This trip occurred because the promotion for Krisflyer miles 15% discount was ending, and we wanted to use up our miles 😛 It was also our longest trip together ever, for we started our planning with great ambition to cover lots of places, before practicality set in, and we decided that we needed a relaxing trip instead, and decided to focus on Kyushu instead 🙂
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Miyazaki
日本 Japan 2017 Itinerary
Kyushu Rail, Tram, and Bus Passes
Generally, traveling in Japan can be quite a hassle-free experience if you do your homework beforehand 🙂 Because of their strict compliance to punctuality, all transport options depart and arrive on the dot and it becomes quite seamless to plan connections from one place to another.
And with websites such as hyperdia.com, you can get the train schedules for any day and can plan ahead with a few backup plans thrown in 🙂 Bus schedules are also easily obtainable from the operators’ websites or a simple Google.
There are quite a few transport passes available in Kyushu, and depending on your itinerary (and planning), they could prove to be money savers 🙂
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Cafes in Japan 2017 – Miyazaki
There was so much to do in Miyazaki, but we still managed to visit 4 cafes for food and drinks 😛
In general, the cafes were quite busy for a relatively quiet and chillax city, but we did not have to queue for seats.
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Miyazaki, Travel
Tags: cafe, cake, chai latte, flat white, latte, millicrepe, pancake
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Overnight stay at 高千穂 Takachiho, Japan
One of the main highlights of this trip was to visit the beautiful 高千穂峡 Takachiho Gorge!
We had a hard time deciding if we wanted to do this as a day trip (might be too rushed), or to do an overnight stay and watch the cultural show at night (which we might not understand at all). Eventually, we decided to take it easy and stay one night at the gorge, as we would be travelling long distances often during this trip.
It took us a while to find the B&B 浮き雲 Ukigumo, where we would be staying for the night. The friendly owner spoke English very well, and directed us to a shortcut to get to the 高千穂峡 Takachiho Gorge 🙂
塚田農場 Tsukada Nojo @Miyazaki, Japan
We have always enjoyed the soup at 塚田農場 Tsukada Nojo in Singapore, and now we had the chance to try out at the 宮崎 Miyazaki outlet where it all started 🙂
Apparently, in 宮崎 Miyazaki, they use only free-range, home-bred domestic chicken. Only selected farms that have passed Miyazaki Prefecture’s stringent production conditions are allowed to breed this specific type of chicken, which produces leaner meat with well-marbled fat. Reading the description, we were more than ready to try all kinds of chicken cuisine 😀
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Miyazaki, Travel
Tags: chicken sashimi, dumpling, Japanese, restaurant
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Day trip to 霧島神宮 Kirishima Jingu and 関之尾の滝 Sekinoo-no-taki
We were feeling very excited today, as we would be visiting 霧島神宮 Kirishima Shrine (aka Jingu), which worships 天孫瓊瓊杵尊 (Ninigi-no-mikoto), the grandson of 天照大神 (Amaterasu-omikami), the Sun Goddess.
According to Japanese mythology, Kirishima is the place where Ninigi-no-mikoto arrived in Japan, in accordance to Amaterasu-omikami’s orders to reign over the ancient Japan, and subsequently, his descendants were the Emperors of Japan, first being 神武天皇 Jinmu-tennō Emperor Jimmu.
We visited 鵜戸神宮 (Udo Jingu) Udo Shrine (2 days ago) which worships 鵜葺草葺不合命 Ugayafukiaezu-no-mikoto, the father of 神武天皇 Jinmu-tennō Emperor Jimmu and son of Ninigi-no-mikoto. Miyazaki is truly the land of Japanese Mythology, and there are many more shrines dedicated to these mythological deities.
丸万焼鳥本店 Maruman Yakitori @Miyazaki, Japan
Other than beef (still drooling from the unforgettable 宮崎牛 Miyazaki Beef), Miyazaki is also famous for chicken; in particular, チキン南蛮 Chicken Nanban and 焼き鳥 Yakitori Chicken are the 2 must-try dishes here.
丸万 Maruman was one of the highly-recommended restaurants to try the 焼き鳥 Yakitori Chicken, and we went to the 本店 original store to check it out.
We were led to the rooms upstairs because it was full downstairs (which also meant we were not able to see the chef in action 😦 ), which involved removal of shoes, and while there was only Japanese menu available, an English-speaking staff pointed to us which was the most popular dish, and also tried to explain what certain dishes were when we enquired.
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Miyazaki, Travel
Tags: chicken sashimi, Japanese, restaurant, yakitori
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きっちょううどん Kitchou Udon @Miyazaki, Japan
It was a cold day, and we were resting from our excursion yesterday while craving for something soupy. A hot bowl of udon definitely seemed like an excellent idea for lunch 🙂
きっちょううどん Kitchou Udon is a chain of udon restaurants all over 宮崎 Miyazaki and one happened to be near our hotel along 橘通 Tachibanadori.
English pictorial menu was available, so ordering of udon was not an issue, but there were also some fried items available at the ordering counter, with only description in katakana. No worries, you can just pick whatever that looked interesting 😛
We opted for the 肉スぺシャル Niku-Special Udon (¥750), and added メンチカツ Menchi Katsu (¥120), which is ground meat with chopped onions breaded and deep-fried, イカ天 Ika Tempura (¥100), which is squid deep-fried with tempura batter.
The squid had a really addictive chewy texture, and the meat katsu was quite juicy. While the udon was slightly too soft for our preference, the entire bowl was filled with delicious ingredients (and lots of spring onion!). It was a meal that definitely warmed us up 🙂
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焼肉レストランAPAS Yakiniku Restaurant APAS @Miyazaki, Japan
Other than chicken, Miyazaki is also famous for its high quality 宮崎牛 Miyazaki Beef, and we really really wanted to try it!
We had read about the dinner buffet at 焼肉レストランAPAS Yakiniku Restaurant APAS (a very popular chain of restaurants specializing in 宮崎牛 Miyazaki Beef), which required reservations to be made in advance. Hence, we had popped over here the night before to make enquiries and to make reservations.
The 120-min 食べ飲み放題 Eat-And-Drink-All-You-Can dinner buffet was ¥6,000 (~S$70) for men and ¥5,500 (~S$65) for ladies, and would be even more value-for-money if you could drink a lot; shochu, wine, whiskey, beer, etc, were all part of the free-flow drinks menu.
平和台公園 Heiwadai Park @Miyazaki, Japan
We had some time left in the afternoon after visiting the Nichinan Coastal area, and decided to visit another place of interest to fully utilise our 1-day Visit Miyazaki Bus Pass.
平和台公園 Heiwadai Park seemed interesting, and after checking the bus schedule at the Tourist Information Centre within Miyazaki Station, we went to the bus stop to wait for Bus #8.
The bus arrived earlier, so we could go up and have a seat while waiting for its scheduled departure. This was a good thing, for it started raining all of a sudden, and we were startled by the sudden jumping up movements by the passengers sitting at the bus stop. That was when we realised that the mini bus stop shelter did not cover the seating area 😮
Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 