On our last night in Japan, in the Executive Lounge of the ANA Crowne Plaza Fukuoka (pronounced Fook-oo-oh-ka, not the slightly rude way we’d been saying it), we were asked why we were in this part of Japan, off the usual tourist trail. Debbie vaguely remembered that she’d seen a TV programme where the ferry from Fukuoka to Busan in South Korea was featured and it’d stuck in her mind. When planning our Japan itinerary, we’d initially intended to go to South Korea after Japan but that changed to going straight to China (Debbie wasn’t excited enough about South Korea when reading the Rough Guide – we may have missed a gem though), nevertheless Fukuoka seemed a convenient airport with a decent amount of international flights that would avoid us needing to backtrack to Tokyo, would save us a fortune in Shinkansen tickets, the flights were cheaper, and there was a lovely spa town in the region that we had our eye on. So we decided to book our flights from Fukuoka and do a slightly off the beaten track road trip in the Kyushu region to finish our Japan adventure.

We took the Shinkansen from Hiroshima – almost 200 miles in just an hour – and then the subway to Fukuoka Airport to collect our rental car. It only cost £99 for 5 days, but it was immediately clear that you get what you pay for! The rental ‘office’ was a couple of miles from the airport (we were picked up), there were just a handful of cars and our little Toyota Aqua hybrid had more than a few bumps & scrapes – Avis it was not! We’d added car hire excess cover to our extortionately-priced travel insurance policy but some things weren’t covered at all on the rental company’s basic insurance, so we figured that we’d better take the fully comprehensive insurance that Trip.com had offered just in case. We probably wasted our 50 quid as surely they wouldn’t have the cheek to charge us much if we added a few more dents to the car! Anyway, our International Driving Permits were checked (Debbie smugly reminded Steve that it was a good job she’d insisted we needed them), an ETC card (linked to a toll tag) was inserted into the car, the dispatcher took lots of photos of the existing damage without even a hint of irony, and we were off with Debbie driving for the first time since she bust her shoulder last November…..

Beppu

Luckily driving is on the left, like the UK, and Japanese drivers are very courteous and law-abiding, so we had an uneventful 100 mile or so trip to our first night’s stop. Beppu is one of the world’s most geothermally active regions, apparently with over 100,000,000 litres of near-boiling water gushing out of more than 3,000 springs each day and harnessed for use by local homes & hotels for heating, or to fill the dozens of public & private baths that make this one of Japan’s most popular onsen resorts. It’s not a pretty place, quite a big town with steam spewing from places as far as the eye can see, but the attraction is in the onsen resorts and the thermal pools in the surrounding countryside. We were just breaking the journey here en-route to our own onsen experience, and found a fabulous room for the night in a converted sake warehouse – Hajimari – arty industrial chic in the extreme in a huge room above an achingly hip bookshop and meeting space. On check-in we were offered free tickets to any one of the 30 or so public onsens in town and provided with a cute little bathing set to take with us – handmade string bag, wooden bathing bowl, toiletries, little towel – just gorgeous. And Debbie thought the room was utterly fabulous too, with coffee beans and a grinder – Steve was happy with it for one night but not sure he would remodel our house in a similar style when we get home. But for an £70/night it was fabulous – in a more beautiful or touristy place the price would’ve been far far higher.

We chose to visit the most historic bath house in Beppu – Takegawara Onsen – a grand old place in the backstreets close to our accommodation, reached by walking through a most unexpected red light district! We went our separate ways into the male & female baths and soaked in the geothermal waters before going for a curry. Having learned the bathing etiquette at our hotel onsen near Mount Fuji, Steve was amused to find that none of the blokes were following it in Beppu – just a cursory splash with a bucket of water before getting in the bath and no inhibitions about sitting on the side.

The following morning we took in some of the famous ‘Hells of Beppu’ – 7 different hot spring sites for viewing rather than bathing. Chinoike Jioku – the blood pond hell, Tatsumaki Jigoku – the spout hell and Umi Jigoku – the sea hell. The first and last were quite nice, the middle one entirely missable, but we concluded that perhaps we’ve been spoilt by visiting Roturua in New Zealand.

Leaving Beppu en-route to our next destination, the scenery was majestic – volcanoes, mountainous, forests – actually very like NZ.

Kurokawa Onsen

We agreed when planning Japan that we must do an indulgent night at a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn) with private onsen and gourmet dining – the sort of thing our indulgences budget is for – and Kurosawa Onsen on Kyushu looked to fit the bill. The best places are booked out months in advance, but Debbie managed to find availability (just one room left, and only for one date) at Yamashinobu – a 12 room inn with a ‘9.6 – exceptional’ rating on Booking.com so…. what the hell, it’s only Jonny’s inheritance we’re spending….

In a nutshell, this was an amazing experience and we’d have loved to have stayed for a 2nd night – luckily for our bank balance they didn’t have availability. Even before arrival we knew that the service would be exceptional – an email to check whether we’d eat their speciality; horse sashimi and raw fish. Absolutely bloody not on the horse for Debbie, and preferably not raw fish either. Steve said he’d do both. The hotel confirmed that they would provide alternatives for the less-brave one!

On arrival the impeccable service continued, with us being asked what colour Yakuta (casual summer kimono) we’d each like, Japanese tea and sweet treats served in our room, a tour and map of the facilities provided – this place was lush! First things first, go for a soak in a thermal bath. We had both a private indoor and outdoor onsen in our room, but the resort ones were gorgeous – there were male/female communal onsen (both indoor and outdoor), but also 3 baths available for exclusive use by couples. No booking, just go into one that is indicated ‘available’ and flick the sign on the door to ‘in use’. The outdoor onsen was initially taken so we tried an indoor one, moving to the lovely outdoor rock pool later – fabulous!

Time for dinner – we’d been told that we could wear our Yukata for meals, but they weren’t generous in size for our body proportions so, while we were happy enough to trot to the onsen in them, we weren’t confident that our modesty would be protected over a dinner table and so donned our ‘best’ Western togs instead. Oh dear, every other bloody person in the place was wearing their dressing gown! Thankfully we were in a private booth, sitting on the floor at a traditional low table but with a sunken pit for our legs/feet so no-one could see us standing out like a sore thumb – but actually, we’d have been fine in our yukata. We have absolutely no idea what we ate for dinner, but it was delicious and gorgeously presented, along with an individually written menu on beautiful paper but our translator apps didn’t really work. Obviously Steve had his raw horse and raw fish – he declared the former to be ‘chewy’ – and Debbie got something different, courses just kept coming, we were given whole raw eggs to do something with, and at some point a burner was lit under a raw beef concoction. All beautiful and washed down with a Saint Clair NZ Sauvignon (we visited that winery a few years ago). After dinner there was star gazing or free sake around a fire pit – guess which we chose!

While enjoying the sake we met an English guy who’d lived in Taiwan for 20+ years and was here on a cycling holiday with 4 Taiwanese friends. He was stunned that we’d (1) travelled to this part of Japan and (2) managed to get a room at Yamashinobu as they’d booked 6 months previously. We were stunned that they were cycling in this mountainous terrain for pleasure!

We braved breakfast in our yukata, and most people were in normal clothes (or cycling gear) in preparation for leaving. Another aesthetic masterpiece that we have no idea what it was – except for the ‘cook your own’ bacon & eggs which we wondered whether was just for us Westerners – again, culinary heaven.

Even on checking out the impeccable service continued – including the staff taking photos of us, and waving us off.

Our indulgent stay was everything we’d hoped, and we’d have loved a 2nd night (we’d have settled in to it and have known what we were doing too), but as we have 2 years of travel to finance we can’t do too many £300 nights! But a good value for money and highly recommended experience.

Takachiho Gorge & Mount Aso

Another stunning drive took us from Kurosawa Onsen to Takachiho Gorge where we marvelled at the scenery and almost p*ssed ourselves laughing at he guy who couldn’t row his boat and was going backwards, and at the lady in a furry hat posing for photos in 28 degree heat. We didn’t laugh so much when we had to climb up to where the car was parked though!

And then onwards through more beautiful mountainous countryside to our home for 2 nights in the Mount Aso volcanic caldera – either the world’s biggest or 3rd biggest depending on which source you believe. We rented a brand new lodge with a stunning view, minimalist (Steve would say sparse) in design – allowing us to relax, do our washing and cook for ourselves. So more of that lovely Japanese beef it was then! But with a trolley full of food and wine, it turned out we’d found the only place in the whole of Japan that didn’t accept cards. So they held Steve and the shopping hostage (not literally) while Debbie went in search of an ATM.

Mission accomplished but when we started the car it started beeping, VERY loudly although there were no warning lights on the dashboard – we got back home by turning the radio volume up to drown out the beep, and then figured the problem was with the ETC card – the car hire company were less than helpful, no surprise there, so we just removed the card. Our home cooked steak dinner was stunning – we repeat, we may not be able to enjoy ‘normal’ steak ever again.

And then to explore the mountains, volcanos and their craters within the caldera – a rapid climb for our little car through some magnificent terrain and with some amazing vistas, we found that we could drive all the way to the crater of Mount Nara-dake. She’s a very active volcano, having last erupted in 2019 (check) so there’s a health warning before they let you go to the crater (poisonous gases and all that), fantastic views of the milky blue steaming water in the crater, eruption shelters surrounding the crater just in case. Thinking about it, we probably didn’t tell our parents that there was a high risk of an earthquake or volcanic eruption in Japan. Oh well, we survived so no need to worry them!

Imari

We weren’t sure where to spend our last night before heading back to Fukuoka – we’d originally been thinking about Nagasaki but more research suggested that Hiroshima & Nagasaki in one trip would be ‘too much’, and the guys from home that we’d met didn’t rave about it either – so we opted for the famous pottery region of Kyushu, with Debbie finding a nice-looking Air BnB in Imari. It was more than we ideally wanted to pay, but choice was limited/expensive and we didn’t want to spend our last proper night in Japan in a ‘roach motel.

The drive was long and expensive – we are lucky that most UK motorways don’t have tolls (yet) – and with our ETC card on the blink we needed to navigate paying by card/cash and avoiding accidentally coming off the highway at ETC-only junctions. After a couple of hours of motorway driving through flat nondescript Western Kyushu, we headed again into beautiful mountain scenery. We had no idea what Imari would be like and Steve helpfully suggested that it might resemble Stoke-on -Trent as that’s a pottery town too. It didn’t, but it wasn’t a particularly pretty place either, a functional town nestled in a basin surrounded by mountains, but the hidden ancient pottery village of Okawachiyama nearby was a gem, even in the rain. Back in the 1600s, to protect production of the extravagant pieces required to be gifted to the shogun each year, 30 of the region’s best potters were relocated to this remote village and elevated to the rank of samurai, but were not allowed to leave. Small scale production continues today and there are some exquisite pieces available from the 30-odd shops and galleries, some traditional in design, others striking in their modern simplicity. We loved some of the dinner services, but there was no way of getting them home safely – even if we could justify £30/plate .

Our Air BnB, Joy House, was up a mountain road and had a great view over the town and mountains beyond. If our Mount Aso lodge was too minimalist, this was the polar opposite with ornaments everywhere and enough ceramics in the kitchen to host a party for 100+ people! We came to the conclusion that this was Joy’s home and she quickly moved into a discreet cabin attached to the back of the house when she got a booking. Some lovely sushi and yet more excellent steak from the supermarket, and a couple of bottles of dodgy red completed our day.

Fukuoka

After a quick 90 minute drive back to the city, thank God it was Sunday so not too much traffic in the city centre, we dropped our bags at the hotel, refuelled the car and handed it back (with no additional damage) and headed back into town on the metro. We were early for check in at the Crowne Plaza but our room was ready – with an upgrade to a Club room but without the lounge access. Debbie pointed out that her reservation on the IHG app showed an upgrade including lounge access, and the Japanese are too polite to argue for too long, so lounge access it was. Steve was a bit mortified, but he soon got over it when that lounge access provided fabulous evening drinks and food, and a brilliant breakfast the next day.

The weather was rainy, and we only had a few hours to explore anyway, so we just headed to a shopping mall near the station with more beautiful foodstuffs available, queued for the renowned ramen restaurant Shin Shin and marvelled at how many noodles the 4-5 year old girl opposite was managing to put away and how well she was managing to use chopsticks.

Cocktail time in the lounge effectively became our dinner – and we got chatting to a couple from Los Angeles. It turned out that the husband was a British ex-paratrooper and had done some training at Dartmouth Naval College – another small world co-incidence.

We didn’t get to see much of Fukuoka but it seemed to be a pleasant and very relaxed big city, nothing like the chaos of Tokyo.

So that was it – almost 4 weeks in Japan had come to an end and our road trip perfectly finished off our visit to this amazing country. There’s so much we didn’t see, and it was not the budget-blowing level of expensive we’d feared (in fact most things were far cheaper than at home), so we may yet return one day.

Now we get more intrepid – CHINA beckons…….