Japanuary 2024 - the trip that nearly wasn't

[Seat0B]

If it was up to me I would not sweat it and come back tomorrow when another staff will let you pack the item hopefully (after all it's a game of probability just like calling the Qantas customer centre until you find a person who actually knows what's going on). However that's one more chore that I have to leave for tomorrow and the sooner you get rid of it the better...

Yeah, that’s not the usual vibe in Japan

 

[Seat0B]

First Night in Nagasaki - Friday 10 Feb 2024

Oh I forgot to post the speed test on the train. As posted elsewhere, the hikari is not actually that much slower than the nozomi, it just takes longer because it stops more often. Here it is:



After sitting on the train all day, I was enervated, so an onsen was either going to go one of two ways - it would either reinvigorate me, or it would enhance the lethargy to the point that the day was done. It was quite crowded, so no photos possible today. Happy to report that the onsen gave me just the boost I needed. All fired up and ready to tackle the China Town Lantern Festival, which is touted as one of the best/biggest/oldest (pick your own superlative) in Japan. It was lovely.




And it was certainly very crowded! There was a rock concert atmosphere for the Chinese drumming.



And there was a very orderly line to stand against the balustrade on some steps to get the photo of the lanterns and crowds. It was worth the 3-4 minute wait to get to the head of the line and get lovely shots like these:


And as you know, I have a thing about rude influencers, so it was hilarious to get my first "influencer in the wild" shot for this trip when a young lady pushed her way through the patient line and photobombed my shot . I am deliberately NOT obscuring her face - she went to so much trouble to insert herself into my photo, that I'm sure she wants the likes!



We had planned to eat here, but one look at the crowds gave us a fair idea of how long the lines would be at the food vendors, so instead we did a konbini room service, supplemented by Dormy Inn ramen and ice cream later in the night. A most satisfactory evening.

 

[Seat0B]

About the Dormy Inn Premium Nagasaki Ekimae

This was a fabulous hotel. As per usual, I forgot to take a photo of the room. But I did remember to get a photo of the view from the room - not a carpark in sight! TBH, the river/inlet was a bit industrial looking, although the water in it was pristine, but it was surrounded by rusty old pipes and dodgy looking fences. So we just trained ourselves to look to the middle distance, where the view was quite nice.




Hotel onsen was very nice - standard Dormy Inn design, I believe. Our TV had a "traffic in the onsen" screen so you could be advised how busy it was. When we saw it was not busy, we donned our hotel PJs and raced straight up there! Embarrasing western tourists!!!


As promised on the TV, the ladies' onsen was indeed very quiet - so much so that I had it totally to myself and so got to take a few photos. Here's the washing area and the cold bath with 13-15 degree water.



Next is the main indoor pool, and the outdoor pool.


I followed this with the delicious free ice creams - no photo sorry!

 

[Seat0B]

Breakfast

There was the usual Japanese style buffet and a cook to order omelette station - as long as you wanted omelette of the day. The buffet was really good.






Onsen eggs and natto (fermented soy beans - weird stringy sticky texture, but I have acquired the taste). They also had the usual yoghurt, fruit, and pastries and cakes, and of course, salad.

My typical breakfast tray below.


And finally, as commented elsewhere on AFF, when the Japanese mean 1am (0100hrs), they often write it as 25:00 to avoid confusion. I quite like it - it is actually quite clear, if you know to expect it.

 

[Seat0B]

A Sobering Morning in Nagasaki - Atomic Bomb Museum Sunday 11 Feb 2024

Classic Japanese hotel breakfast this morning. Rice, miso, noodles with lots of "bits" - salmon, pork belly, tempura ebi (prawns), tamago yaki (small dense block of egg/omelette), onsen tamago, natto, pickles etc, plus sausage, bacon, omelette of the day, crossiants, cake, yoghurt, salad etc.

Caught streetcar #1 to stop #20 for the Atomic Bomb Museum, and then on the walk (about 5 mins) from the stop to the museum we were engaged into a conversation with an older Japanese gentleman who wanted to know where we were from and clearly very keen to practice his English. Turns out he's a volunteer guide at the Museum, and we enjoyed a pleasant little cultural exchange, along with a few local tips on things to see and do.

The Museum itself was as we expected after our earlier trip to the counterpart museum in Hiroshima a few years ago. It's a very sobering experience, and I am pleased to report that most people respected the importance of the site and did not take frivolous photos. As we learnt last time, it's always informative to see "facts" you know very well presented from a different perspective. For example, Nagasaki was not the primary target on 9/8/1945. it was supposed to be Kokura, which had a big military coughnal (perhaps justifying its selection as a target), but bad weather resulted in Nagasaki being bombed. The bomb epicentre was the commercial and residential area rather than the docks or industrial areas, as a result of "aiming error". The USA was reported to be keen to bomb Nagasaki as it was relatively unscathed by other bombing and would thus allow the US to gather data about the effects of the nuclear explosion. The human impact of this was harrowing, with ordinary people just going about their everyday vaporised or seriously injured. From a population of about 240k, approximately 75k died all but instantly, with a further 75k seriously injured and dying over the ensuing weeks, months and years. The ability of Japan to provide humanitarian aid, or even emergency services like medical, firefighting and rescue was seriously compromised by the diversion of most resources to the bombing in Hiroshima three days before. So the people of Nagasaki suffered very badly. Historical documents were presented, speculating that Japan would have surrendered by November 1945 without either of the nuclear bombings.

It's hard to know the truth, but the aftermath was totally horrendous and I certainly hope most fervently that no other people ever have to endure this nuclear torture ever again.

I'm also really astounded at the speedy normalisation of relations between Japan and the US/Australia after the atrocities committed by both sides. Nuclear boming without warning by our side and the death marches and inhumane treatment of POWs by Japan.

The only photo I took of this museum was of the strings and strings of "1000 paper cranes" made famous by the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. People all over the world make a string of 1000 paper cranes and send them to the museum for public display and to wish for hope and peace. I found this very moving. This photo shows only a small section of the display.

 

[Seat0B]

We Enjoy a Sunny Sunday Afternoon - 11 Feb 2024

Feeling heavy with emotion, we caught the street car to the opposite end of the line and then reset ourselves by enjoying a long walk in warm sunny weather through the back streets and finally along the beautiful harbour foreshore.

I indulged my interest in taking photos of dodgy looking electrical wiring .



As you can see, it was a flawless afternoon, and the fresh air and exercise, along with the sheer normality of humdrum Sunday activities did much to restore my sense of emotional wellbeing and balance. By about 4pm, I ws ready to eat - late lunch, early dinner, who knows what the meal was.

We dropped in to a family restaurant Gusto (a chain) which features robot service and which had a spectacular location overlooking the sunset across the harbour. We both ordered hanbaaga patties with various sauces, accompanied by corn and cabbage and french fries, washed down by a lemon sour for me and a beer for Mr Seat 0A - less than ¥3,000 for us both. Food was perfectly serviceable, for what it was and was served by a very cute cat robot with big anime eyes.



Thus fortified, we continued to walk along the foreshore and boardwalk, which was by now looking very pretty with night lights parkling. By the time we were ready to re-board the tram, it was only 1 stop back to the hotel, so we walked it.

Indulged in a long onsen soak in a quiet onsen, followed by a Dormy Inn free ice cream.

 

[Seat0B]

Dejima - Nagasaki Monday 12 Feb 2024 - Morning

Walked up to Dejima, the island reclaimed from the harbour to house first Portuguese and then Dutch merchants who were permitted to trade from here from the mid 1600s until around 1859 (end of Tokugawa/start of Meiji period). This was the period when most of Japan was closed to foreigners. These approved traders had to live and work under Japanese supervision on Dejima, which was the only place they were given this privilege. The characters for Dejima (出島) literally translate to "exit island", an apt description of the import/export activities that took place here. The traders were mainly employees of the Dutch East India Company who participated in strong trade with Batavia (Indonesia) to and from Europe. The main items imported to Japan were spices from Indonesia and porcelain from Europe. Exported items included rice, tea, sugar and Japanese porcelain and pottery - all these especially desired in Europe as the Chinese trade in such items was restricted during dynastic transitions in China.

Dejima is the site of major archeological effort to piece together the layout and construction of the island, and the lifestyle of the times (from middens). But many things still remain unclear. Many buildings have been painstakingly restored. Unfortunately I ws quite unwell on this morning, with a foul migraine-like headache (never had one before) that ultimately resulted in a public vomit (very embarrassing in Japan) and I needed a good lie down. So back to hotel for a rest and no photos taken, other than this one tech heavy thing from a Team Labs pop up on Dejima (the connection was lost on me!).

 

[rbjhan]

You are brave. I just can't deal with 納豆, at all - after several attempts!
I'm okay with the texture but the taste/smell kills me....

Yeah I like the 25:00 hours thing too!

 

[Seat0B]

You are brave. I just can't deal with 納豆, at all - after several attempts!
I'm okay with the texture but the taste/smell kills me....

Yeah I like the 25:00 hours thing too!

Well TBH it will never be something I would seek out, but for shock value it’s kind of fun!

 

[love_the_life]

A Sobering Morning in Nagasaki - Atomic Bomb Museum Sunday 11 Feb 2024
......

The only photo I took of this museum was of the strings and strings of "1000 paper cranes" made famous by the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. People all over the world make a string of 1000 paper cranes and send them to the museum for public display and to wish for hope and peace. I found this very moving. This photo shows only a small section of the display.

View attachment 374872

In a life long past, I was a school house coordinator for Seiwa House (because of the link of the nuns both at the college at Sasebo near Nagasaki and the establishment of my school). One of the first things the year 7 students would do was to learn to make the crane.

 

[Seat0B]

I Feel Better Now - Afternoon Monday 12 Feb 2024 - Nagasaki

After a good sleep for a couple of hours, I felt much better and so resumed the day.

Did a spot of shopping at a nearby You.Me shopping mall and visited my old favourites, Daiso and 3 Coins, where I stocked up on lots of little goodies for Seat Granddaughter - hair clips, hair ties, head bands, stickers, craft items, cutsie soft toys and pretty socks as well as some small items of home wares for ourselves - some chopsticks, mini milk jugs for cups of tea, small plates for nibbles etc.

Onthe way home, I passed a sign that just seems a bit jarring to me. It's for Family Mart - one of the more popular brands of convenience stroe (konbini) that are ubiquitous in Japan. So what is odd about it? Well the Japanese writing on this sign proclaims "alcohol" and "tobacco", which just seems a bit at odds to the image of a family store to me .



Next order of business was Inasayama ropeway to see the sunset and night view, which is rates as one of the top three in the world (according to the internet). Caught the #4 bus at Ekimae and rode few stops to Ropeway stop. Walked up a steep slope to the start of the ropeway, which was actually a gondola style cable car for ¥1,250 each return ride. There wasn't much of a wait, which was great and we were soon up to the station on Mt Inasa. from here it was a very short walk to the observation deck, and the view which was honestly spectacular. we had timed it perfectly and arrived exactly as night was falling, and as it got darker, the lights got brighter and view more beautiful with each passing minute. We saw a well lit curise ship departing through the heads right on sunset.


It was really helpful that we had walked all over the harbour foreshore area in the past few days, as it gave us our bearings to know what we were looking at. We recognised many places we had visited - Dejima, the Peace Park, Chinatown, the main station and even our hotel building.



it was a lovely time. caught the bus back - a longish wait, which is unusual in Japan, and very crowded, which is not unusual! I still did not feel 100%, so we had a 7/11 "room service" dinner and a long onsen and icecreams before returning to the room to pack ready for departure tomorrow.

I have really enjoyed this time in Nagasaki. I came here without any real expectations other than the Atomic Bomb Museum, and I found the city very pleasant - clean, pretty, plenty to do. I would come back here.

 

[Seat0B]

Another Day on the Trains - Nagasaki - Kagoshima Tuesday 13 Feb 2024

The geography of Kyushu, and the relative underdevelopment of the JR shinkansen lines on Kyushu certainly make travel around the island interesting and indirect! This is the first trip to Japan where I have genuinely thought that some of our plans might have been easier by car. Still, all these trips made the newly expensive JR Pass worthwhile, and I do love me a train journey in Japan, so I was not too concerned about today, which involved three trains in just under 3 hrs with changes at Takeo Onsen and Shin Tosu riding Kamome 20, Kamome Relay 20 and Sakura 549. Here I am at the station in Nagasaki, and that's our lovely train, Kamome 20. She's a sleek beast. And I really like the architecture of newer JR stations all over Japan. They have a really nice feel to them - light, airy and quite spacious.

Kamome means seagull, hence the little seagull logo on the train. These trains only have ordinary class seats (no Green Class), but it is a very short ride back to Takeo Onsen, and ordinary class is pretty good!




A lot of people have had a lot of questions about the changes to luggage arrangements on some shinkansen - mainly these new rules only apply in the Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka area. If your bag is about 160 cm adding height, width and depth together, then you must reserve a "large luggage" seat. These are a bit limited in availability (often only 4-6 seats per car have the luggage space), and lots of people are complaining about it in various Facebook and other forums. However, you can fit a pretty big bag onto the luggage racks and thus avoid needing to book a luggage seat, just as long as you can lift it up that high. Our bags were 68cm - so standard med-large check in bags, and they weighed about 15-17 kg. I was able to hoick it up there OK although being shortish at 163cm was somewhat of an issue. Mr Seat 0A is 180cm and had no problems at all - so I mainly let him do it for me, although as I said elsewhere, a girl's got to be a bit independent. Here's a photo of our bags on the luggage racks of Kamome. As you can see, no trouble at all.


I wish I could say the same thing for Kamome Relay 20 - the train we took to link Kamome to Sakura shinkanesen to get to Kagoshima. Kamome Relay 20 thought she was a plane and provided small overhead lockers that had no chance at all of fitting our lbgs. So we "enjoyed" this leg of the journey with our bags around our legs . Luckily it was pretty short. And then no troubles at all once we got onto Sakura (no photo).



Because this trip was so short, we did not bother with an ekiben, and just ate some of our stash of snacks. We arrived too early for check in at our hotel Solaria Nishitetsu Ekimae, which wasn't until 1500. In keeping with just about everywhere in Japan, this time was strictly enforced. So we dropped our bags, sorted our transport passes at the tourist information, got details of tomorrow's foray to Sakurajima (one of the most active volcanoes in Japan) and then went for the now traditional coffee and cinnamon scroll at Starbucks.

Back 5 mins early and allowed to check in, which was great. This is a nice hotel, very close to the station (about 3 mins walk) and connected by walkways and escalators all under cover except for the last 100m or so. I had booked a volcano view room, and was really looking forward to opening the curtains and seeing it steaming away. I am not sure how it happened, but this was the one and only disappointment with a hotel. First thing, they said I had been upgraded to a much bigger and better room. Oh great, I thought - a bigger room is always good in Japan, where rooms can be pretty squeezy. No one mentioned whether there was a volcano view, and TBH, I was still a bit under the weather health wise so I didn't even think to ask. So it probably won't surprise anyone here (except me) to find that the view was not the volcano:



And the bed was pushed against the wall , which is one of my pet hates. I go to a lot of trouble to find places where you can walk around the bed, as nocturnal visits to the loo are a right pain when you either have to climb over your partner, or squinch yourself down and out the foot of the bed. Nice three way bathroom.


So I stomped downstairs to see if I could be "downgraded" back to my originally booked room, but it was not possible. I was told there were no other rooms available - which seemed a bit strange on a Tuesday in February - not exactly peak tourist season. Not sure if it was a language barrier or the truth, or they just couldn't be bothered doing the change. Anyway, there was nothing to be done so I had to just grin and bear it. Mr Seat 0A made me feel a bit better by telling me that it was forecast to cloud over tomorrow morning and then rain in the afternoon, so we probably wouldn't have seen too much of the volcano anyway. I appreciated his efforts, even though I knew it wasn't quite the case.

Headed off for an 80 minute orientation ride around the city and surrounds on the City View bus, which navigates some exceptionally steep and narrow streets - that driver deserved a medal!

The town is interesting - the vibe is a bit "tropical holiday destination in the off season" and a bit "trying hard to be a cool modern city". The landscape is totally dominated by the steaming volcano on Sakurajima, which is truly spectacular. I'm looking forward to our visit there tomorrow, as the write ups are very good.

Took an early dinner of gyoza and sizzle plate of pork and cabbage with a delicious smoky tasting sauce, plus some steamed green veg. Accompanied by a yuzushu for me and a beer for Mr Seat 0A. Then back to the room to have a long soak in the deep bath (no onsen at this hotel), which was a pretty nice alternative, followed by some phone calls home and a spot of diary writing.

edit: typos

 

[yachty]

Nagasaki is very underrated little city I feel, I really like it too!

 

[Seat0B]

Sakurajima - Not Quite What I Expected - Wednesday 14 Feb 24 Part 1

Up with some excitement about our visit to the volcano today, and totally enjoyed the full picture window view of it as we walked to breakfast in the restaurant. I bet it would have looked great from the room I booked .

Breakfast was the full Japanese spread - rice, noodles, miso, onsen tamago, yaki tamago, omelette, fish, (cooked and raw), sausages, heaps of pickles and salads, cake, pastry, fruit, yoghurt, juice, tea and dreadful drip coffee. Still was not feeling 100% so I ate very lightly this morning and forgot to take any photos.

made the 1005 #16 bus from Ekimae and went straight to the ferry port - about 10 mins. Walked straight on to the ferry and secured excellent seats outside at the very front of the ferry in pleasant sunshine and quite warm temperatures of around 18 degrees. I enjoyed the wind in my hair. The entertainment on board was watching the parking process for all the cars that boarded the ferry, and looking at the steaming volcano getting bigger and close over the 15 minute trip.


The volcano let out several puffs of steam during the trip, and I got some good photos. Which turned out to be the best ones of the day.


Upon alighting on Sakurajima, we made our way to the Island View Bus stop, and waited quite a while in a very long line of mainly Chinese tourists for the bus. Despite the best efforts of the bus line supervisor (yes really), there was a lot of pushing and shoving and people cutting into the line and then playing the "I don't understand" card when the supervisor tried to get them to move to the end of the line. The bus was crammed, and it was not a pleasant experience.

The island itself was very pretty, with dense tropical vegetation (creepers and thick undergrowth), tall trees and the volcano puffing out gusts of steam ans sometimes a greyish smoke. Pity I couldn't get to my phone.

We alighted at Yunohira observatory and climbed the observation deck for a 360 degree view, which was pretty nice - although by now it was very warm and there were some high clouds and haze as Mr Seat 0A had predicted yesterday. In some of the major eruptions, ejecta have hit Kagoshima (about 6 km across the straits). Unfortunately given the warm weather, the overheated and over crowded bus, the narrow and winding mountain road and my general lacklustre health, I got a bit of motion sickness on the way up to the observatory, so i mainly looked at the view and drank Coke (my go to for nausea, who knows why, but it's the only time I ever drink it). I felt better after a while - just in time to tackle the trip back down again, back to the main port area. The line for the bus was just as long as before, so given everything, we decided to walk to the Visitor Centre to learn more about the volcano and its eruptions.

 

[Seat0B]

Sakurajima - Not Quite What I Expected - Wednesday 14 Feb 24 Part 2

The walk to the visitor centre was about 10 minutes, and we beat the bus! The centre was quite good - it provided a lot of general information about volcanoes, some instrumentation about the state of Sakurajima, and details about the major eruptions in 1471, 1779 and 1914 including scientific and historical information. This had been translated into several languages (English, Chinese, Korean) so stamps to them, but I really would have liked a lot more details about sakurajima specifically and the impact on local people and their way of life rather than just general volcano stuff you could have read on wikipedia.

Next stop was the Yogan Nagisa Footbath which was 100m long and filled with hot onsen water courtesy of the volcano. It was most relaxing to sit for a while and soak our feet - until 3 tour buses of Chinese tourists arrived. They certainly spoiled my enjoyment with very loud and unruly children jumping and splashing in the footbath, loud conversation and yelling to each other and a lot of jostling and bumping as they passed by. And then, after just a few minutes, they all left and quiet calm descended again.


While we were at the footbath, the predicted rain started to loom, so we were very pleased that we had taken in the views and walked earlier in the day. It really looked like it was going to start raining any moment, so we beat a hasty retreat back to the port stopping for some sandwiches, melon pan, other pastries, nori shio chips and drinks which we planned to eat at the ferry terminal or on the ferry. As we hastened back to the terminal, it started to rain, but we made it without getting too wet. Walked straight onto the return ferry, ate our lunch on the trip and had only a 10 min wait for the city bus back to the JR station and ultimately our hotel via Starbucks for coffee. Did 2 loads of washing on the women only floor for ¥300 ea. Then a delicious dinner of pork and cabbage in miso, and a beef stir fry thing that was tender and lovely.

All up, I had a good enough day at Sakurajima, but it certainly wasn't what I expected. For context, I have been to Whaka'ari (White Island) twice before the explosion, and I guess I was expecting an experience like that, which was actually pretty hard core adventurous. On Whaka'ari, you had to actually put on a gas mask several times and as we know from the tragic explosion, guests had the chance to get very up close and personal with the volcano, vents, fumeroles, mud ponds etc. You had to be accompanied by a guide, and the guides had extensive, impressive knowledge to share.

Sakurajima was nothing like this at all. The volcano itself is totally off limits - fenced off for a large exclusion zone. It's a very Disney-like experience with buses, concrete, long lines and no chance to directly interact at all. Sakurajima is a real place where people live, so it was just like any other small town in Japan, just with the scenic volcano in the background. There are no guides - it's a self guiding tourist experience, with signs and a map marked up with points of interest. Of course, this makes it much safer than visiting Whaka'ari turned out to be. Probably I should have done more research about the destination to understand what I would see and do, but I was disappointed as it wasn't the experience I thought it might be. I'm not sorry I went, but I would not go again, and given how inconvenient it was to get there, I probably would not encourage others to take the effort involved.

 

[fly2earth]

Another Day on the Trains - Nagasaki - Kagoshima Tuesday 13 Feb 2024

The geography of Kyushu, and the relative underdevelopment of the JR shinkansen lines on Kyushu certainly make travel around the island interesting and indirect! This is the first trip to Japan where I have genuinely thought that some of our plans might have been easier by car. Still, all these trips made the newly expensive JR Pass worthwhile, and I do love me a train journey in Japan, so I was not too concerned about today, which involved three trains in just under 3 hrs with changes at Takeo Onsen and Shin Tosu riding Kamome 20, Kamome Relay 20 and Sakura 549. Here I am at the station in Nagasaki, and that's our lovely train, Kamome 20. She's a sleek beast. And I really like the architecture of newer JR stations all over Japan. They have a really nice feel to them - light, airy and quite spacious.

Kamome means seagull, hence the little seagull logo on the train. These trains only have ordinary class seats (no Green Class), but it is a very short ride back to Takeo Onsen, and ordinary class is pretty good!

View attachment 375114View attachment 375109View attachment 375110View attachment 375111


A lot of people have had a lot of questions about the changes to luggage arrangements on some shinkansen - mainly these new rules only apply in the Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka area. If your bag is about 160 cm adding height, width and depth together, then you must reserve a "large luggage" seat. These are a bit limited in availability (often only 4-6 seats per car have the luggage space), and lots of people are complaining about it in various Facebook and other forums. However, you can fit a pretty big bag onto the luggage racks and thus avoid needing to book a luggage seat, just as long as you can lift it up that high. Our bags were 68cm - so standard med-large check in bags, and they weighed about 15-17 kg. I was able to hoick it up there OK although being shortish at 163cm was somewhat of an issue. Mr Seat 0A is 180cm and had no problems at all - so I mainly let him do it for me, although as I said elsewhere, a girl's got to be a bit independent. Here's a photo of our bags on the luggage racks of Kamome. As you can see, no trouble at all.

View attachment 375112
I wish I could say the same thing for Kamome Relay 20 - the train we took to link Kamome to Sakura shinkanesen to get to Kagoshima. Kamome Relay 20 thought she was a plane and provided small overhead lockers that had no chance at all of fitting our lbgs. So we "enjoyed" this leg of the journey with our bags around our legs . Luckily it was pretty short. And then no troubles at all once we got onto Sakura (no photo).

View attachment 375113

Because this trip was so short, we did not bother with an ekiben, and just ate some of our stash of snacks. We arrived too early for check in at our hotel Solaria Nishitetsu Ekimae, which wasn't until 1500. In keeping with just about everywhere in Japan, this time was strictly enforced. So we dropped our bags, sorted our transport passes at the tourist information, got details of tomorrow's foray to Sakurajima (one of the most active volcanoes in Japan) and then went for the now traditional coffee and cinnamon scroll at Starbucks.

Back 5 mins early and allowed to check in, which was great. This is a nice hotel, very close to the station (about 3 mins walk) and connected by walkways and escalators all under cover except for the last 100m or so. I had booked a volcano view room, and was really looking forward to opening the curtains and seeing it steaming away. I am not sure how it happened, but this was the one and only disappointment with a hotel. First thing, they said I had been upgraded to a much bigger and better room. Oh great, I thought - a bigger room is always good in Japan, where rooms can be pretty squeezy. No one mentioned whether there was a volcano view, and TBH, I was still a bit under the weather health wise so I didn't even think to ask. So it probably won't surprise anyone here (except me) to find that the view was not the volcano:

View attachment 375115

And the bed was pushed against the wall , which is one of my pet hates. I go to a lot of trouble to find places where you can walk around the bed, as nocturnal visits to the loo are a right pain when you either have to climb over your partner, or squinch yourself down and out the foot of the bed. Nice three way bathroom.
View attachment 375116View attachment 375117View attachment 375118

So I stomped downstairs to see if I could be "downgraded" back to my originally booked room, but it was not possible. I was told there were no other rooms available - which seemed a bit strange on a Tuesday in February - not exactly peak tourist season. Not sure if it was a language barrier or the truth, or they just couldn't be bothered doing the change. Anyway, there was nothing to be done so I had to just grin and bear it. Mr Seat 0A made me feel a bit better by telling me that it was forecast to cloud over tomorrow morning and then rain in the afternoon, so we probably wouldn't have seen too much of the volcano anyway. I appreciated his efforts, even though I knew it wasn't quite the case.

Headed off for an 80 minute orientation ride around the city and surrounds on the City View bus, which navigates some exceptionally steep and narrow streets - that driver deserved a medal!

The town is interesting - the vibe is a bit "tropical holiday destination in the off season" and a bit "trying hard to be a cool modern city". The landscape is totally dominated by the steaming volcano on Sakurajima, which is truly spectacular. I'm looking forward to our visit there tomorrow, as the write ups are very good.

Took an early dinner of gyoza and sizzle plate of pork and cabbage with a delicious smoky tasting sauce, plus some steamed green veg. Accompanied by a yuzushu for me and a beer for Mr Seat 0A. Then back to the room to have a long soak in the deep bath (no onsen at this hotel), which was a pretty nice alternative, followed by some phone calls home and a spot of diary writing.

edit: typos

You can ask Doraemon to teleport you to Yokohama (after all this is Japan)...would have killed for a room facing the ferris wheel in an alternative world lol

 

[Seat0B]

Another day, another few trains to catch - Kagoshima to Beppu Thursday 15 Feb 2024

I've been really feeling tired these last few days. I was warned that I might not feel "normal" again for 6-12 months after the chemo, but I did not think that I would be quite as tired as I am. Anyway, up for another "early" start to make breakfast with last entry at 0900. The Japanese don't seem to understand that people on holiday might like to sleep in and not be hustled to breakfast so early in the morning. It's so odd given that most coffee shops and bakeries do not open early . Ah the joys of travel. Weather did not help me to rise early as the forecast rain is well and truly here, with the skies grey and steady rain falling. Glad we went to Sakurajima yesterday.

Over to the station, caught the Sakura 552 all the way back north to Kokura (which I now know was the originally intended target the day Nagasaki was bombed), and then connected to the Sonic 23 for the run into Beppu. The Sonic 23 was a fast regional train, metallic blue in colour and quite comfy, except for limited luggage space. Still we managed by placing our bags in the little bar area between our front row seat and the driver's compartment (where Mr Seat 0A is sitting).. The train was not too full at the start of the run, but by teh time we arrived in Beppu all the seats were taken.


I enjoyed a coffee and pastry (mystery scary animal face) picked up in Kokura on this leg. It was tasty - soft sweet bread filled with delicious vanilla custard, and chocolate trim.




We had a front row seat and I really enjoyed watching the driver run through all her "look and point" safety checklists with her white gloves on. It's a real feature of travel on JR, and as you might imagine, it's a bit like handwriting - every driver has their own style and some have quite a bit of flourish.



Arrived in Beppu bang on time and it was fantastic to find that our hotel, the newly opened Amanek Yula-re, was only 5 mins walk from the station, if that. We arrived at 1450 and were invited to sit in the comfy chairs in the foyer until it was time to check in at....1500 . W were served by a charming young woman with impeccable english which she rally wanted to pracitice, although we did do a little bit of tourist info/generaly chatting in Japanese, which surprised her. At check in, we were advised to be sure to take our amenities and particularly the lovely patterned yukata provided for guests "as it can be quite busy later". Armed with that detail, we selected yukata, hair bands, face masks, toothbrushes, tea bags etc from the amenities stand that you find in most Japanese hotels and decided to head straight to the onsen before that also got too busy. Very good decision as both the mens' and ladies' onsens were virtually empty at this time and not only could I soak, I could get some photos too.. There ws a sweeping view over the city and out to the ocean, and it was extremely relaxing and pleasant to soak with a view. I thought the onsen pools themselves were not as nice as the ones at Dormy Inn at nagasaki, and there was no free icecream either. Lesson for the future will be to always book at Dormy Inn if possible. We've stayed in three now, and they are uniformly great. Still, that's getting really picky and it was a lovely way to relax into Beppu. Most Japanese people who come to Beppu are here for an onsen holiday.







I relaxed so much, I had a cheeky afternoon nap - for 3 hours - and then predictably it seems, couldn't be bothered going out for dinner . So again we did konbini "room service" including buying our own post onsen icecreams. Which Mr Seat 0A organised while I slept. You can see my pretty yukata in this photo.


Mr Seat 0A commented that as predicted by the kind check in lady, the yukata and amenities looked like they had been attacked by a swarm of locusts aka a few busloads of Chinese tourists who continue to be quite unpleasant - pushing into lines, racing into lifts when it's not their turn, failing to control their children (and I'm talking about children of 8+, not babies or toddlers who run to their own drum) and generally being loud and unpleasant. This was a bit of a taste of things to come....

 

[RooFlyer]

I don't ski, so have been following the TR with interst as a prospective visitor to Japan. But Sakurajima - now I'm jealous.

 

[rbjhan]

Ah yes I hate those hotel breakfasts finishing at 9 or something!

There is a new Onyado Nono in Beppu...maybe I should try that one next time...although not sure when I will go to Kyushu again!
Counting the Dormy Inns (including Onyado Nono and their ryokans) I've stayed at:
Kyoto x2, Tokyo x2, Kanazawa, Nara, Izumo, Okayama, Matsumoto, Nagano, Shuzenji....hmmm....

 

[Seat0B]

Ah yes I hate those hotel breakfasts finishing at 9 or something!

There is a new Onyado Nono in Beppu...maybe I should try that one next time...although not sure when I will go to Kyushu again!
Counting the Dormy Inns (including Onyado Nono and their ryokans) I've stayed at:
Kyoto x2, Tokyo x2, Kanazawa, Nara, Izumo, Okayama, Matsumoto, Nagano, Shuzenji....hmmm....

Yes we saw the new Onyado Nono. It was on the walk to our hotel Amanek Yula-re and it looked absolutely beautiful - just like the one we stayed at in Matsumoto last year. It was less than 2 minutes from the station. I must admit I had a bit of orderer's remorse that I had chosen the Amanek instead.