sweeter than I would have liked. The tea bitterness helped balance it though. Overall I would love to eat at this restaurant again.
In the afternoon we shopped in the main area of town. A lot of shops were closed on all the Wednesdays in March, I’m not sure why but it seems we weren’t here during the tourist season. We purchased a few boxed green tea sweets and my sister bought a blouse from a clothing boutique. We looked at the exterior of Siebold’s Bath (named after the German physician who studied plants and the hot spring water here during the Edo period after arriving with the Dutch merchants at Dejima). It is a cute pseudo-German style building which makes me think of My Neighbor Totoro. It is a daytime bath which is currently in use, but we decided to wait and use the one at our hotel for free. There is also a footbath nearby which can be used for free. It was never empty each time we passed by, as many families with children seemed to enjoy stopping there.
I was a bit hungry by this time so we had tea and a I had a crepe at the café/shop (called LINK) across from the footbath. The milk tea my sister ordered was quite sweet and she didn’t like it. The crepe was a bit larger than I’m used to (I ordered banana choco cream) but it was quite tasty. Unfortunately it would go on to spoil my dinner even though I was unable to finish it. We also walked along the river promenade and saw some pavement decorations related to various places and things about Ureshino Onsen.
Since we didn’t have much else to do we went back to our room and rested for a little while. We went to the 2nd floor baths this time before dinner. Dinner was similar to the previous night, except the main course was a green tea shabu shabu (which was very good, and I’m not usually a fan of beef though I love green tea). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish it because of the large crepe I had eaten earlier.
The next morning after breakfast we took the shinkansen to Nagasaki. It was a drizzly day but nothing as bad as the Yoshinogari Koen day.
