Kyushu 2023 - Kagoshima Arrival

 

Next stop, Kagoshima! Why on earth were we even here besides the fact that we could with our Kyushu JR Pass. Well, volcanos! That's why! You'll see! And my first bullet train ride wasn't as exciting as I imagine it to be. It was very smooth inside the train, so it was just like normal train. Maybe it's cooler when you see one passing by. 

Arriving in Kagoshima, beautiful poster greeted us at the station hall. The signature volcano also featured in the poster. Love the classic design of it. 

There was even a display of all their local products in the train station. 

Walking out of Kagoshima station. Lots of old people in this city! And they are navigating the world on their own too. Respect. The old people here are so brave!

The view of the city of Kagoshima from the station. I think I went to that Aeon supermaket once while I was here. It looked a lot bigger than it was. I think it was just one storey. The rest was office buildings or something. Anyway, I didn't really have the time to explore the area during the whole trip. 

Google said I had to walk some distance to catch the tram to our hotel area. Which was weird since I could see a tram station directly in front of the JR Station. So of course I went to explore, and yup, can just board the tram from there lah. Note, don't always trust what Google tells you! I also realised that sometimes by looking at road signs around you, you can know where to head to instead of just looking at your phone to decide where to go. Sometimes we are so caught up with our mobile that we forgot that we still live in the real world!

Beautiful tram station with green carpet grass. 

And here is a sneak peak of why I was here! Will be visiting this place soon!

Finally we arrived at a stop near our hotel. It was near some shopping streets.

Walking through the shopping streets before reaching our hotel. Cool! Looks like a happening place!

We're staying at a chain hotel called APA Hotel, and there seems to be a few buildings of it here. The receptionist gave us this piece of paper to read, and off we went to check in!

Kyushu 2023 - Kumamoto to Kagoshima via Train

 

Last morning at the Super Lohas hotel here in Kumamoto. Gotta load up on the free breakfast as the next hotel doesn't comes with breakfast. Gotta alternate between good and average hotels for those longer duration travel. Although it does kinda brings you down when you down grade your lifestyle, even if for a short while..... anyway.

Making our way to the JR station, our train was not until later morning or noon time. So we got plenty of time to actually browse the mall. I headed for the bookstore. I love Japanese bookstores, as well as the variety of books I can find there. They have pretty unique books like day hikes from train station all over Japan, to slide of life books written by seniors, some as old as over 100! I especially like their lifestyle books and budgeting books. Even when I couldn't understand them, I bought them cause they were so calm to look at. Now that I can read a little bit, I made it a point to always buy some books back from Japan whenever I visit. 

There was again, Murakami books on sale here. Sorry, my level of Japanese is not up to novel standard yet. The best I could do is manga for kids :P

I was interested in this 3000yen budgeting book. But I couldn't see how much it cost, or perhaps I took a photo so that I can look for it closer to the last city we were visiting before leaving Japan. 

Books on Japanese culture also caught my attention. Basically, I am drawn to almost all the Non-Fiction books here. They are all so pretty! I wish I could read everything, or buy everything I want back. But I have so much unread Japanese book at home as it is already. Enough to last me a life time! Especially since they are non-fiction, you kinda have to use them. 

Lunch break before our train ride out of town. There was a big food court at the top floor of the mall. Someone had takoyaki. 

I wanted to have something very Japanese, so I was eyeing this crepes shop. Since I just had a free buffet breakfast from our hotel, I wasn't looking for a full set lunch. I just wanted something fun to eat, yet very Japanese. Yeah, I settle for crepes. You know why? Cause if you visit Tokyo, and went to Shibuya or Harujuku area, you'll see all these young ladies queueing up and eating crepes. And I've always wanted to try it, but I wasn't that financially willing then. Now as I grow older and wiser, it was time to live!

Ah, so pretty! And so many choices!

Me with my crepes! Happy. I might have gotten banana chocolate, which is my favourite combination of dessert toast, or maybe strawberries? I think it came with a coffee set too, why else would I paid extra for coffee, right? Lol. That's my guess anyway. It's been more than 2 years since I blog this! I can't imagine the day I would blog about my other long forgotten adventures in other countries! I have some maybe 10 years or older still waiting to get blog!

After our light lunch, we head to the train platform to wait for our train.

My faithful luggage. 2025, and I'm still travelling with it. I got this luggage when I joint a Japanese bank since I was expecting a lot of business trip. That was in 2015? So the bag is now 10 years old! I've changed the wheels, and even the handle before. There are dents on it (curtesy of Vietnam Airlines), and a crack few years back (probably from one of my solo trip), and recently I broke both the handles while I was about to start my Scotland trip! But I managed to survive the trip with a luggage belt, and that is how it will be until it is totally non-useable. Frankly, I can't bare the thought of parting with it. It's like my travelling partner now. 

Arrival of our train. Our first bullet train ride! Excited!

My ticket with the date time stamp of the ride for my souvenir shot.

And off we went on our next city!

Kyushu 2023 - Kumamoto Tonkatsu Dinner and Walking Back

 

A giant Kumamon in a mall welcoming us back to Kumamoto JR Station. It was still quite early in the day to go back to the hotel. So we decided to explore the mall, and maybe get our dinner there before walking home. I saw a tonkatsu restaurant at the mall and needed to convince my husband to agree to it for dinner.

Ta-dah! He agreed! Cause we can't be just eating fish every meal in Japan, right? Kumamoto is also famous for it's pork! So tonkatsu it was!

The menu. Since I was still 'working' during this trip, and the exchange rate was in our favour, we practically ate just anything we like. To  have a similar meal in Singapore would be way more expensive, and less delicious! And the best thing about tonkatsu restaurants is, the rice and cabbages are usually free flow!

The shop inside a mall. 

We got a seat, and order via the tablet at the table. The waitress was kind enough to show us where to re-order unlimited rice and cabbage should we need them. To my surprise, I didn't need to use it. The meal itself was satisfying enough.

Had a beer to share before the meal. I love the alcohol in Japan. I think it's the only country where I don't hesitate to drink daily, lol. You might think what a drunk I am, but you have just got to see the variety of drinks they have here! And they taste amazing too! And cheap!

The fun part of a tonkatsu was grinding your own sesame seeds. It used to be fun doing it. Now I just let my husband do it for me. The novelty of it was gone. Goes, writing this now, I wish I was less jaded in life. I wish I could summon up more energy to do bo liao stuff again and be looking forward to it. Geeesh, what is stopping me????

Wah! Such a big piece of tonkatsu! Told you it was so much more worth it eating this here in Japan. Had such a lovely dinner that day :)

After dinner, the sun was slowly starting to set, so we started our walk back to our hotel. 

Along the way, I get to enjoy all the  lovely trams moving all over the city.

I love trams, especially these small colourful ones in Japan. They made the town look like a toy town. They made the town look like it's run so orderly. 

Lovely street view.

There was a river nearby too, but we didn't cross the road to check it out. We were tired.

Green tram making a corner turn! 

It was our last day in Kumamoto. Bye bye Kumamon! We were leaving the next morning.

Kyushu 2023 - Kumamoto Taking the A-Train Back

We took the afternoon A-Train back to Kumamoto. Our little Kumamon bear had a few photos taken as there weren't much to do in the train. The view was still lovely though. And it dawn on me that actually, we could use our JR pass to take any earlier train back to Kumamoto..... But since we had tickets for the A-Train, why travel like a normal passanger! Hahahaha. Got to get our money's woof!

Kumamon going pass some seaside town on the way back. I would love to live here!

Passing by the beach where people were probably busy looking for shell fish or clams. Another childhood reminder. Hmmm. Japanese movies and drama do capture a lot of childhood memories for them. How come my local movies and drama don't do the same? 

I was equally surprised how uncrowded the beach was. It was a black sand beach too.

A view I've never seen before of a beach :)  The train actually made an announcement when we are approaching the beach area, so that the passengers know what is coming up and prepare themselves to take a look. I notice that KTM Malaysia sometimes also do this. I heard an announcement on a KTM train once (just once) when the train was passing by Prai

 river side that made the train looked like it was running on water. Pretty nice scene. 

Mid stop of the journey for some passengers to alight or get on. I bet this was also another tourist resort town! 

There were free sweets at the food carriage, so I took some, more for souvenir. 

And finally we were back in Kumamoto Station. Here's me signing off :) What a lovely day trip! I wish I could do more of these day trips where I live.

Kyushu 2023 - Kumamoto Mizumi Shopping and Lunch

 

So I kinda told my husband that I would bring him to a cool soya sauce shop in Mizumi, hence he agreed to come visit. Hahahahaha. So now was the time to go look for the shop. I wasn't lying. There was a shop just slightly out of town that sold home made soya sauce that they have been selling for years. I thought my husband would appreciate it since he loves making fermented stuff. It was still spring going on summer, so the wind catcher koi fishes were already flown. Maybe it was boys' day soon? But seeing those koi already reminded me of carefree childhood. Not my own. Just from those Japanese movies and drama I used to watch. 

Slowly, we made out way to the shop, leaving the small town behind. Railway tracks outside of town. It wasn't really far to walk. Maybe 30minutes. We have 4 hours anyway! Can't be just sitting at the light house for 4 hours looking at the sea, right?

Going pass fishing villages with fishing boats. I like scenes like these! So empty of people. Small town. I wonder if I would do well in a small town, where everyone knows everyone. I'm not good at socialising with town people. I find it hard to warm up to people, find it kinda fake. Like smiling to your local grocer because you need to buy stuff from them. It wasn't a genuine friendship. It was just business. But I guess it could be friendship too. But what if things turned awkward? Do you stop buying groceries from them then?

At last we found the shop! In the middle of nowhere, by the side of the main road.

And it was such a cute shop too, with a bear outside welcoming you.

Inside the shop, the shelves looked something from my aunty's kitchen. I love how simple it looked. 

The owner or shop keeper spoke a little English. And my husband bought some sauces from him. It was just a nice cute journey here to buy sauce. I like cute adventure like this. It's fun and magical. A total waste of energy with no rhyme or reason. Totally not economical. But memorable. And filled with beautiful memories. If only there were similar people who could related to the things I love about life :)

After visiting the soya sauce shop, we turned back and headed back to town. We saw a small local supermarket on the way, and decided to go in and look for our lunch. There weren't many restaurant in town, or any that was open yet. It was still too early, so a bento set from the supermarket was our best bet. And we found colourful dangos! Another reminder of childhood.

The husband also bought a varieties of sashimi since it was quite affordable here. We made our way back to the light house and ate it at the ground floor seating area. There wasn't much people there, and they have a clean toilet to wash our hands before and after eating. And there is never any issues about locating a vending machine in Japan for drinks. The only problem these days is, the vending machines are usually cashlesss payment mode. But you always have a Suica card or some metro card with you that will do just fine.

And that was how we spend our boliao day in Mizumi :)  Kumamons waving us bye bye as we make our way back into the station after lunch, to wait for our A-Train back to Kumamoto :)