On the first weekend of April, Austin and I were out hiking in the north of Nobeoka when all of a sudden it began to snow. Snow! In April! I shouldn’t have been so surprised – it’s been a pretty weird spring so far. Not only has the weather stayed unusually cold in Miyazaki, the cherry blossoms have been late…
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“Please visit Miyazaki again,” a sign reads at the entrance to the prefecture’s last tunnel burrowing through the Kyushu Mountain Range on Route 219. When you emerge on the other side, another one is waiting to greet you: “Welcome to Kumamoto!” It’s as if the passageway is a portal, transporting you to another world. And that’s exactly what Hitoyoshi feels…
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In Japan, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city or town that doesn’t have at least one onsen (温泉). Thanks to abundant geothermal activity on the archipelago, there are thousands of these natural hot springs scattered throughout each of the prefectures. Not to be confused with bathhouses, or sentō, in which heated tap water is used, onsen must contain at…
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The rain had cleared up by the time I got back from the cave into Bungoono proper, so I took myself off to see the Harajiri Falls, nicknamed the “Niagara of the Orient”. I’ve discovered that Japan is sometimes guilty of exaggerating its attractions in write ups, though, and the falls are no exception. They are indeed beautiful, and earn the 91st…
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I have never seen an active volcano in real life before, so when John reminded me that there was one just a 15 minute ferry ride away from where we would be spending the weekend, of course we had to go. Andrea had invited us to her birthday party in Kagoshima City on the Saturday night, so John flew down early…
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For a country that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, Japan sure knows how to do Christmas lights. They are the romantic backdrop for Christmas Eve – a night celebrated like Valentines Day, where couples take strolls to see the lights and then enjoy dinner at a fancy restaurant. The lights are called ‘illuminations’ (イルミネーション) and go up in December. They stay put well into…
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I’ve barely left my apartment these past two weekends: a last effort in tightening the purse strings before my big trip to New York later this month (12 days and counting!). But to be honest, in this weather, I didn’t need much of an excuse. On Sunday, though, I decided to brave the cold and go check out the Nyutabaru…
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On the fourth day of Matthew’s visit – and the last day we would have time to do sightseeing together – we decided to visit Aya. An hour or so west of Takanabe, the town is part of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages In Japan and is best known for its castle and a suspension bridge that towers 142 m (466 ft)…
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On a long weekend in July, I made the 106 km (67 mi) trek up north by car to Takachiho Gorge. Since the holiday was Marine Day, it seemed fitting to spend it at one of Miyazaki’s most famous bodies of water.
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