The Most Beautiful Places in Japan

Due to my lack of being able to post s on my blog, you can enjoy reading about my trip to Kyushu and use your creative imaginations to all of the places we went.

The plan: A 10 day trip around Kyushu. See as many sights as we could in that amount of time. Perhaps meeting some interesting people along the way. We were certain we would meet some crazy gaijin along the way. That we did, as well as many a crazy j-person.

Participants: Christine (Big Chuck) McGuire, Louise (Isabell, Gerome, Little John) Fennell, Nicky (a friend from Ohio), and Sally.

Beppu: The little Nissan March was cleaned, oiled, gased and pack with stuff for our trip. 3 large hiking packs, sleeping bags, various other bags and 4 girls piled in. Off we set for Beppu, land of onsens. I heard it described as the Las Vegas of onsen towns, but I didn't find it nearly like that at all. I actually thought it was quite charming. Our first stop was a little onsen on a hill which included a bath and bento for 1000yen. Our first gaijin sighting was in the parking lot. We were surprised when it turned out to be Justin and Belinda from Tokuyama. They were just heading off on their trip so we figured we would meet up with them a bunch. The onsen had a neat view of the city and the bento was delicious. After that we headed to the 'Hells'. They are pools of boiling water colored differently by minerals coming out of the Earth. Kyushu is quite interesting in the fact that it is chock full of hot springs. Driving around the island you will see gas emitting from the Earth. When you look around Beppu you will see steam and gas rising out of the ground in the most surprising of places. I have determined that Sulphur is the Earth's fart. That night we stayed in a cute little ryokan and had a delicious meal. We also visited a sex museum where I was surprised by the enormousness of an elephant's cock, and the smallness of a lion's.

Kurokawa and Aso: A beautiful drive through the mountains (looked similar to the UK more so than Japan) lead us to Kurokawa where I had spent my birthday the previous year. We had a nice soak in an onsen and ran into Justin and Belinda there as well. We had a nice local brew and headed off to Aso-san. The last time we attempted to visit Aso we weren't able to see the crater due to poisonous gases rising out. This time we took the cable car to the top and saw inside. I was amazed at how beautiful it was. I wasn't expecting much. The surrounding area looks similar to the Grand Canyon and the lava inside was nearly flourescent green. Truly a unique sight to see. After nearly being blown in the crater by strong winds we made our descent down to our youth hostel at the bottom of the mountain. (travel tip- even though we went during golden week, most of the places we stayed weren't took booked up...so look for youth hostels, you should be OK).

Takachiho and Ebino Koen: We moved from Oita-ken to Miyazaki and stopped at Takachiho gorge. Many natural sights in Kyushu were formed by eruptions of Aso-san which is the case for Takachiho gorge. The valley comes down gradually until you get close to the river which is a steep gorge of rocks with a beautiful blue river running through it. The lava created a stripey pattern on the rocks which was quite unique. We hiked down the gorge and then rented row boats where we rowed by one of Japan's 100 most beautiful water falls. The weather was gorgeous and Big Chuck and Little John even went under the falls. After Takachiho we headed to Ebino Koen which is a National Park and the main sight is the lake district that has been formed on the top of the mountains. We arrived in the evening and drove up in the clouds. We couldn't see our hands in front of us but we guided our car to the camp ground. That evening we stayed in a cute cabin on top of the mountain in the clouds surrounded by deer and wild life. It was so magical and creepy being up there in the mist. We all fell asleep to ghost stories being told. The next day we hiked around the park and saw the lakes that were all formed by Aso-san yet again. This was our first sighting of the sugi (cedar) trees.

Kagoshima and Ibusuki: This was one of our long haul drives. The poor March was being put through torture driving through the mountains. I think the drive on the sky way (a highway built in the mountains going to Ibusuki) nearly killed it. But we made it to the town which is famous for it's sand baths. Down by the shore there is an area of beach that contains black, hot, volcanic sand. This is the sight of a unique spa experience. You put on your yukata and head down to the beach. The old ladies wrap a towel around your head and start shoveling the hot, heavy sand on your body. It is a very unique feeling. The limit to lay there is 10 minutes so you don't pass out. It actually fell wonderful and we were all refreshed after washing the sand off of our bodies. That night we were meant to stay in Kagoshima in order to get the ferry the next day. This is where the one glitch of the trip arose. The car finally made it to the city and we needed directions. I am going to save the story for zenzen but I will summarize it by saying that it involved the meanest, fattest, most racist Japanese youth hostel owner, the police, a broken down March, and a very nice Japanese family that we met at a taxi stand. It all turned out OK which is the main part.

Yakushima: The main goal of the trip. Yakushima is the most beautiful place I have visited in Japan. This is where all the hikers and outdoorsmen of Japan can meet up and enjoy their hobbies. We hopped on the ferry which took about 4 hours and a lot more money than anticipated. We stayed at the charming Yakushima Youth Hostel, which I would recommend over and over again. The guy at the desk and in the kitchen provided us deprived girls with some eye candy so we were content. If you consider staying there you should have both breakfast and dinner at the hostel, the food is delicious and it is a nice social occasion to have a meal with everyone. The first evening we were there we visited a gorgeous waterfall and hung out on the beach for a while. The season is starting for the sea turtles to lay their eggs on the beach, but unfortunately nobody saw them. A little too early I suppose. The first full day we did the Yakusugi Land walk. Yakushima is famous for 'yakusugis' which is a Japanese cedar. Many of them are ancient 1000-2000 years old and covered in the most lush green moss. The walk was awesome. The island is also famous for yakuzaru which are monkeys and yakujika which are deer. They are in abundance around the island so you won't miss a chance seeing them. After the walk in the woods we headed back down to the beach to relax and then had a steamy hot onsen. The following day we did the famous hike to Jomon sugi or the most famous tree on the island. It is estimated either 2000-7000 years old. The walk took us nearly 10 hours (due to immense Golden Week traffic on the trails) and the tree is quite an anti climax because you only get to take a pic of it from a platform. But the walk is beautiful so it made it worth while. The first 5km are along old railroad tracks (that are surprisingly still being used today) and then you make the ascent up to the top. It was great to really give my body a work out. It is amazing how you can sit on your but for 8 hours a day at work, then turn around and do a 10 hour hike and not end up dead at the end. It's great to be young! Our last day was only a half a day so we went to a waterfall, got Louise her Kitty-chan (she was collecting them the whole trip) and head back to Kagoshima on the bus.

Kumamoto and Fukuoka: We arrived there late and found the hidden Kumamoto youth hostel which is a great place! We didn't do much in the city other than see the castle. I vow, that is the LAST castle I see in Japan. They are all the same and quite boring. After Kumamoto we headed up to Fukuoka for some familiarity. It was a great way to end our wilderness trip. In the city with good food, good shopping and more hot men! We all managed to make extremely J-fashion purchases so we were geared up for some Thai food and Karaoke. This was Nicky's first chance to sing it in Japan. We all belted out songs for 2 hours straight. One of my favorited times in karaoke. The next day we all had to say goodbye to Nicky which was really sad, lots of tears were shed. So needless to say it was an amazing trip. I really highly recommend it to people living in Japan. You will see some amazing stuff.

Give a holler if you want to see some pics and I will send you the webshots link.