Japan Trip – Week 3

Welcome back to my Japan trip week 3 blog post!

Week 3

Fukuoka, Hiji, Kumamoto, Beppu

This was *supposed* to be the relaxing part of our trip. You might have noticed the asterisks around “supposed” because we ended up being way more active than we originally planned! I personally, find it hard to relax on vacations like this. We flew 16 hours to be here, I want to make sure I see all the things I can in the time we’re here!

(If you missed week 1 or week 2, you can find them here!)

Fukuoka

We took the train in from Hiroshima and made it to our rental car that we picked up in Fukuoka. Myself, Tyler, and our friend Cam all acquired International Driving Permits, so we could drive the rental car around for the last part of our trip. This was our first time driving on the left side of the road, and it definitely took some getting used to!

The cherry blossoms were (finally) in full bloom during our last week in Japan and they were absolutely beautiful. We stopped at a small park on our way out of Fukuoka on our way to our Airbnb in Hiji. We sat underneath the beautiful blooms, bathed in the warm sun, and snapped a few pictures! Cam and Maura posed for a few photos and some of my favorite images from our entire trip came from our time at the park!

Below are some of the images I took at the park!

Hiji

It took us a couple of hours by car to make it from Fukuoka to Hiji, but that was just fine with us! We drove through the countryside right at sunset and it was absolutely magical to watch the beautiful countryside go by bathed in golden light.

We picked (read: splurged on) this Airbnb specifically because it looked like a relaxing paradise, and it did not disappoint. The blooming Sakura trees, the views of Beppu bay, and the cozy setup (complete with an indoor hammock in the living room) was perfect.

Kumamoto

The one tour that we booked for our entire trip was a guided bike tour around Mt. Aso in Kumamoto. Mt. Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan and one of the largest in the world. Our tour guide provided us with Ebikes and we made our way from the bottom to the Mt. Aso Visitor Center. I haven’t ridden a bike in years, so I will not lie, I found our ride up to be quite challenging, but it was definitely worth it to see this amazing volcano! We also saw The Sniper of the Straw Hat Crew at our meeting point!

Beppu

On our last full day in Japan, we visited one of the Hells of Beppu. The Hells of Beppu consist of 7 extremely hot (100) hot springs that are famous in the area. We stopped by the largest of the hells, Umi Jigoku, or The Sea Hell. The water was a beautiful, cobalt blue color and the gardens surrounding were amazing!

Our last stop on our way back to our last night’s stay in Fukuoka before we returned home was Beppu Park. We originally were not planning on stopping there and I am SO glad that we did! It was, without a doubt, the prettiest place I’ve ever seen. All the sakura trees were in full bloom and some of the petals were falling in the wind, making it look like it was snowing! On top of that, the tulips were blooming and the sun was shining – it really felt like something out of a fairy tale! We explored the park, took another hundred pictures of the cherry trees, and walked through the coolest bamboo forest.

That’s a wrap on the most amazing trip of our lives! I absolutely cannot wait to go back (we are planning for fall next time!)

Thank you so much for reading!