freecia

@mrploddy Thanks for all the tips! It is the Oshiro Festival if it actually the first full weekend in April. If not, still plenty to see in Matsuyama.

I'll shoot an email to Rod Walters to see if he can reserve the Iyonada Monogatari so I can get a good solo seat. Do you know if most people order the ekiben? The meal ticket has to be reserved 1 month - 4 days out and I won't be in the country by 4 days out. I picked up a All Shikoku Rail Pass as they'll remove reserved seating benefit from passes issued in March 2018 & onwards. Happy to pay for Iyonada out of pocket, though, as the pass only covers the base fare anyhow.

The (non-weekend) bus schedule in Iya Valley isn't the best but I think I can make it work with a morning taxi ride to Oboke Station area.

mrploddy

The ekiben ticiket is done at the same time as the issuing of the green car ticket. The important thing is to get the green car ticket.

You don't HAVE to buy the ekiben - there is a menu of drinks and cakes available - the only rule is you can't bring your own food and drink. Me and my mother were quite satisfied with some locally sourced drinks and some very nice cakes. You just pay cash to the very attentive staff.

They also come round with a commemorative plque and take pictures on the way too not to mention the ubiquitous gift trolly.

Have you checked which train you want to rize - the longer ride is in the afternoon but I wasn't so jiggy with the afternoon outward ekiben very Japaanese and not my thing. The afternoon tea on the way back looks good though but didn't get to see that.

You will probably want to come straight back.

Yawatahama - Not really much there it's a remote port town.
Iya Ozu - Yes there is the castle but everything of interest is a fair walk from the station.

If you don't get both there and back there are express trains not too long after that you can use your All Shikoku Pass on.

PS - You do know there are other tourist trains in Shikoku like the Anpan Man train right ?
Railway Information | SHIKOKU Railway Trip

This page gives a good summary of all the stuff that's available - apparently the diamond crossing in Otematchi is very rare - I pass it quite frequently

freecia

I'm a fan of Kurokawa onsen in Kumamoto prefecture. You can buy a 3 onsen pass and hop through the various onsens in town. There aren't any chain stores, pachinko, or karaoke halls there. There isn't much shopping, either, but there is a bakery, sweets shop, & sake shop. Yufuin onsen is also popular with women but I found more crowded. Plenty of cute shops, a few cafes, and lake to stroll around. Beppu is more of an urban jungle but plenty of great onsen waters and types. I skipped Beppu but my Instagram feed of onsens has been surfacing some nice higaeri (day trip) onsens in Beppu. Waita onsen near Kurokawa might be an option if you want more off the beaten path than Kurokawa or more private family bath options http://www.explore-kumamoto.com/waita-onsen/ http://ogukan.com/en/onsen-en/waita-onsen/ mentions fireflies in June.

Hakata to Tokyo station takes ~ 5 hours by shinkansen (Nozomi) so I'd probably go by plane if I didn't have specific stopovers in mind. FUK airport is extremely convenient to Fukuoka. Starflyer also flies FUK <-> HND and I've heard good things about their service. JR Kyushu has some fun trains and well priced rail passes.

Tenzushi Kiyomashi in Kokura has been on my sushi bucket list for a long time if you're looking for a high end sushi place (obviously very different from yatai, but suggesting in case you like sushi ) It is less than 20 min shinkansen ride from Hakata station https://tabelog.com/en/fukuoka/A4004/A400401/40000721/

Jay71

Thanks for the Fukuoka food cart/yatai comments. I'm feeling more confident giving it a go.

Also thanks for the onsen and transportation info. Very handy.
While I love sushi and have always wanted to do a high end sushi meal, I think some of the comments in other threads about eating at high end places have kind or scared me off a bit. LOL. The reviews for Tenzuku Kiyomashi sound great though. Very intrigued. Have to bounce it off the missus.

freecia

Timely video at Tenzushi from Simon & Martina Tenzushi: The Sushi God of the South - Eat Your Kimchi

Jay71

Thanks! I've come across their channel in the past and enjoy their reviews.

bluemeansgo

I was in Yufuin on my last visit. I agree, it's a cute little town nestled in the mountains. If you go there and have a JR Rail Pass, try to get tickets on the Yufuin no Mori train from Hakata. You'll have to get it as soon as you land in Japan, if memory serves me correctly. There are two trains, one is much nicer. Details here on how to book. Beppu is definitely a bigger concrete jungle, but if you're an onsen fan... WAY more onsen selection there.

Also, there's an advantage to NOT having a Japan Rail pass, but instead opting for several regional passes... you can take all the trains. The National JR Rail pass restricts you from using Nozomi, Mizuho, or Hayabusa trains. The MAJORITY of trains on the Tokaido line are Nozomi. There's one Hikari (still quick) and one kodama (slow) per hour. The regional passes ( at least for JR West ) don't have this restriction...

There is the Hokuriku arch pass which avoids the Tokaido line altogether.

I'd recommend a trip to Shirahama as well. It's a pretty seaside town popular with Japanese in the summer, but fairly dead in the spring.

LapLap

I mentioned Jujo earlier (love it!) but just saw this Tokyo Eye program that visits Jujo and Akabane.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5RkvLIPqzn8​​​​​​​

ksandness

Wow, I've been visiting Tokyo for literally forty years, and I never knew about Akabane. That will definitely be on the list for this summer's visit.

In fact, I should watch some of the other episodes, too.

freecia

Jennifer Julien, the host of the episode, also live streams on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc4...82fYNpy75FJzzQ . She recently posted a live stream (of lunch) which had the airless soy sauce LapLap mentioned on the shoyu thread Buying soy / soja / shoyu sauce

LapLap

We have a real soft spot for Jennifer Julien at Chez Lap, there are a range of presenters on Tokyo Eye and we find her one of the most enjoyable.
Didn't know about her YouTube stream, will definitely check it out. Thanks!

Jay71

bluemeansgo: Thanks for the train tips. I think we're going to try to fit in Yufuin and Beppu.

Laplap: Thanks for sharing that video. It looks like the kind of neighbourhood we'd like to explore. For some reason, I think I've previously seen a video on the Jujo and Akabane posted by one of the youtubers I follow but can't place my finger on it.

kaka

i would say, focus on a region and dump the idea of the systemwide train pass. HND FUK//xxxHND would only cost 21600 yen on ANA/JAL experience fare and you'd save a sh!tton of time. to focus in the area. you can easily spend 7 in kumamoto/miyazaki and north of kyushu (can include nagasaki if you like, inc the atomic bomb museum or without). there's beppu, the east cost of the kyushu island near miyazaki, fukuoka, kumamoto, and the stuff in between (Mt Aso - active, takachiho has some nice gorges that a family can navigate), good beef, or even go down to kagoshima for some good chicken.

OR, do hokkaido or revisit the area near tokyo - but i personally like the outside more. maybe that's gotta do with living in a big city and have been to tokyo/osaka god knows how many times... but in tokyo i still get to do new things!

freecia

Just to report back, I managed to snag a next day solo ticket for Iyonada Monogatari which is evidently quite rare. My table-mate was a medical doctor from Kobe who spoke English, so I even got a bit of conversation in. I booked far too late request an eki-ben but tea & water were allowed to bring on so I had a large breakfast at the new Dormy Inn in Matsuyama (quite nice!).

There was enough of a bus schedule to get to the vine bridge & over to my ryokan where I arranged for a morning weekday pickup via taxi to Oboke station. The other passengers waiting in the unmanned train station spoke Mandarin & English. According to a ryokan manager, the northern Shikoku area is definitely on the Chinese tourist map but a little less known by Westerners.

Kochi was a bit of a surprise. I didn't plan to spend much time in Kochi on this trip since the sightseeing materials made it seem like Kochi's nature sights were the most attractive (and harder to get to quickly on public transit). So I stopped in for a few hours in transit from Oboke and flew out from Kochi airport that afternoon, popping in for the castle, karage chicken, and katsuo tataki. Kochi has this laid back and slightly tropical feel. The air smelled pleasant and people seemed more relaxed. I had an excellent yuzu sherbert at the airport but wish I could have tried the other two flavors of yuzu sherbert. I'm not sure what made the area so charming to me but it had "it". I think Kochi would be a nice place to visit for a couple days and not cross off any tourist checklists, but not sit in a resort or just on a beach, either.

abmj-jr

I can vote for that. I spent a few days there awhile back and loved it. Much of the city is easily walkable and your observations about the "vibe" are right on. It helped me that I was a fan of the NHK Taiga Drama based on the lord and lady of Kochi castle and enjoyed finding the "real" side of things but I just felt almost at home. The sea breezes made the place very enjoyable. And the train ride through the mountain gorge on the way to/from Takamatsu-Kochi was spectacular..