Kyushu, Japan Road Trip

Please forgive me for a few more delayed Japan posts from last year. My memory is fading in my older age, so it helps me to write these things down so I don’t forget! Kyushu is the southernmost Japanese island. I’m so glad we rented a car and drove around the island. It was a unique and laid-back experience, and we got to see so much more than we would’ve if we had just taken trains everywhere.

I flew into Fukuoka since I was doing a language program there and we flew out of Miyazaki. We spent five nights on this part of the trip. Here is a map of our route:

Fukuoka

I posted previously about learning Japanese and staying with a host family in Fukuoka, Japan in December 2024. From there, Bryan met me in Fukuoka, where it was essential that we eat ramen, since Fukuoka is the birthplace of tonkatsu ramen. We ran around the city visiting Christmas markets and seeing holiday fountain shows for one night, then we started our road trip.

We rented a car in Fukuoka and drove south. I drove—on the “wrong” side of the road and with most of the signs in Japanese to put my new language skills to the test.

Huis Ten Bosch

Our first stop was an unexpected Dutch theme park in the middle of Japan called Huis Ten Bosch. There were rides, performances, and an incredible display of Christmas lights. We spent the afternoon and evening checking out as much as we could. It was a strange sight in Japan but cool to see the amazing lights!

Nagasaki

We stayed in a very interesting, long and narrow hotel room in Nagasaki (Nagasaki House Burabura). The floor mattresses and tatami mats were normal for Japan, the cat murals and shape of the room were not! We enjoyed our stay anyway. The downstairs had a shared kitchen and living room area with tea and coffee and bicycles for rent in warmer weather.

The neighborhood was pretty, and we found a really delicious French bakery nearby (Aulong).

Next was a sobering visit to the atomic bomb museum (I know, a total 180 from the Christmas lights and bakery, but that’s what the itinerary called for). I thought it was a sad but very well-done museum, including a walking path outside to the fountain of peace.

Kumamoto

Before our trip, we watched a show on traveling in Japan with comedian Rhys Darby. That’s how I learned about the cute Japanese mascot, Kumamon, and how I persuaded us to make a stop in the city of Kumamoto. I think Bryan was mainly there for the bao buns:

But then we got to see Kumamon! He does funny dances and films videos to get people to visit Japan and Kumamoto… it worked on us!

Kurokawa Onsen

Our next stop was a “treat yourself” experience. We stayed for at a really nice ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) at Kurokawa Onsen Village (it was called Kurokawa Onsen Oko no Yu). The rooms were very comfortable with a peaceful view of the river outside and a short stroll to the hot springs.

The meals were outstanding and we got to eat them in our robes. I would’ve spent many more nights at this place, and I’m a little sad that we only spent one!

Fun fact, this stop was actually the first sign that my life was about to change a lot! I had been interviewing for jobs for a while, and while we were at the hotel I got the call with the offer of my new job.

Mt. Aso

We made a brief pit stop to see Mt. Aso, the second largest active volcano in Japan, after Mt. Fuji. We hiked around a little bit, but it was mainly just a quick viewpoint.

Takachiho Gorge

We made another short stop that day at Takachiho Gorge. The gorge was really beautiful and impressive. We took a walk along the river and I was surprised to see so many people boating in the winter weather.

We also had the most delicious noodle soups for lunch (sorry for my finger in the photo, but you get the idea!)

Miyazaki

Our “final” stop on this segment of the trip was Miyazaki. We had a truly magical time! We wanted to surf but weren’t sure about waves and renting boards. We ended up staying at a guest house where the owner happened to have two longboards for us to rent and somehow he found two wetsuits that fit our American bodies perfectly!

The waves were tiny (much to my liking) and we had two really fun days of surfing. People in the water were very friendly, and I was really impressed by their surf van setups. Good vibes all around in Miyazaki!

That finished the road trip segment of the trip. We flew out of Miyazaki for Osaka where we would continue our Japanese adventure.

Christmas in Japan

Ok, you got me. We actually did Christmas in Japan last year, while this year we were in regular old New Jersey. BUT, I never wrote about our Christmas in Japan, and it feels like a festive time to do it now.

First things first, a friend of ours had recommended staying at a really interesting looking castle near Kiroro Ski Resort. It was well off the beaten path near the town of Otaru, which is about an hour from Sapporo. So, that’s how we ended up here:

The castle hotel was nearly empty and kind of spooky! But it was interesting nonetheless. We weren’t sure, but I think we were one of the two or three only people staying there. Some things (like our broken bathroom cabinet) were a bit neglected, but it was an interesting experience for sure. Christmas in Japan was in full swing with decorations:

At the mountain, the skiing was fantastic! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much snow, and it was nice and powdery. The slopes were miraculously uncrowded with hardly any lift lines around Christmas week, which is practically unheard of anywhere I’ve skied in the US. The resort had plenty of terrain and seemed great for families and all levels of skiers. We rented skis and snow clothes and found the whole experience to be very well organized and affordable.

And if you’ve never had ramen as a ski lunch, you are missing out!

Even though we were some of the only guests eating at the hotel, they did not hold back on Christmas dinner. Here’s Bryan modeling our amazing hot pot and Sapporo Classic beer (and giant space heater that was the main heat source in the room):

Our second day of skiing was a total blizzard! We could barely see since we’d brought minimal gear on the trip, but we still had a great time.

We finished the day off by heading to the German beer hall in the town of Otaru (Otaru Beer Warehouse), which was tasty and fun.

And then we took the train back to Sapporo to spend the next day eating soufflé pancakes and visiting the Olympic museum.

I’ve skied in many different places and a few other countries, and I can say that skiing at Kiroro were some of the best or maybe THE best ski days I’ve ever had. I hope someday to return and ski in Japan again!

Learning Japanese in Fukuoka

This past December, I finally had the chance to use my AmeriCorps education grant to do something exciting. I’d been holding onto the grant for years – you have seven years since completing your service term to use the money – and I wanted to apply it to something special. It took some time and a lot of research investigating options, but I knew I’d found the right thing when I landed on IPSL. The IPSL program allows you to design custom learning and volunteer experiences abroad. Over the course of several months, I worked with the team at IPSL to land on the right program. I would study Japanese for two weeks in Fukuoka, Japan at a local language school and live with a host family.

I chose Fukuoka because I thought it would be less crowded than the more touristy destinations of Tokyo or Kyoto and because it’s close to the sea. I communicated a few times via email with my language program advisor and host mom before leaving, but I had no idea what I was getting into. There was a mix of thrill and nerves about the complete unknown. Right before the trip, I visited my dad in New York for Thanksgiving, and the next day he dropped me off at the train station to head to the airport. He probably thought he was done with the whole study abroad drop-off thing after college and grad school, but not so.

On the very long flight over, I realized how unprepared I was when I noticed for the first time that Japanese magazines are backwards (at least compared to Western books.) It made sense, but I probably should’ve figured that out earlier in life and definitely before I decided to commit myself to this period of language learning. Other than memorizing my alphabet flashcards and a bit of Duolingo, I didn’t speak any Japanese.

But when I landed in Tokyo, this was my first view, so I still felt pretty good about my choices:

I ate my first salmon onigiri while I waited for the next flight to Fukuoka.

Once I landed, my host mom found me right away. She spoke a bit of English from when she lived abroad in England many years ago, so that made things easy. We waited to pick up my roommate, whom I learned would be a 65-year-old woman from Belgium who had recently retired and was going off on adventures around the world. Very cool!

Our host mom drove us home, then showed us the walk to the train station and how to get IC cards that we’d use to pay for transportation.

We lived in a large (very large by Japanese standards!) suburban house in a quiet neighborhood outside the city of Fukuoka. it was about a 15 minute walk and a 30 minute train ride to school. The school was Genki Japanese and Culture School (called Genki-JACS), which is very close to the landmark Hakata Station in downtown Fukuoka.

On our first day, one of the teachers took us on tour of the station and pointed out different options for lunch. I tried my first authentic (and amazing!) ramen and met some of my classmates. I was surprised to find that most of them were travelers in their mid-30’s, like me. I was expecting college students, but there were also moms, retirees, teachers on holiday, and even a few teenagers. The classes were short, 50-minute sessions with breaks in between and a different teacher for each session. There were sessions focused on reading, writing, grammar, and conversation, and everything took place completely in Japanese. It was quite rigorous, especially while trying to work my normal job in the mornings and late at night, but I guess that’s what you get when you sign up for an intensive language program.

The day ran from about 11 to 4pm, which was probably my only disappointment about the program. We didn’t have much time off to explore the city and our commute was pretty long. But we had some time for fun excursions on the weekends, and I wouldn’t have traded the opportunity for staying in dorm or apartment, which was an option some of the other students chose.

I learned a ton during the two week period, not only from the language classes, but also from unmatched Japanese hospitality. Our host mom introduced us to different foods and put together some new, delicious dishes every single night. I learned how to make and sleep on a futon bed and experimented with all the magical functions of Japanese toilets. I remembered how to study and eventually picked up enough of the language to introduce myself, order at restaurants, and ask a few important questions that would come in handy for the next part of the trip (road trip!)

Overall, I’m really grateful for the experience and glad I was able to find the space between life and work for it to happen. I hope to return to Japan again someday and I’ll always have very special memories from this particular learning experience.

Sayonara for now! I will share some more about our Japan road trip in a future post.