Come Away with Me

Kumamoto Day 1- Kumamoto Castle, 熊本城

Early in the morning, we hopped onto the relay-Tsubame at Hakata JR station bound for our next destination in Kyushu, Kumamoto prefecture. Hakata station in Fukuoka, being the biggest JR station, with its strategic location, connects Kyushu to the rest of Japan in Honshu. It also serves as the main gateway to the rest of Kyushu. It is thus much more convenient to proceed directly to Kumamoto than if we were to make a detour back to Nagasaki first.

The relay Tsubame is not actually the bullet train or shinkansen (新幹線) even though it does resemble one. It's known as limited express trains or 特急電車　which means that generally they make lesser stops, are faster than the average trains but do not quite cost as much as the shinkansen. Unlike our usual image of a grey and old boring looking train, these limited express JR trains in Kyushu are all fancifully named and trains bound for different places have their own unique look and characteristics.

In slightly under 1.5 hours, we reached JR Kumamoto station. It was a quaint looking old style building and the minute we stepped off the train, I certainly sensed a very different atmosphere as compared to Fukuoka. The people seemed a lot less hurried, the accent sounded rather different (then again, Japanese does sound different wherever you go in this country). The first thing that caught my eyes were all the stores,posters and pamphlets advertising Kumamoto's most famous delicacy, basashi, 馬刺!And for the unintiated, yes it's like sashimi which are fish eaten raw but the Kumamoto people relish raw horse meat. It's one thing eating horses and to eat it raw is another story all together, yikes! When i said these horse meat selling shops are everywhere in this prefecture, i am not exaggerating at all!!


As we only had a short time in the city before catching the train to a hot spring town near Mount Aso where our accomodation for the night is located, we headed straight to the city's most famed site, the Kumamoto Castle. It seems to me the Japanese have a fetish for ranking everything in the country. The top 10 night view, best 3 udons, the 3 grandest festivals etc. As it is, the Kumamoto Castle, together with the Himeji and Osaka castles are ranked the 3 greatest castles in Japan. Unlike their western counterparts who generally preserve the castles in their most original form, those in Japan are really museums within and most of their interiors are newly refurbished. Exhibits ranging from samurai swords, kitchen cutlery and models of the castle grounds reflecting the early history of the city can be viewed there. Alvin was expecting something ancient and exciting but was nevertheless impressed by the beautiful architecture of the castle.

The train ride to our onsen ryokan (温泉旅館) was longer than i expected. Luckily i packed us some food and drinks along the way.

Alvin enjoying a cuppa at Mr. Donut. That's me having oolong tea with the delightful Kumamoto Ikinari dango or dumpling with sweet potato filling.

When we finally dropped off at this little local station in the middle of nowhere, the sky was already dark and we were both exhausted from the long journey and the heavy bags we've been lugging around since the morning. Hence an ice-cream break at the nearby Lawsons was much needed before we could trudge onto to our pit stop for the night- Asonoyu!

posted by テレサ @ 10:19 AM