Ibusuki

Today's ride took us into the resort town of Ibusuki, a nice place with a ton of hospitals and a corresponding amount of geriatric residents. On our way there, we took a detour to the rather upscale town of Chiran to visit the Chiran Peace Museum. This museum is controversial (mostly from those who have not visited it) because it is about the Kamikaze pilots (the tokko) who pioneered the whole suicide attack with a plane. In their defense, it was some general who came up with the idea and ordered them to do it. Regardless, the museum did cast the pilots in a rather brave, patriotic, and sympathetic light.

The road to the museum (of course uphill) was lined with these stone lanterns

Traditional Japanese garden in front of the park

Replicas of the types of planes used during the missions

A bit of background here. Chiran, and specifically the mountaintop that the park and museum are located, was the southernmost site used for staging missions towards the end of WWII. Pilots were brought here, as it was the closest mainland location to the Pacific Front, and they would fly south towards the battles. Towards the end of the war, when American-led troops had 1500 battleships and some 180,000 soldiers sailing to the mainland, this is where the idea of the kamikaze came about. The goal was to take out battleships as efficiently as possible, and a plane loaded with 500 lbs of explosives was an ideal weapon. So, pilots chosen for these missions, most of them either members of the youth pilot program of the army or recent college graduates, were brought here.

Triangle barracks where the pilots spent days waiting for their missions

Just a few thoughts on the museum. It was very well done, though a tinge of nationalism is evident even here. It is true that these pilots were, in their minds, dying to defend their homeland from invaders, and so, from their point of view, understandable, and the documents they left behind humanized their decisions. It did reinforce my overall contempt for the military leaders of that time. In any case, the Peace Museum and the nearby Chiran Museum, which was focused on the history of the area, were both very well done and interesting.

After visiting the museum, we struck out for the coast and worked our way towards Ibusuki, riding along the coast and passing Mount Kaimon, the local volcano (because everyone has a volcano in their backyard, right?)

Kaimondake

 Kaimon is an impressive 942m high and dominates the landscape. It's considered dormant, having last erupted in 885. Pretty ominous-looking with the clouds, though. We continued on past Kaimon to Ibusuki and checked into our hotel, the Ibusuki Royal Hotel, a typical tourist hotel in Japan. Nice, clean, and comfortable with amenities we would never use.

After getting settled and cleaned up, we headed out in search of food, having not eaten a meal since squatting in McDonalds yesterday. The hotel was on the southern edge of town, so it was a bit of a walk to get anywhere, and the train stations are too far apart in this region to be helpful, so had quite a walk through town to get dinner.

I'd never seen a Bird of Paradise plant before

Sumi is a grown woman. A professional. A doctor, even. She laughed so hard at the missing letter on the sign, I thought I might have to carry her to dinner.

Special promotional....manhole cover?

Finally we arrived at Masala Master, an Indian restaurant that had gotten good reviews online. We opted for the Couple Set, which is a cross between a sampler platter and a five course meal.

Soup and salad

Spring roll? It's neither Indian nor Japanese, but whatever...

Tandoori Chicken and some absolutely delicious chicken sausage

Vegetable and chicken curries and, of course, naan

We were given a choice of two types of naan, so we chose the cheese naan, as well. That was a surprise. The cheese naan was very sweet, almost a dessert, and it took a few bites to realize that they put honey in with the cheese. It was amazing. The whole meal may have been my favorite of the trip. It was a little sweeter curry flavor than we are used to, but delicious. Next time you find yourself in Ibusuki, try Masala Master!

It was a good thing we had a few miles to walk home. I needed it after gorging myself.