Hello, hello, howdy do. Welcome to the blob about my winter vacation to Kyushu from 12/27/2024 to 01/03/2025. My 8 day vacation was full of fun times so I wish you luck in reading this whole post my GIBPs (Grace's Ingenious Blog Partakers).
December 27th, 2024, I started my trip. Since I was taking the trains and not driving, I had a long travel day. I will describe the whole thing: 30 min train, wait 30 min, bus for 1 hour 40 min, wait 30 min, 36 min train, 3 hour ferry, arrive! But, since there was a break between the trains and buses it didn't feel so bad and as I always say, "enjoy the journey." I quite enjoyed the journey and it was full of beautiful sights. The ferry was so cool too! I hadn't been on a big ferry before so I didn't know what to expect but what I was expecting was a small rinky-dink boat exposed to the elements with a rough ride. This boat was big and enclosed with very nice amenities and it was a smooth ride. Since the boat is in Japan, the interior setup did not consist of only seats and chairs. Most of the boat featured small cube spaces where many people could sit on the floor. I actually much preferred this because then you could stretch your legs, lie down, walk around, etc. It was really great for families with small children too. There were still some lounge areas with cushioned benches and chairs. There was also a food area with vending machines (like a Cup Noodle vending machine) and a place where you could buy small warm snacks like fries. Overall 10/10 boat ride. I just read Harry Potter the whole time.
When I arrived in Beppu on the 27th I headed straight to the Onsen. There was a nice onsen I found online which, unfortunately (this will be a reoccurring theme), I have great taste and the onsen was very busy. But, luckily it thinned out a little bit during my stay there. It was a very nice onsen with multiple different baths. I was about done when I discovered the other half of the onsen 😂 I then got myself a pudding which was a specialty of the onsen and then a nice meal which also came with a pudding, so i had two puddings that night 😂. After my meal, I headed to my hostel to sleep.
The next day I headed off early to Fukuoka. I arrived in Fukuoka, found a coin locker and put my stuff in, then headed to a Kirby Cafe for lunch. I had discovered that Fukuoka had a Kirby Cafe and booked way in advance because I really wanted to go. It was just as great as I expected. The whole cafe was themed and decorated so cutely and I enjoyed every second. The food was actually not that good but it looked cute 😂 You can buy souvenir dishes with your meal or more nick-nacks in the store connected to it. I bought a couple of nice goodies and headed on my way.
This Kirby Cafe was located in Canal City, Fukuoka which turns out to be a crazy big, pretty shopping center. And since I am a small-town girl both in and out of Japan, I get easily fascinated by city things, including big department stores and shopping centers. So, I discarded my itinerary and made a new plan for the day (I then discarded that plan as well). After my lunch, I headed to my next stop on my itinerary which was the Fukuoka City Museum which turned out to be closed 😭. I then spotted a beautiful library next door and headed over there as a replacement, which also turned out to be closed 😭 So, for those who don't know, New Year is a very important holiday in Japan. Therefore, most things close around and on New Year's including museums.
So, I had to move up my itinerary and go to Fukuoka Tower. Passing by on my way to Fukuoka Tower was a cute, temporary, outside ice skating event with some food booths, etc. which was very cute. I made it to Fukuoka Tower and the views were lovely. I met a worker who was impressed with my Japanese and gave me some of her origami that she makes as a hobby.
After Fukuoka Tower, I headed to my next destination. But on my way, I noticed a suspiciously large amount of merchandise (merch) from a K-pop group I know. Now, this was suspicious because ever since the train in the morning from Beppu, I had been seeing some merch here and there and I just thought that maybe there were a lot of fans in this part of Japan 😆 But as I approached the big stadium in Fukuoka, Pay Pay Dome, I noticed everyone wherein nice outfits and carrying this groups merch so I knew I had to investigate. I walked up the stairs to this dome and saw a mass of people wearing nice concert clothes and small banners with pictures of the K-pop group I know. I then had to google whether what I was thinking was correct and sure enough it was. This K-pop group I know was performing a concert in the stadium I was standing at in about an hour and a half. I haven't been following this group super closely but I was still surprised at the coincidence of them being in the same city as I and performing the same night I am there. So... I decided to give points to spontaneity and buy concert tickets right there and attend this concert 😂 It was a great concert and the biggest I've ever been to so I was jaw-dropped when I first entered. At K-pop concerts, the audience all has a light stick sort of thing so having seats in the way back (like I had) is still a great view because you have a sea of stars around you and it is so pretty. After the concert, I went to my hostel and went to sleep.
Day 2 of Fukuoka was busy because I had to make up on my itinerary I canceled the day before. I first got up and explored Canal City for a couple of hours and grabbed breakfast/lunch. Then, I went to BOSS E Z Fukuoka which is a temporary attraction next to Pay Pay Dome, which has a bunch of different technological attractions, including a TeamLabs collaboration that combines technology and art. It started with an interactive exhibit that used a phone app. On the walls and floor were various endangered animals and on your phone, you could catch the animals, read information on them, and then release them. It was very pretty and very informative. The next room had butterflies on the wall and every time you touched the wall it would spawn more butterflies. Then, there was a room full of half balls that you would step on and they would change patterns. Next, was a big room with illumination on the walls and ground and showed various moving art. For example, flower petals would turn into running animals. Lastly, was a big bubble room with lots of inflatable eggs and balls. Then, I was able to color a nice flower 😊
There was also a VR floor, a museum on a famous Japanese baseball player, a cat floor full of cat pictures, and a Sanrio character floor. I didn't go to all the floors but the floors I went to were super cute and fun. For dinner, I wanted to go to this delicious-looking Motsu Nabe (intestine hot pot) restaurant but again, I have great taste, and I was so full with a long line out the door so I walked around for about 30 mins looking for a motsu nabe restaurant but so was EVERY PERSON IN THIS CITY. So, it was tough. BUT. I finally found one and had my nabe and all was well. I then trained to Kumamoto and went to sleep.
December 30th, I awake in Kumamoto. Today's plan was to be a city gal. My itinerary was to go to a shopping mall, watch a movie, and walk around the movie theatre and that's exactly what I did. I woke up and had a late breakfast/lunch at this nice Italian restaurant. The Italian restaurant was in the nearby mall, was on the 7th floor, and was located at the edge of the building so I had an amazing view. Since I was the first person there, I got a very good seat with a beautiful view of some of the city and the nearby hill. There was a Buddhist temple on top and it was a cool white building so it stood out. The lunch was amazing and I explored the mall some more.
Then, I headed to the movie theatre which turns out was in another mall. I watched Moana 2 in Japanese because they did not have the English and it wasn't too bad. I understood the speaking but as soon as the Japanese turned into a song my understanding decreased by at least 50%😂. But, I still understood the movie and it was good and entertaining. After the movie, I explored the mall a little bit and then explored Kumamoto Castle. Overall a very nice and relaxing day.
I headed to Kagoshima that night and ran into another restaurant trouble. I picked a too popular of a restaurant and ended up having to wait until 9pm to grab dinner😰 But! It was all-you-can-eat Wagyu beef so it was worth 😊😋
The next day I accidentally slept in until 11:30am due to poor sleep at the hostels and staying out late the previous night, so I had to alter my itinerary once again but it ended up working out. I started out with a mediocre sushi lunch because the place I wanted to go to was closed. Then, I headed to a Meiji Restoration museum. The museum was great and very informative and I really liked the animatronics show.
After that, I headed to the aquarium. A nice small aquarium but the real kicker was halfway through the aquarium. There was a resting area that had the best view of Sakurajima, the famous volcano island in Kagoshima, with a vending machine of ice cream so I stayed there for at least 30 minutes. My next stop on the itinerary was Sakurajima but I chickened out because it is an active volcano and had erupted larger than normal the week before and started pluming while I was watching it at the aquarium. Since I couldn't get a better view than from the safety of the aquarium, I decided to not go to Sakurajima. And it worked out because I slept in so I was a little scrunched on time. I then checked out some holiday lights in a nearby park and they were very pretty.
I spent, again, about 30 minutes looking around for an open and empty restaurant. I finally found a burger restaurant so I had a nice burger for my New Year's Eve meal. I went to bed early and did not stay up till midnight for the first time in my life because I was getting up to see the sunrise the next morning.
My New Year's Day started dark and early. I crawled my way out of bed, hiked my way up the hill, and waited for the sun to rise with multiple other people. It was a beautiful view and a peaceful morning. After the sunrise, I stopped by the shrine nearby with all the other sunrise viewers and did the traditional Japanese New Year's shrine visit. I bought some charms, got my fortune, and bought some Zenzai (red bean sweet soup). The shrine took less time than I anticipated so I spent a couple hours chilling in my hotel room and talking with my family on the phone, still in 2024.
My next stop was the circus! The day before as I was leaving the aquarium, I noticed a large suspicious tent in the distance so I googled it and lo and behold, there was a circus in town and they were performing on New Year's Day! So, after chilling in my hotel I headed to the circus. It was a great show and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the circus, I trained over to Miyazaki. I had dinner at the only open restaurant 🙏 and head to bed.
In Miyazaki, everything was still pretty closed but I was still able to find some things to do. First, I headed to the department store to buy souvenirs, then grabbed some lunch. Next, my main plan for the day was the zoo. It was a 40 minute bus ride that only occurred every 2 hours, so I went, stayed for 2 hours, then left. It was a cute zoo, not the best I've been but still nice. I quickly visited a neighboring shrine after the zoo as well. Lastly, I had some spare time but was a little tired so I decided to watch another movie. I watched Sonic 3 in Japanese and it was really good! The movie itself was really entertaining and the Japanese dub was really good. I understood probably 90% of it but missed a few jokes here or there. The movie wrapped up my trip and I headed to bed one last time.
I woke up on January 3rd for the travel day home. It was the same as before but this time with an additional 2 hour train ride at the start. The views were lovely and it was a good rest so it wasn't too bad. The most interesting thing that happened was in Usuki before my train. I came across a gang of cats eating a corpse of a lunch. I was very eager to be back home and so was my knee. It had started hurting in Kagoshima when I walked but unfortunately, I walked nearly everywhere so I did not have time to recover (it is still not fully recovered after 2 days of rest 😩).
Thanks for sticking around till the end. The theme of the trip was spontaneity. I had a great time on my trip and I'm happy to share it with you all. Till next time my GIBPs
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