Originally Posted by
jphripjah
On the other hand, shrines and temples in Kyoto may be quite crowded on these days, I don't know.
Very crowded. New Years is a time of year when it feels like everyone visits a shrine or temple to get the year off to a good start. A lot of people dress in traditional costume for that. In that sense, it's an interesting time to be in Kyoto which has so many shrines and temples.
Originally Posted by
jphripjah
There are direct flights from Okinawa to Fukuoka and then it's a 2 hour train ride to Nagasaki.
There are also non-stop flights from OKA to NGS (and to other cities in Kyushu - e.g. Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki at the southern end of Kyushu).