mrwunrfl

Fukuoka Grand Hyatt
Hiroshima Sheraton Grand (maybe 3 min from shinkansen, get a room on the station side of building to get a good view of shinkansen and local trains coming and going. The lobby is a few floors above ground level by elevator and then a room higher up is quiet).
Hotel Patio Dogo, Matsuyama

Kurokawa Onsen Travel Guide - What to do in Kurokawa Onsen (japan-guide.com)

Yamamizuki Bettei Miyama Sansou
<山みず木別邸　深山山荘>
Detached Japanese/Western-style Room with Semi Open-air Bath (2 Beds)

progol

Thanks, mrwunrfl! The ryokan looks lovely and a wonderful place to stay. It’s a bit higher than I’m hoping to spend, but maybe worth a splurge.

I take it you approve of my latest plan - it makes sense, doesn’t it?!

mrwunrfl

Yep, they're fine. You mentioned mixed reviews and I could have put in a good word for Beppu but didn't want to encourage you.

mrwunrfl

I think some comments about Beppu that I have read are a bit harsh. I visited Beppu twice.

The first time was just for the day. I had taken a wonderful train ride up from Aso. My memory of the place was that it was unattractive, but I did have a good day. I visited Jigokudani which was fun and then stopped for a soak at two places, one was really nice. Then I went to Fukuoka for the night.

The second time I made an overnight visit to Beppu, staying at a very nice ryokan. The energetic okamisan picked me up at the station, I stayed at the ryokan the whole time, and then she drove me to the station the next day. So, the destination was the ryokan (Beppu Showaen), not Beppu.

progol

Thanks, mrwunrfl. There are some folks who really enjoyed Beppu and others who didn’t care for it at all. It seems a mixed bag at best.

For now, I like the ease of traveling directly to Kurokawa. The trip from Nagasaki to Hiroshima looks pretty easy (at least it’s all on the train!) and then we’ll only have the ferry from Hiroshima to Matsuyama.
—————-
Another question: IF I took one day from Kyoto, where would you recommend adding it?

Current plan:
Fukuoka-2 (1/2 day trip to Nanzoin)
Kurokawa-2
Kumamoto-2
Nagasaki-3
Hiroshima-1 (I’m fine with 1 night here)
Matsuyama -2
Takamatsu -3 (day trip to Naoshima included)
Kyoto-5

mrwunrfl

>> recommend adding
Fukuoka

>> very intrigued by Nagasaki
For very good reasons. It is not a typical Japanese city because of the historical foreign influences.

I have only passed through Kagoshima a few times (once when headed to/from Ibusuki and another time when headed to Kirishima Onsen and east)

Forgot to mention that the visit to Beppu Showaen was an overnight side-trip from Fukuoka.

progol

i see you responded before I removed my question about Kagoshima. I decided to leave Nagasaki in and keep to my latest plan.

If I do decide to add a day, then, I'll consider Fukuoka. Thanks!

mrwunrfl

Here is an onsen town on your route to/from Nagasaki. It is the transfer station between the shinkansen and the relay limited express. That transfer, btw, is extremely easy and quick.

Takeo Onsen Travel Guide - What to do around the Takeo hot springs (japan-guide.com)

The photo at the top is just something you will see in the mildly interesting Shinkan mentioned on that webpage. The baths here are classic, at least Motoyu was, and no other foreign tourists. Classic is one way to say 'old' and 'has seen better days' and gives the sense that you are really in Japan now, bathing like a local. There are reservation-required private baths available. I saw the entrance to that and got the sense that it was more modern but could be wrong about that. I visited there from Ureshino Onsen where I was staying. Afterwards went to Saga and had Saga beef at a great place near the station.

There are a couple of scenic trains in the area, but don't know how good:
TWO STARS 4047｜JR KYUSHU RAILWAY COMPANY

The "gives the sense that you are really in Japan" feeling is opposite of having the feeling that you are in Disneyland, full of noisy foreign tourists pinballing about (like at Yufuin Station area or Philosopher's Path or Dazaifu)

progol

Thanks so much for this. I don’t know if we’ll have time for a stop here but I love your description of “really being in Japan”. We felt that in Yamanaka onsen (Kaga onsen region) town where we, a Caucasian couple, wasn’t a common sight. The hotel had many people from Japan but few from elsewhere. In many ways, this was a real treat of an experience, feeling like we weren’t in tourist central.

vickiebypass

I just returned (two days ago) from my latest Japan trip and am pulling together my trip report but since you mentioned Nagasaki, I wanted to add in my two cents. My cruise ship stopped there for one day before Tokyo disembarkation so I only had a day to explore but agree with the historical aspects that are worth seeing, not to mention the harbor setting.

The harbor is surrounded by hills/mountains and the downtown area has expanded beyond the flat area, so has grown up the mountain sides. It was a rainy day in late March so mist wreathed the hills - very atmospheric. Before I went to any sites, I needed to get Japanese yen from an ATM and I needed to put money onto my transportation card so that was easily done at a convenience store. As I left the cruise terminal, directly across the street was an old building and as I was reading the sign, they opened the gate so in I went. It was an old bank building circa 1896 from the predecessor of HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai banking Company - who knew?). I love looking at old buildings; this had an interesting interior style with high ceilings, beige walls and dark woodwork; very grand staircase; other than the ground floor which was set up as a bank would’ve been, the other two floors were all about Sun Yat-Sen and his great friend from Nagasaki, Umeya Shokichi. Umeya was a very successful businessman and gave a lot of money to support Sun’s revolutionary goals - for newspapers, arms, etc. He was so distraught when Sun died that he commissioned 4 huge bronze statues of Sun which he gave to the Chinese govt. Most of the detailed signage was in Japanese but there were some brief notes in English. Interesting from the context of banking at the turn of the 19th c and into the 20th.

There's a tram system that goes to most of the tourist sites, along with public buses. I decided to walk to the train station in order to buy my tickets for upcoming train rides once I got off the ship, which was about 20 mins away. The rain was steady but I enjoyed the walk due to the harbor, hills and misty clouds. The train station was easy to navigate even though there's some construction and I got my tickets quickly. My plan for the day was to visit Dejima, originally a man-made island from the early 17th c to segregate Portuguese merchants & traders from the Japanese population and control their missionary activities. Nagasaki was the center of Japan's foreign trade relations for many centuries and was the most important of only a very few ports open to restricted numbers of foreign traders during Japan's period of isolation. After the Portuguese were evicted, Dejima became the only place Dutch traders could live & work. A lot of historical buildings were preserved or reconstructed, including various residences, kitchens, warehouses, walls and gates. It was interesting seeing the differences between residences for Dutch clerks and captains, Japanese officials, and chief factors. Some of the buildings are furnished as they would have been, but most are basically empty or have museum-type exhibits. There are various warehouses that were used to store sugar, spices, copper, etc. and the corresponding exhibits told those stories very well via photos, tools, scales and other implements. I didn't count the number of buildings, but I'd say there were about 20 that you can go into. It was easy to get a sense of the historical townscape since the buildings are laid out in lanes, outdoor lamps, gates and a nice garden.

My plan was also to visit Glover Garden, an open air museum that exhibits mansions of several of the city's former foreign residents post-opening of Nagasaki following the period of isolation but the rain wasn't letting up so I didn't go but if you have time, it looks fascinating. I decided not to visit the WWII related sites in order to focus on the 17th-19th century history.

progol

vickiebypass, Thank you so much for this wonderful description of your day in Nagasaki! That history is exactly why I think Nagasaki would be worthwhile to see - the fact that it was the only place open to the world during Japan’s isolationist period is fascinating and is why I think we’d enjoy seeing this city. A different experience to the rest of Japan.

I hope you had a wonderful trip overall and look forward to hearing more about it!

Mara

vickiebypass inspired me to look for my trip notes about Nagasaki. I was there more than ten years ago. I also went to Dejima - I had read a lot about it for some reason that I don't remember and found it so fascinating. I also stumbled upon the HSBC Bank where I had an account for many years in NYC. Also got to Glover Garden. And I did visit the Atomic Bomb area and remember thinking how nice the museum there was compared to the one in Hiroshima which was very crowded when I was there...anyway, Nagasaki is an interesting city to visit....

I am just back in Kyoto after a few days in Okinawa and Ishigaki - my first time there - quite different from the mainland...lol....

progol

Thanks so much, Mara! Nagasaki is now really capturing my interest and I’m now even happier with my plan. If we don’t ever get back to Japan after this, we’ll have had a good and diverse sampling of the country and if we ever do….there’s so much more to see!

mrwunrfl

I just took a look at booking Yamamizuki Bettei Miyama Sansou.for Oct 25 and see it is available for ¥68,200 for two guests or¥56,650 for one guest. Also saw that it is ¥44,000 at Yamamizuki which one of the places that are highly recommended by japan-guide.

Am pretty sure that the reason I booked Miyama lodging was because Yamamizuki didn't offer a solo traveler rate (and still doesn't)

Minamioguni Hotels – Japanican.com