G’day all. The latest on my latest trip for you. Last time I was writing about the experiences of visiting the city of Fukuoka. Over a three day period I did two and a half day trips, so I wanted to outline those for you in this post.

Day 11

1. Itoshima

I’m still not clear whether Itoshima is a small region to the south-west of Fukuoka or there is a town. Either way, this was a full on day. My wife had suggested going to Itoshima so I diligently sat down and worked out a plan about how we would go about that. The highlights I found online were the Shiraito Waterfall, the Raizan Senyoggi (Temple), a place called Keya No Oto and finally the Sakurai Futamigaura Couples Stone. Four things to visit in a city in a single day is easy, but these weren’t super close to each other and we had to take a train first and then buses and taxis to get to the locations. We left the apartment just after seven am to achieve this and got home 12 hours later.

The Shiraito Waterfalls were reached by a bus from the Chikuzen Maeburu Station (which we went through or past several times in the day), a cute little community bus. A short but steep walk greeted us once getting off the bus, mostly along the falls – well it wasn’t clear what technically constituted the falls but the river went over rocks downhill steeply for a good kilometre or more so until we made it to the top where there was a small pool for fishing, and what I presumed were the ‘falls’.

We also went to the Razainsennyogi Temple, which was a delightful temple in the woods. A bus journey then took us to a place called Keyo No Ohto, on the coast. These huge rocks at the end of land which inside have massive high caves that you can enter via a boat tour. Alas, it was too windy for the boat to run that day, but we checked out a lookout and enjoyed the coastal scenes. The final stop was at the Sakurai Futamiagaura Couples’ Rock, basically a photo spot on a different beach, the bus going past a few beaches that looked like they get busy in the warmer weather. The main feature are not the two rocks but the white tori (Japanese Gate) that was twenty metres out in the water. I’ve seen photos of it at low tide and you can certainly see the rocks and maybe walk out to it.

It was a rewarding day but each of the four sights required more transport, usually two forms and some co-ordination, and I think it would be a much better day trip to do with a car, plus you could stop at other smaller places on the way. Anyways, that was the biggest of the day trips.

Day 12

• Dazaifu

This is a famous town with a special temple the Dazaifu Tenmangu, along with a couple of other temples and the Kyushu National Museum housed in this impressive modern building at the top of a hill.

We spent a good few hours here, and visited this main temple which was super busy as was the town. The road from the train station to the temple is typical of such towns in Japan, full of places to eat and buy souvenirs. The temple grounds were really beautiful and included a lake, the temple proper had a strange roof on which grew plants, trees and grass.

The museum was probably not that interesting but getting there on this covered escalator was great, as I had climbed a few hills the previous day. There’s a famous restaurant there where you can sit with your feet in water giving them a footbath whilst enjoying your meal.

Day 13

• Nanzoin

I took a quick trip, not really a day trip easily done in half a day or less, to Nanzoin, around 30 to 40 minutes from Fukuoka by train. Here there is this incredible 41-metre reclining Buddha. You walk up a hill – not all the way – and around it slightly and then up some steps to see this incredible bronze statue. It’s an incredible sight! And popular too. Pictures beat words here.

And then, well, the next day it was time to move on from Japan, this time by ferry to Busan in southern Korea. Ahhh, but that’s for the next blog!

Thanks for popping in today, take care wherever you are in the world – May the Journey Never End!