I'm so excited to start our recaps of our fantastic 2 week trip to Japan. This trip just reaffirmed our love for this beautiful country, its people and the FOOD!
We had used points to book this trip, so we got on the plane without stress. We arrived really late on our first night, due to a medical issue on board our flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka, so we basically fell into bed our first evening.
The next morning, we headed to Cafe Gram to get the famous fluffy pancakes! If you're interested in trying these at any of the 20 locations across Japan, be warned: you have to arrive at one of the 3 slots (times vary by location) to get one of only 20 (!) orders they serve. We were lucky enough to go on a week day, so we got an order with no problems. These wobbly pancakes were made of meringue and were absolutely delicious!
Next, we headed over to Fukuoka Castle to get our first glimpse of the sakura (cherry blossoms). We were absolutely blown away. We arrived spot on for the full bloom, so we were also incredibly lucky, considering this trip was planned over a year ago. The grounds surrounding the castle were also nice, so we took our time wandering around the moats and lake as well.
Everyone was out enjoying the hamani (cherry blossom viewing) - it really is a holiday in Japan! There were food stands selling grilled meats, hot sake, yakisoba, and more. We took our snacks and sake underneath one of the trees and just enjoyed the atmosphere for a while.
That evening, we were too tired to go out for dinner, so we pieced together a super yummy konbini (convenience store) meal. I reignited my love on onigiri, we sampled weird flavors of potato chips, and had some sakura-flavored desserts. Little did I know that the tiredness wasn't just jet-lag on my end - I ended up getting an upper-respiratory infection that lasted the rest of our time in Kyushu.
The next morning, we left Fukuoka for our tour of the island of Kyushu. We spent a day in Karatsu, which is an adorable little seaside town, just an hour outside of Fukuoka. We climbed to the top of the castle and I geeked out about all of the sights from one of my favorite animes, Yuri on Ice. We grabbed lunch at an izakaya, by accident really. We were trying to find a sushi restaurant and wandered in here instead. I was happy I had studied some Japanese before the trip, it was really helpful in this situation! After lunch, we drove to our ryokan for the next 4 nights.
The timing of my sickness couldn't have been better really. Each day, we enjoyed our room with our own private onsen (hot springs), went to breakfast, ventured out for an activity each day, and then came back to the ryokan for a wonderful dinner and more onsen time. Couldn't ask for a better way to recover!
We took a trip to visit Takachiho Gorge. We rented boats and made our way through the gorge, before we walked around the area and grabbed some ice cream and lunch. This was an absolutely beautiful area - one of the prettiest in Japan (and that's saying something!). Afterwards, we walked around a local shrine before heading back to our ryokan.
Our day trip to Mt. Aso was kind of a bust, as the tram that had just reopened after an earthquake destroyed it in 2016, was closed again for repairs. We weren't able to get that close to the crater, but still got to walk around and learn more about how the earthquake affected the areas around Mt. Aso. Oh, and also enjoy the lovely sulfur smell as well! HA.
Kumamoto Castle was such a fun trip. We saw the aftermath of the earthquake mentioned above, but much of the castle was still standing. AND it was prime cherry blossom viewing in the grounds. The blossoms were actually falling that day, so it really did look like a snowstorm of petals. We also walked around Suizen-ji Gardens.
Jason had been waiting for quite a while to have ramen on this trip, so we made a trip to Ichiran in Kumamoto as well. Wow, this is the best ramen I've ever had! You order and pay via vending machine and take a spot in the little stall. The food is served under a screen and fresh water is available via a spout. Perfect for those days you just don't feel like talking to anyone :)
Included with our room was half-board - breakfast and dinner each day. Each meal was a whole affair. Dressed in the customary yukatas, we had multi-course meals featuring the best of the season and area. We liked the vast majority of the things we ate, including beef cooked on hot stones, amazing sashimi, seafood hot pots, and shabu shabu. We also had some more interesting items, such as raw horse meat (!!!) and a whole fish (head, bones, and all).
Overall, we had an incredible time in Kyushu and enjoyed driving around to explore this beautiful island. Our last morning, we drove back to Fukuoka to catch a shinkansen train to Osaka.
Up Next: Our recap of our 4 days in Osaka!
