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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Jolly-Statistician37 on 2025-02-22 13:03:53+00:00.
My partner and I, both in our 30s, spent a little over two weeks in Japan (Kansai, Kyushu and Tokyo) earlier this month. 4th time for me, 2nd time for them. It was a great success in spite of a major hiccup along the way!
Our planned route was Osaka (2 nights) - Yakushima (3) - Nagasaki (4) - Kurokawa Onsen (3) - Tokyo (3).
Yakushima sadly had to be replaced by something else at the last minute: we picked Arima Onsen instead.
The report is a bit long, sorry for that!
1. Osaka
Sunday, 2 Feb
Our arrival at Kansai International Airport, flying in from Paris was incredibly smooth: we landed at 10:20, breezed through immigration and customs, took the Nankai Rapit train (affordable and comfortable), hopped on a taxi at Namba station and reached our Umeda hotel (Candeo Osaka The Tower) at noon on the dot.
Luggage dropped, we headed back towards Shinsaibashi for a sushi lunch at Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera: it was nice, but less nice than I remembered from the Kyoto branch last year. Can't say what was missing, though.
Then, it was time for a stroll towards Dotonbori and the kitchenware shopping arcade near Namba where we had a few purchases to make. Tip: the Donki ferris wheel is pointless, don't go. There is nothing to see. However, stumbling upon Setsubun celebrations at the small temple just south of Dotonbori was really charming.
By the way, the kitchenware arcade is convenient but I much, much prefer Kappabashi - far more charm IMO.
Exhausted by the flight, we made it back to the hotel shortly after check-in time, used the baths and rested until dinner time.
Dinner was at a quirky okonomiyaki place (Umeda Fuwatoro), a single-man operation that was charmingly chaotic, with decent food, but not the most comfortable place either.
Monday, 3 Feb
We had Nintendo Museum reservations at 15:00, so we dedicated the morning to visiting Uji. Got there just before 11:00, visited a couple of shrines and the amazing Byodo-in (a highlight), browsed a few shops, had a quick chasoba lunch, then headed over to the museum (quick 1-stop hop on the JR line).
We stayed until basically closing time, it was really great, even without being a huge Nintendo video game nerd (it's a fairly recent hobby for me). Highly recommended.
Dinner that day was a delight, at a seafood-focused izakaya (お初の十忠八九) with a very local vibe and some creative dishes (such as a persimmon sea bream carpaccio-like dish).
2. Yakushima (or so we thought)
Tuesday, 4 Feb
Woke up to a notification of potential weather issues for our flight to Yakushima. Hmm... We still went to Itami airport, proceeded to the boarding gate, and at the last minute, the flight was cancelled. A common occurrence, it seems. The ferries were cancelled too so going to Kagoshima was not an option, and we were told that the next day's weather did not look good either, so rescheduling was not even offered.
Thus we decided to drop our 3 night stay altogether and find something else. It went...much more smoothly than expected:
- Japan Airlines swiftly agreed to refund not only the cancelled flight but also the next flight from Yakushima to Fukuoka, even though it was a separate booking (nice!).
- Nissan Rent a Car waived the 6600 yen cancellation charge.
- The hotel (Samana), booked through a third party, was the biggest liability...and incredibly, they offered to cancel the stay from their end so that the third party (Chase/Expedia) could process the refund without discussion!
And to top it off, all the refunds were effectively processed within the week!
Safe with the knowledge that we'd have our money back, while still at Itami Airport, we quickly thought about alternatives, and didn't mind splurging a little if needed.
An option was Nara, but the available hotels were not inspiring. We then had a look at Arima Onsen, and booked 3 nights there last minute at Negiya, a relatively well-rated ryokan which had last-minute availability.
There was a bus to Arima Onsen one hour later: time for a quick (but good) airport lunch and we were on our way.
3. Arima Onsen
Tuesday, 4 Feb (cont'd)
We arrived at Negiya right for check-in time. At 50,000 yen/night without meals, it was frankly quite expensive (hence the last-minute availability I guess!), but at least the room was very comfortable, had a lovely view, the common spaces were very cosy, and the baths were great with varied outdoor and indoor options and interesting iron-rich water.
Wednesday, 5 Feb
We spent a lovely day hopping around the cute shops and quirky museums of Arima Onsen (loved the toy museum!) and enjoying the baths at the inn (those in town did not appeal). It is a charming town and, given the ease of access, I definitely recommend it to people wanting to try an onsen town without going too far off the usual tourist routes.
Dinner was at an excellent okonomiyaki place in town, Ikkyu (better than day 1 okonomiyaki).
Thursday, 6 Feb
This was a day trip to Himeji and Kobe. We splurged for the Shinkansen which Google Maps did not even suggest: it was an excellent call. We shortened the trip from Arima Onsen to Himeji to 1 hour instead of 1:40, and thus arrived about 30 min after opening time, in a largely deserted castle against a bright blue sky. It was absolutely freezing inside (tip: wear warm socks in winter), but it was incredible nonetheless, and it was significantly busier by the time we left.
We moved on to the adjacent Koko-en gardens, which have a very good restaurant in a lovely setting. The gardens themselves were nice, if nothing special.
After coffee and a bit of shopping, we took the Shinkansen back to Shin-Kobe where we wanted to visit the Takenaka Carpentry Museum...and it was fantastic. Beautiful building, extremely informative and well-done exhibits, great gift store selection: again, recommended.
Having visited Kobe in the past myself (and not cared much for it), there was nothing else we wanted to do there so, a failed attempt at locating a bus stop later, we took the metro and commuter train back to Arima Onsen.
4. Nagasaki
Friday, 7 Feb
After a morning bath, this was mostly a travel day to go back to our initially planned route: Shinkansen to Hakata (treated ourselves to Green Car seats with the 3-day advance discount: worth it!) through a very snowy western Honshu leading to a slight delay, metro to Fukuoka Airport (where we would have arrived from Yakushima) to get a rental car, then a 2-hour drive to Nagasaki in light-to-moderate snow. Thankful for the winter tires on the car, I felt safer.
The car was rented through Nissan, the process was smooth but the domestic airport branch did not have ETC cards available for rental (strange, given how big the branch is!).
The hotel, Dormy Inn Nagasaki Station, was great with the exception of rock-hard pillows, with a cool top-floor public bath with an open-air section, and convenient on-site parking. Rates were unfortunately high (25,000/night), due to the ongoing Lantern Festival I guess.
Dinner at a hotel-recommended izakaya, Toritei, was okay but ultimately one of the worst of the trip. I was not thrilled by food options in Nagasaki overall.
Saturday, 8 Feb
We started with a somber and disappointing visit to the Atomic Bomb memorial area. Disappointing, because the Peace Park and surrounding memorials, while still moving, felt like a bit of an afterthought in their design. Unremarkable architecture, almost hidden from view (set aside from the main road), for me it was a far cry from Hiroshima where the equivalent area is much more solemn and grandiose.
We switfly moved towards the city center. Dejima was a real highlight, with great exhibits that really told a story. It was one of my main motivations behind going to Nagasaki, so I was really pleased! Sofukuji was also an enjoyable temple visit, and in between, we meandered from shop to shop through the charming downtown area.
There was little time to head to the Glover Garden area, and we had less interest in that area anyway, so we skipped it. Instead, we rested for a bit before heading out to the Lantern Festival, which was frankly impressive in scale and a fun atmosphere with stalls everywhere. We loved it. The "temple rally" in the former Chinese settlement was especially cool.
Sunday, 9 Feb
That day, a day trip to the Arita region, was a blast!
My partner makes pottery, so Arita was high in our priorities.
We started with the "treasure hunt" at Kouraku Kiln in Arita, where we filled a box of lovely pottery for 6600 yen. Then, we had some very good curry at Gallery Arita, and proceeded to pick our own cup out of hundreds to have coffee there. The Kyushu Ceramic Musem next door was really worth the stop, too, as it was very informative about how Arita came to be synonymous with Japanese pottery in the west, and had some cool pieces on display.
Then we went to Okawachiyama Pottery Village, a very scenic village in its own right, with at least a dozen pottery shops, many of them excellent.
We ended the day with something completely unplanned: Huis ten Bosch! The unlikeliness of a Dutch-themed park, with windmills and tulips, in a far-flung corner of Japan was not lost on us, and we had a very good time walking around. The attractions/rides we attempted were...so-so, to be polite, but that wasn't the point of out visit anyway.
Monday, 10 Feb
This day was left open in case we wanted to see more of Nagasa...
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