Day 8 - Sakurajima, Kagoshima

Taking the ferry to the island Sakurajima across from Yagoshima where the volcano mountain is still active and alive.  Volcanic ash is raining down to the neighbouring cities. Even the tables and chairs on the ferry are lightly covered with the ash. They had closed to 50 eruptions last year and had 17 this year, so far.

We took the tour bus where they drop you off in designated spots along the route.  True to the precision in Japan, when they said you only have 5 minutes to take picture, the bus would leave precisely on time, even if you were running down the stairs to chase the bus, it would not stop and keep on going to keep up with the schedule.  Richard was very impressed with the bus driver's precision.

Many of the destination spots on the island were out of date and if they want to tout it as a tourists' designation, much improvement would be needed. On the other hand, they provided a beautiful spot for foot bath so that tourists can soak their tiring feet. The temperature can be scalding hot, especially close to the spout where the spring water is piping to the foot bath channel but gradually got colder with each increasing distance from the pipe. Because of the active volcano, hot spring is ubiquitous around the island.  They even allow you to dig a personal spot at the beach to soak your feet (with a fee, of course).

Finally, we tried the famous cold noodles - really good.  Worth trying it again.

Day 7 - Kagoshima - Yakushima

The breakfast provided amazing selections but we only had 30 minutes to enjoy as we had to take a taxi to the ferry terminal for the 7:45 am sailing to the UNESCO designated island.  The round trip fare costed more than our air tickets from Okinawa to Kagoshima (15000 yen per person)! It took slightly more than two hours to get there.

The original plan was to drive around the island once as it should take about two hours to complete the loop.  We drove to the star attraction of the island - Kigen giant cedar that is about 3000 years old.  The top was gone and branches spouted from the trunk. The drive to the giant cedar was very treacherous.  The road was very narrow, barely able to have two cars at the same time,  not to mention the twists and turns, driving on the opposite side, and climbing high attitudes to about 2000 m above the sea. It reminded me of the Hana drive in Maui.

The next stop was doing a light hike around the park.  The trails were well marked and relatively easy to walk on. We spent more time at the park than planned as the walk was quite enjoyable but that affected our plan to drive around the island.  We decided to skip a few attractions and visited the water falls and the natural mineral onsen in the sea during low tides.  The onsen was so delightful and we wished we had more time to enjoy the amazing view and the very hot water.  We arrived in perfect timing for the onsen as the tides were coming fast when we were leaving. 

Yakushima is very popular with the locals and hotels are incredibly expensive.  We were thinking of staying one night on the island but cancelled the idea when we learned that hotel costs between three hundreds to 1000 Canadian dollars!! For such a popular island, it has the most stinky washrooms.  We tried two and the one in the park was most unbearable, reminded me of some of the toilets in China. Very unusual in Japan!

Day 6 - Kagoshima - Onsen

The famous Kagoshima dinner we had last night included chicken sashimi, along with other sashimi items that we were familiar with (see the middle dish).  Upon hearing eating raw chicken, all of us were reluctant to try for fearful of getting sick. Before knowing, I picked a small piece from the dish that looked like bamboo shoot and ate it.  It didn't taste like bamboo shoot but I thought it was some kind of Japanese pickled vegetables.  It was later I found out that it was a piece of chicken skin.  For some one who dislike chicken skin (even cooked ones) and accidentally ate it raw, I took the news rather calmly and did not throw up.  The rest of the chicken sashimi was cooked in the broth before consumption.  Not sure why the chicken can be eaten raw here in Kagoshima (at least that was what the restaurant claimed)!

The hotel provided onsen facilities and we decided to give it a try.  It was closed to 11:00 pm but surprising crowded.  Like most people, I was a bit gun shy initially but soon adapted to the custom of nothingness. The scale of the onsen is very small due to the size of the hotel but enough to sample the culture.  Despite the obsessiveness of cleanliness of the Japanese people, I wondered about the sanitation of the shower facilities after onsen where people vigorously rub their dead skin off and before the shower place was thoroughly cleaned, the next person waiting in line sat on the same stool and wash her body.

Day 6 - Kagoshima

The  Okinawa Shurijo Castle Was built during the 14th and 15th centuries. It was originally belonged to China during the various centuries and the last one was in the Ming Dynasty. It was later changed to as Ryukyu Kingdom and later as Okinawa in late 1800s.  As a result of its history, the Chinese influence and writing are still quite evident at the castle. It is now designated as part of the UNESCO heritage sites. Most of the structures had to be restored and the process will take some time to fully restore its glorious days. Visitors had to take their shoes off and given a bag to carry their shoes during the visit.

We took the Sky Airline from Okinawa to FuKuoka city where we had to take the subway to Hakata station for the bullet train (Shinkansen) to Kagoshima. The subway system is incredibly complex and because our connecting time was quite tight, Commander Wu literally ran ahead so as not to be late for the trains. In the meantime, three ladies tried their best to catch up, along with their luggage and crowd of people. Our adrenaline was pumped by the time we arrived at the platform and learned that the train was delayed for 15 minutes. All that rush 😭😭😭😭.  Never a dull moment travel with Commander Wu (travelers should not join his adventures unless they are fit)!

We had a late dinner after arriving at Kagoshima and tried the restaurant recommended by the receptionist at the hotel.  It's was quite an assortment of choices in small portions. Expensive!

Day 5 - Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

We rented a car and drove over two hours to get to the well known aquarium.  The star attraction was the incredible whale shark!  The aquarium is one of the better ones we had visited.  Well worth the drive to get there.  We planned to visit the tip of the island as well but ran out of time and was only able to stop mid way at the light house park. The traffic coming back to the city was a nightmare.  It took more than a hour to drive 15 km!

We had a very nice lunch at an authentic Japanese restaurant and sat on their traditional tatami table.  Not the most comfortable sitting position. Not sure how pregnant women can sit at such seating to eat in the past.

Day 4 - Naha, Okinawa

The rain was pouring down heavy all day and made it challenging to enjoy the city, even with embrellas! The high humidity made things feel very sticky, especially the skin after applying the sun screen. The only good thing was that the temperature was quite warm so even with the rain, it was manageable.

We visited the market and walked the International street this evening. There were many tourist from China and Taiwan. Actually, Okinawa is closer to Taiwan than Tokyo. You may not believe it but it took 3 hours to fly from Tokyo to Okinawa.

We bought local pineapple and papaya from the fruit stand and ate them right there after they cut them up for us.

The sashimi and sushi were quite good - much cheaper than the ones in Tokyo 😋.

Day 4 - Okinawa

Naha city's morning travel is worse than our wildest expectation- traffic crawls inch by inch!  It was quite ironic - we expected heavy travel in Tokyo but there were hardly any and while we didn't expect any traffic delay on the island but ended up almost missing the sailing. We took the taxi from our hotel to the ferry terminal to Tokashiki island to snorkel. We had to exit the taxi halfway and ran the remainder distance to catch the 9:00 am sailing, in pouring rain!  So far, lots of drama (Mei made it last night, in the nick of time for us to catch the flight to Naha city ), adrenaline and vigorous exercise as expected, typical of Commander Wu's style. 

Snorkelling at the Aharen beach was not ideal today due to the poor weather. The life guard said he will not be responsible for us should there is danger due to the heavy rain and possibility of thunderstorms (two people were killed and two injured last year due to thunderstorms). We did it anyway and saw many fish not far from the beach. Not as colourful as the ones in Hawaii, though. 

We sampled the Okinawa soba noodle for lunch. Quite yummy. Now taking the slow ferry back to the hotel.  The rain is still pouring down  😪.

Day 3 -Tokyo and Okinawa

We went back to the fish market this morning but in a decent hour as our sister-in-law arrived last night and wanted to see the market. We sampled many seafood and other local delicacies.  It was a ton of fun. No wonder it is one of the major attractions in Tokyo. 

Our other companion, Mei, was sick on the day of departure and wanted to cancel the trip. We did not learn of the emergency till much later as she was coming a day later than us.  She felt better the following day and still wanted to join us so she bought another ticket and we now meeting her at the airport and then immediately taking another flight to Okinawa.  The timing will be very tight and we just hope that her flight is on-time and that she knows her way out.  This is her first time traveling on her own with very limited English 😅.