kyushu roadtrip

The first week of May in Japan is Golden Week- a time where most Japanese people have a bit of time off from work and can explore their country or travel abroad. This year Caitlin, Dianne and myself took an adventurous road trip from Tokushima to the southern island of Kyushu- the only one of Japan's four main islands that I've never been to. We had four or five days to explore by car and spent them economically by camping out for three of these evenings (two of them for free and with permission at an abandoned campsite). We all wanted to spend a significant amount of time outdoors exploring some parts of northern Kyushu and I think that we got a good feel for things here even though we were visiting for a relatively short period of time.




After a lot of driving and a ferry ride to the city of Beppu, we came upon a place called Ubayama Farm which seemed as if it was a kind of local tourist spot although there was not much there except for green pastures and cows. Since Tokushima's land mass is about 80% mountainous, being somewhere like this where there is space to take your shoes off and walk on the grass feels incredible. I really never thought that I would miss something so simple as this but living in a town that is sandwiched between mountains and the ocean has made me appreciate coming from a such a wide-open country. We pulled into the campsite right at dusk after following some signs that took us to an overgrown lot with a huge plastic cow and some crazy looking tents that were either used for storage or for people to sleep in. One of these tents contained unicycles and scooters and another contained a pile of hay that we eventually used to make a campfire. An old woman pulled up in a car as we were setting up and gave us the go ahead to camp here even though she told us that the place had been closed for two years. She then gave Dianne an egg as a present (which I think was sitting on her dashboard) and wished us a good night. After going out for a nice meal at a local restaurant, we gathered some wood and had some drinks by the campfire while playing acoustic guitar and singing songs about the lack of foreign visitors in Shikoku. The only line I really remember was Caitlin saying something about me always sitting in my apartment and listening to Pink Floyd.



The next day we ventured out to Mt Aso. A lot of people had recommended me to visit here and we all liked hiking around the eerie volcanic scenery. We camped at another spot next to the mountain and saw a lot of bike gangs who were also on Golden Week road trips. That night we attempted to go out to eat in a smaller town near Aso and were denied four times in a row by restaurant owners as they saw that we are foreigners. Though I am really, really used to xenophobia at this point it is particularly annoying when you are simply trying to eat dinner and are given lame excuses for non-entry when it's 8:00pm and the restaurant you're attempting to patronize is clearly still in operation. But, of course, letting things like this roll off of your back is the best way to deal with it or else you'll spend all your time with the frustrations of feeling like you are perpetually crashing a party upon entry to some Japanese establishments.


After our day of hiking in Aso we checked out Takechiho Gorge and found that we were not the only people to make the day trip here. The scenery was awesome but the Golden Week crowds that a lot of people had warned me about kind of made wish that I was alone on a mountain again. And the larger the crowd that I am in here is usually proportional to how under dressed I feel...not that I worry about that too much.


We spent another night at the abandoned campsite, as the old woman came back to welcome us ("Konban mo, ne?" or "Ah, so you're staying another night?") with good wishes but, unfortunately, no egg. We made another campfire and cooked fish and vegetables wrapped together with aluminum foil as I drank Budweiser and thought about my return to America.

Our final day was in Beppu. We visited the infamous co-ed outdoor mud onsen and it was everything that I thought it would be. Bathing outside in the mud made me feel amazing and I wonder why this practice isn't more common (or maybe it is and I'm just not aware). I would love to go back to Beppu one more time before leaving Japan.


We were then on our way out of the spaciousness of Kyushu and back to the rugged terrain of Shikoku, our home. Back to work, back on my bike, and time to get used to the warm air of summer.