Day 21

-Miyajima

e Itsukushima shrine is famous for its floating torii gate...

momiji manju, pastries shaped like maple leaves and grilled oysters are a must-try...

had oyster soba for lunch...nice & hot...

visited e Hiroshima peace memorial hall and museum...e Genbaku Dome-A-Bomb Dome is a famous landmark and e only still standing ruins...

dinner was okonomiyaki, hiroshima style, topped with noodles...

Hiroshima

Day 20
-Onomichi

went Mt. Senkoji, climbed up to Senkoji temple to one of the observation decks...

Onomichi city...

Dinner was ramen but eaten cold and dipped in sauce...nice chewy texture, great for summer!

Day 18
-Beppu
went to visit a series of onsens known as e"jigoku meguri" -e "hell" tour...as potrayed below...we walked about 4.5km to reach e point...its on a higher latitude...Beppu is an onsen filled region...e smoke you see everywhere is evident...finally got to try e sand bath in the evening...nice place solely for onsen...

dinner...

Day 19

-Yamaguchi

went Yada Onsen station where we had free feet onsens...

lunch at Skylark family restaurant...hamburger steak is a common western-style dish in Japan...

Yamaguchi-> Hiroshima

Fukuoka

Day 16 & 17
-Fukuoka

Mainly a place for shopping...there's so many deserts in the shopping basements...i so wanna try them all!

for baseball fanatics...e yahoo dome...

chicken and cow offal steamboats are the local specialty...

top grade unagi for lunch!

another round of steamboat....we've been spoiling ourselves these few days with better meals..hah...

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Fukuoka-> Beppu

Nagasaki

Day 14

-Nagasaki

We are staying at Akari hostel...would recommend this hostel if u r heading to Nagasaki...pretty budget too at 2,800 yen per night...

Had champon for lunch...it's actually originated from Fujian cuisine, a local specialty...unlike the usual ramen...it's much more filling with more generous servings of seafood ingredients...

Visited e Nagasaki harbor, e Dejima wharf...beautiful...there's always a crowd at e seaside park...i'll love to hang-out at this place over esplanade any day...

went to confucian shrine koshi-byo, hollander slope & shinchi chinatown as well...but most of e chinese population has vacated out of e area...so not much of a chinatown really...

Day 15

-atomic bomb epicenter, nagasaki atomic bomb museum, nagasaki musuem of history and folklore, nagasaki national peace memorial hall, urakami cathedral, peace park...

e rendering of e atomic bombing is distressing...

Nagasaki-> Fukuoka

Day 11
-Yakushima

Took a ferry to Yakushima to visit the Yakusugi Forest...which inspired Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke....a pity we didn't make it to the setting in the film due to bad weather conditions and we weren't adequately dressed in hiking gear...would like to make a trip back again someday...nice place...and if it's of interest to you...there are thousand year old cedar trees found in these forests!



Day 12
-Kagoshima-> Kumamoto

Paid a visit to e Kumamoto castle (top 3 must visit castles in Japan)...look at the structures of this castle! E pic below was taken from the sixth storey of e main building...

And lunch...tonkatsu ramen....many more similar bowls for meals...hah...

trams are frequent sights in this prefecture as well as the Kyushu region...

Day 13

-Kumamoto-> Sago

Stopped over at a few prefectures along our way...Sago is too...did nothing much...walked around...visited a museum and e Saga castle...

autumn came early!...hah....just passed by these few trees which oozes e image of autumn...

E Saga Castle History Musuem is e first main palace(where feudal lords resided) to be restored & is e largest wooden structure of its kind in Japan...

Sago-> Nagasaki