Northern Kyushu
The day after the Okinawa bus tour, we flew from Naha back to Fukuoka in Kyushu, arriving around noon. Fukuoka airport is just a few subway stops from Hakata station, the main rail hub of the area (Fukuoka and Hakata are essentially the same place).
Fukuoka / Hakata
On the afternoon of arrival, we first exchanged the rail pass vouchers for actual passes at Hakata station, scheduled to start the next day, and then took a subway train first to Gion, to see a couple of small temples, and then to Tenjin for a look at Canal City. Tenjin is the entertainment district, similar to what Dotombori is in Osaka.
One of the Gion temples:
The Buddha in the temple:
A shopping mall running from Tenjin station towards Canal City:
The entrance to Canal City:
The Canal City outdoor area along the canal. Unfortunately the bright day made lighting difficult along the relatively dim canal. The dots that can be seen in the water are part of a musical fountain that I gather plays on the hour. We just caught the end of a performance as we were entering the canal area, but didn't stay long enough to see another one. From what I did see, the fountain appears similar in nature to the one outside the Bellagio in Las Vegas:
Ticket machines at Hakata railway station. The Japan rail network, including subways, is generally excellent. The ticket machines are easy to use once you have the basic idea, and have a button to display English instructions if you need them. You first locate your destination on the subway network display above the machines (one of the two displays has all the names in romaji - ie. English writing), then read off the ticket cost. You then put in an appropriate amount of money (they read some notes as well as take coins), select one or two tickets, then press the highlighted button showing the fare you want (for one person). The machine will then give you the requested number of tickets and your change, if any. Note that day passes are usually available as well, and are cheaper if you intend to make more than a couple of trips during the day. They may be dispensed from a separate machine though:
A scene inside the underground shopping mall at Hakata station. Many major railway stations in the main cities have sometimes large underground shopping malls directly accessible from the station. One of the more difficult things with subway travel is often finding the right station exit to get you where you want to go. Larger stations, in places like Tokyo and Osaka, can have over 20 different exits spread over quite a large area. The idea is to look for a map on the wall somewhere in the station which shows all the exits and where they are located in the streets above:
That night we went back to Tenjin for a look at the night life and to find something to eat. The guide book mentioned street stalls selling ramen noodles, a specialty of Fukuoka.
The Mitsukoshi building:
One of the street stalls:
Inside one such stall:
A Fukuoka subway train:
Kate making use of the hotel's amenities:
Karatsu
Karatsu is about an hour along the coast from Fukuoka by train. It's primary attactions are its pottery, small castle, and beaches, although there was a freezing wind that day so the beaches were only attractive to look at.
Karatsu castle from the approach road (highway 279 above):
And from inside the grounds:
School children on an excursion to the castle:
A model of the castle:
The view from the top of the main donjon, although neither photo shows the main township of Karatsu which is directly behind the castle from the beach:
The castle from the road back into town (a different road to the approach one):
An origami swan. This was just sitting by a hand basin in a shopping centre in Karatsu where we stopped for food:
Our evening meal back at the Hakata hotel - good old takeaway:
Beppu
Beppu is famous for its onsen (hotsprings), some of which are just for looking, and others for bathing in. The look-only ones are known as Hells (Jigoku), with water far too hot to bathe in. They are pretty much all commercialised, with a ¥400 entry fee for each (although discount tickets are available for all Hells in the main Kannawa area). The Kannawa area, accessible by bus from Beppu station, has a number of these Hells with names like Golden Dragon Hell, Devil's Mountain Hell, etc, all of which can be visited on foot after getting to the area. We only visited two of the Hells, Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) and Chi-no-ike Jigoku (Blood Pool Hell), then headed off to Ichinoide Kaikan, an onsen bath that is free if you buy the set meal to go with it for ¥1,200.
At Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell). The area consisted of the one hot pool, another pond, and a bit of garden landscaping:
The main hot pool:
The basket is for cooking eggs. In Japan, wherever there's an onsen, there's onsen-cooked eggs being sold there:
At Chi-no-ike Jigoku (Blood Pool Hell). This was also just one pool and little else. About the only other feature was a small foot bath which I didn't photograph:
Outside the pool area though was a statue of Tanuki:
And a building with a lily pond:
To get to the onsen (hotspring bath), we took the bus back to Beppu station and then got a taxi. Ichinoide Kaikan is back in the hills a bit, and while you can walk there, it's much quicker and easier by taxi. The taxi cost about ¥800 each way, and they will arrange one for you when you've finished your meal. The deal is that you can use the hotspring for as long as you like for free, provided you subsequently eat the set meal they provide. Once you've eaten, you cannot return to the onsen. There are two open-air onsen just up behind the building, one for men and one for women, and bathing costumes are not allowed. One has a good view over the city and the other has a steam room. Women have the good view onsen on odd-numbered days, and men have it on even-numbered days. We were there on an even-numbered day, so I got the good view onsen, although Kate took a quick look on the way down as there was no one else in there. Take your own towel, or you can buy one there, as they're not provided for free. Note though that a Japanese towel is more like a western hand-towel. If you are going to buy one, it's cheaper to visit a ¥100 shop first, of which there's one right by Beppu station. The owners of Ichinoide Kaikan don't speak much English, but they have a page of instructions written in English which they will show you if you don't speak Japanese.
The onsen itself. The water is natural hotspring water, and runs continuously into the main pool from a faucet on the back wall:
The water was beautiful - hot but not scalding. On my first trip to Japan in '93 I used an onsen elsewhere that was so hot I could barely stay in it. This one was just right (for me anyway):
The view back over Beppu from the onsen:
The roof-top in the foreground is the building where the meal is eaten. If you sit in the white chair, as one man did while I was there (naked), I think you'd almost be able to be seen from the path leading up from the building. There are no lockers for valuables, but you can sit your bag beside the pool, as I've done here:
The meal is eaten in a Japanese style room with floor-level tables and paper-screen doors:
Which along with the nice Japanese meal, provides a reasonably authentic Japanese-style eating experience:
Japan 2008 - Part 4
