Miyazaki and Sunshine

The weather forecast had a good chance for thunderstorms from 8am-10am, so we were up and out of the hotel at about 6:30. The first thing we saw was a definite lack of clouds. By 8, it was bright sunshine, and we had our first real summer day of the year. This spring back home never really warmed up, and our first week here was cloudy and 60's, so sunny and 80 was quite a pleasant surprise. And a toasty one. We reapplied sunscreen every 90 minutes and still got a little burned.

The day started with a quick 100m climb to a plateau that we were on for most of the morning. It was a lot of farmland, a lot of open, clear skies, and with one exception some pretty decent biking

Stopping for some snacks. And more sunscreen.

This little park had some animal benches lined up

As we approached Miyazaki, the major city in this area, we started seeing those odd things in the side of the road that you only see in Japan.

A Shinto Shrine...to Anpanman? Actually a park.

"Ruins" of an old amusement park. They sprung up all over the place in the 90's, then many shut down after the boom was over. One of these was the opening setting for Miyazaki's masterpiece "Spirited Away"

I can hear the planning meeting for this one:
"We'll have a map of the routes in the area, but instead of just a map, we'll have...wait for it...ugly babies climbing on top!"
...the rest of the room sits in stunned silence...
"Any objections? Any one else have a better idea? Anyone else awake? No? OK, let's run with it."

We made the 50 miles into Miyazaki in just under 8 hours, which isn't bad considering the stops, the traffic, the mountains, our tiny wheels, etc. We were expecting our hotel, K's Street Hotel Miyazaki, to be a little hostel in the city. We expected wrong.

12 story western hotel. For $50.

Miyazaki feels more like a western city than a Japanese city, in some ways. The streets are broad, with large sidewalks, the buildings do not look like traditional Japanese buildings, as much of Kyuushuu does. It's hard to put your finger on it, but it just feels a little different. It is a very nice city, with some very wealthy suburbs that we biked through on our way in.

Miyazaki City Hall. Would not look out of place in Florida.

After cleaning up, we headed to the main train station to get our JR Passes that we'll be using to get back to Tokyo and for travel for the last few days. From there, we took a local train one stop down to verify that the Coco Curry House cuisine in Miyazaki was up to par with the other locations across the country. I am pleased to report that this was, indeed, the case.

Tomorrow will be another long day of biking into Hyuga, a city about 50 miles north of Miyazaki. There's more thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday, so we'll see how things go after tomorrow. I'll leave you with a few more "only in Japan" pics.

This parking sign...

The 7-11 electric delivery car! Enough room for one medium sized person and some groceries in back.

Shibushi Ramen and Obi Castle

Well, today's big rainy day was a bit of a dud. It did rain on and off, but the thunderstorms they promised never materialized and we found ourselves in a small town with not much to do. Most of the interesting things in Shibushi involved being outside, and with the constant threat of rain, it didn't seem like a good idea to head out to the countryside. We had planned ahead, for a change, and had some cereal and milk with us for breakfast. Unfortunately, we lacked the necessities of bowls and spoons. Scrounging around by the coffee station, we were rewarded:

Teacups, a spork, and a tiny paddle spoon. MacGuyver eat your heart out!

After organizing stuff for tomorrow, followed by more sleeping, we got ourselves up and out to get lunch at the locally famous hakata ramen restaurant, Maruchon, whose name is very close to the 20 cent ramen packets most college kids have survived on at one point.

This restaurant opens at 7:00am, because who doesn't have ramen soup for breakfast? We arrived right at noon, and the place was already getting busy with the lunch rush. We were expecting a diner, but instead

Traditional tatami booth and HUGE bowls of ramen

We ordered the medium bowl, and it was enormous. The noodles were thicker than typical ramen, there was fresh garlic and ginger at the table, and it was delicious. Very light broth, lots of stuff in the bowl. Neither of us could finish ours. Another glowing recommendation!

Not wanting to waste the day, we decided to take the train into Nichinan, a town north of Shibushi, where there is an area called Obi that has preserved old samurai residences and the castle keep dating back to pre-Meiji era. Shibushi happened to be the very last stop on the regional train line, and it is not a very big line.

One platform. One track.

"Wanman" (one-man) single car train

The trip, even though it was only about 25 miles, took about two hours. Arriving in Obi Station,

we walked through the rain about half a mile to the old town area. There were tourist signs all over and multiple museums. For 610¥ we could have accessed all seven of the local museums (a good deal), but we just wanted to walk around for a bit and see the sights

Ornamental Carp Swim Zone?

Translation: Koi in the channels by the road

Japanese manhole covers are really something

View of the castle gate. These roads have not changed for hundreds of years.

Renovated due to earthquakes, overzealous Meiji anti-Shogunates, and time

Stairs to an old training ground in the castle

Now filled with centuries-old trees

It was a nice afternoon, even though a lot of it was taken up on the train. Back at the hotel, we packed up and prepared to face whatever rain might still stick around tomorrow morning. We have about 50 miles to ride, rain or shine, to reach Miyazaki, the major city of the area, and there is at least one major mountain peak between here and there

Dodging raindrops to Shibushi

A new day, a new threat of rain, a new destination. This time, our goal is Shibushi, a port city on the northern coast of, coincidentally, Shibushi Bay. The ferry that would take us across Kagoshima Bay didn't leave until 9:00, giving us time to have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel at head out to Ibusuki Port to catch the ferry.

Beautiful, even with all the clouds

Very Important Old Man

The ferry was an Express Ferry, which we had not been on before. It took half the time the regular ferry did, and once we saw it, we understood why.

It's an oversized speedboat

In 25 minutes we were on the other side of the bay and ready to roll. 10 minutes up the coastal road, we were ready to get off the road. There are only a few major roads in this part of Kyuushuu, and all of the trucks use them. The roads themselves aren't bad, but are not designed to hold large trucks and bikes at the same time. So, back into the mountains we went.

Goodbye coast. Goodbye trucks. Goodbye civilization.

20 minutes later we are high above the coast

A typical mountain road in Kyuushuu

We spent most of the morning climbing the two peaks between us and the plains along the Shibushi Bay coast. It was quiet, cool, and not raining, so all in all a good morning. As we finished our descent from the mountains, we stumbled across a cycling road that went along the Aira and Kimotsuki rivers, which happened to be exactly where we were heading. So for the next ten miles, we were on a bike path that was deserted except for us

We could use a few more of these "accidents"

It was a smooth ride the rest of the way into Shibushi, and we arrived almost 2.5 hours before check in. With no McDonalds nearby to squat in, we opted for a JoyFull. They seem to be the main family restaurant of the area, much like Gusto is up in Tokyo. The food was supremely okay, but we were able to hang out for about 90 minutes. And Sumi got her first parfait of the trip

Reportedly, it was way better than the real food

We returned to hotel, The Shibushi Inn Kitano, and got everything set up to stay for two days to avoid the rain that was coming in. More laundry (a constant problem when you carry it all on your back), and we were back in the room and asleep by 8. A truly exciting life we lead, I know.

Rained in at Ibusuki

The weather, which had cooperated so far, finally decided it had had enough. On and off (mostly on) rain all day meant we spent the day sleeping, eating, sleeping a bit more, and getting ready to leave tomorrow. The hotel has a buffet breakfast that consists of many things one should never eat, especially first thing in the morning, and some yogurt, bread and cereal. the view from the dining room was very nice

Not wanting to waste an entire day, Sumi and I headed down to the beach in front of the hotel during a brief respite of rain. It is a black sand beach and it being at low tide when we went out, we we able to walk around quite a bit, until the rain came back.

For dinner, we thought we would try a local ramen restaurant, so we headed back into town. When we got close, we realized that the ramen place was lunch only. We had seen a local curry shop next to the station online, Curry Do, which translates to "The Way of the Curry" and according to the web site they were open, so we went there.

There was an old man doing some reading with what looked like a textbook in the dining area and nobody else in the shop. When we tried to open the door, it was locked and for a moment we thought we were out of luck. He was apparently just taking a break while his wife was out, however, and he let us in, took our orders (two vegetable curries) and began making noise in the kitchen. Usually curry is "fast food" in that it's mostly prepared ahead of time, but this was taking a bit longer. We discovered why when it came out:

Tempura vegetable curry

He was making tempura, which is a light breading. The vegetables were very quickly fried in tempura batter just enough to bake the tempura, but leaving the vegetables mostly fresh. A very nice surprise, and some very tasty vegetables that I still don't know what they all were. Another big thumbs up!

Back at the hotel, I got to try out their outdoor onsen, which overlooked the bay south of the city. I must have timed it perfectly, because I was the only one using the baths. One does not bring cameras into an onsen, so I couldn't take any pictures, but it was a very relaxed way to end the day.

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.