Of all the Japanese cities we have visited, Fukuoka ranks among the top of our favourites, because it strikes a balance of being urban without being congested. We arrived at Fukuoka from Yakushima around noon, and it took us a while to sort out our luggage storage. Since we would be flying from Fukuoka airport again, … [Read more…]
The title was meant to be Yufuin, Kurokawa Onsen and Aso. Obviously, the Aso part didn’t happen. Read on to find out more. There are practically only two attractions in Yufuin – Kinrin-ko lake (pictured above) and Yunotsubo Kaido, the food/shopping street. OK, my son kept begging for me to let him take a horse … [Read more…]
Nagasaki is small enough to be explored on foot, but taking the tram would help a lot. We arrived on an evening and did walking for the rest of the day. Fujiwara Ryokan, where we put up in, was a mere 10 minutes from Nagasaki station, though there was a bit of slope to negotiate. This was one of the best … [Read more…]
Yakushima ranks among the highest rated attractions in all of Japan. It is a small island south of Kyushu with UNESCO World Heritage status, no less. Having seen the photos and generally raving reviews, I needed little convincing to decide to come here as part of my whirlwind tour of Kyushu. Related posts: Jakarta Trip Report … [Read more…]
This is the second leg of my 3 weeks holiday happening in May. Fukuoka is a mere 50 minutes’ flight from Busan, which is why I am combining a trip to Korea with a tour of Kyushu, southern Japan. Actually, the more important reason is that the open jaw flight (Singapore – Seoul, Fukuoka – Singapore) … [Read more…]
Car rental is usually a pretty standard affair if you’re renting with a large international chain agency. The websites have more or less the same form submission flow. In Japan, things work differently. First off, the largest car rental companies are actually the car manufacturers, whereby Toyota and Nissan have the largest presence. Then there are the agencies – … [Read more…]
Ok, i was about to say something lame like “get off the plane”, but i’ll go straight to the point: the one thing you must do is decide on how you want to get out of Narita Airport. The second thing you might want to consider doing is getting an internet connection subscription. There is an elaborate description of the options available … [Read more…]
Matsumoto is not typically in the itinerary of most people. I went there due to Matsumoto Castle being recommended as the other best castle to visit other than Himeji. The castle was pretty indeed, was quite small and bare inside but nevertheless pleasant. In fact, Matsumoto town itself was more pleasant than Himeji. There are two … [Read more…]
Hiroshima and Miyajima are about an hour from each other, so if one of them is in your itinererary, the other should be too. If you have the JR Pass, it costs you nothing additional to travel between them. Half a day is about enough to cover the main sights in Hiroshima and Miyajima, i.e. … [Read more…]
This post is more than one week overdue. So I found out that in practice it’s difficult to blog while traveling. Anyway, if Osaka is in your travel itinerary, you might want to visit Nara and Himeji as well since they are only about an hour away from Osaka. The Osaka castle is a popular … [Read more…]