Air France Japan Area guides: Kyushu and Okinawa

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Kyushu and Okinawa guide

Japan’s southerly island of Kyushu is a place of active volcanic peaks and hot springs. Work your way around the island from the main hub cities of Kitakyushu and Fukuoka to the hot spring towns of Beppu and Yufuin, and the active volcano Mt Aso (often closed due to the billowing sulphurous fumes). Head along the coast – with its strange geological formations nicknamed the ‘devil’s washboard – south to another unpredictable peak, Sakurajima, which often showers the nearby city of Kagoshima in ash. Take the short hop from Kagoshima to the lush island of Yakushima, an unspoilt, Unesco-designated forest wilderness that is home to ancient cedar trees – some of the oldest in the world – and dramatic mountains, gorges and waterfalls.

Highlights of Kyushu’s west coast include the castle city of Kumamoto, the rolling hills, volcanic peaks and golf courses around Mt Unzen, and the bright, melting-pot city of Nagasaki.

Further south still, extending 1,000km towards Taiwan, is the tropical island archipelago of Okinawa. Once known as the Ryukyuan Kingdom, the islands became part of Japan in 1879, and are a beautiful, tropical paradise – the perfect antidote to Japan’s frenetic cities. Divers and wildlife lovers will be in their element here; head for the more remote islands for crystal clear waters and reefs, unusual sunken rock formations, mangrove ecosystems and rare animals such as the Yamaneko wild cat. Purchase a bright Hawaiian-style kariyushi shirt, pop on a pair of flip-flops and go with the flow…

How to get to Kyushu and Okinawa

Fly to Tokyo or Osaka with Air France from any of the following UK airports: London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle. From Osaka or Tokyo speedy bullet trains, ferries and domestic flights will get you to Kyushu and Okinawa. Booking online with Air France you can arrange your flights all the way to Fukuoka*, the gateway city to Kyushu.

*Domestic flights in Japan operated by Japan Airlines

Adventure | Gourmet | Traditional | Cool and contemporary

Adventure

Trek to ‘Jomon sugi’
258-24 Hirauchi, Yakushima-cho, Kumake-gun, Kagoshima, 891-4406 (www.jnto.go.jp)
Make the day-long trek to the ancient ‘Jomon sugi’ cedar tree on the Unesco World Heritage island of Yakushima. Stay at Yakushima Youth Hostel and rest weary legs in the nearby hot spring revealed on the seashore at low tide. (You must register your hike with the hostel manager.)

How to get there
Yakushima is a 35-minute flight from Kagoshima or around 2hours and half by jet-foil ferry. Kagoshima is a 2 hour flight from Tokyo or 1 hour 15minutes from Osaka.
Hike around a volcano
Dorm rooms from £15, 3-3-10 Kitahama, Beppu, Oita (www.khaosan-beppu.com)
Hike around smoking Mount Aso and the remarkable grass-covered Komezuka peak, so named because it looks like a mound of rice. Resist the urge to buy a lump of fluorescent yellow sulphur, hauled from the Aso crater, on sale beside the roadside. Stay at the friendly and affordable Khao San guesthouse in Beppu.

How to get there
Mount Aso is 2hours by express train from Beppu. Oita is a 1 hour 40 minute flight from Tokyo or 1 hour from Osaka.
Diving off Yonaguni island
Hotel from £55 per room per night, 59-6 Yonaguni, Yonaguni-cho, Yaeyama, Okinawa (www.jnto.go.jp)
Dive the mysterious stone structures off the Okinawan island of Yonaguni, part of the remote Yaeyama islands. Stay at the Hotel Irifune owned by Kihachiro Aratake, the man who discovered the ‘ruins’ in 1986, where dives are offered by the English-speaking team at Reef Encounters (www.reefencounters.org).

How to get there
Yonaguni is a 40 minute flight to Ishigaki (the ‘capital’ of the Yaeama islands) followed by a 1 hour flight to Naha. Naha is a 2 hour 30minute flight from Tokyo or 2hours from Osaka.

Adventure | Gourmet | Traditional | Cool and contemporary

Gourmet

Eat from a food fountain of youth
£12 per person, 61 Aza-Oganeku, Ogimi Village, Okinawa (www.eminomise.com) (website in Japanese only)
Tuck into the ‘longevity menu’ of 15 dishes made from indigenous island fruit and vegetables at Emi no Mise on Okinawa. Run by nutritionist chef, all the ingredients in the restaurant come from the allotments in the village, where residents have some of the longest life spans in the world.

How to get there
Ogimi Village is a 2 hour drive from Naha, Okinawa. Naha is a 2 hour 30minute flight from Tokyo or 2hours from Osaka.
Dine on food fit for a king
1-8-8 Kumoji, Naha-shi, Okinawa (www.okinawastory.jp)
Dine in the manner of Ryukuan royalty in the Okinawan capital, Naha. Historic Mie restaurant specialises in the court cuisine of the Ryukyuan Kingdom, known as kyutei. Dishes such as steamed kelp maki rolls are presented like works of art in a hexagonal lacquered tray. Expect to pay a king’s ransom though: £115 per person.

How to get there
Naha, Okinawa is a 2 hour 30minute flight from Tokyo or 2 hours from Osaka.
Try the street food of Fukuoka-Hakata
6-10 Higashi Sengoku-cho, Kagoshima (www.fukuoka-tourism.net)
Sample Japanese street food in Kyushu’s gateway city of Fukuoka-Hakata. Head for the Nakasu entertainment district on an islet in the Naka-gawa, the river that runs through the heart of the city. Here street stalls known as yatai sell moreish grilled chicken skewers, hotpot and the city’s speciality Hakata Ramen through the night.

How to get there
Fukuoka-Hakata is 5 hours from Tokyo by Nozomi Shinkansen.

Adventure | Gourmet | Traditional | Cool and contemporary

Traditional

Join the Great Tug of War
Kumoji Crossing, Route 58, Naha-shi, Okinawa (www.naha-otsunahiki.org)
A rare chance to take part in an elaborate Japanese festival; Join tens of thousands of locals and tourists in the Great Tug of War in the Okinawan capital Naha. Teams from the east and west of the city must haul the 200-metre-long, 40-tonne rope 15 metres to win. Afterwards, cut off a piece of the rope as a lucky charm. Held annually in October.

How to get there
Naha, Okinawa, is a 2 hour 30 minute flight from Tokyo or a 2 hour flight from Osaka.
See the floats of the Kunchi festival
Various locations, Nagasaki-shi (www.jnto.go.jp)
The annual Kunchi festival in Nagasaki is well worth rearranging your travel plans for. Celebrating the many influences that have defined this cosmopolitan city – including Chinese and Dutch – boat-shaped floats, dragons, dancers and costumed men, women and children from the city’s various districts flood the city streets from 7-9 October.

How to get there
Nagasaki is a 2 hour flight from Tokyo or 1hour from Osaka.
Take tea in Okinawa
1-9-29 Tsuboya, Naha-shi, Okinawa (www.jnto.go.jp)
Beyond the bustling arcades in Okinawa’s capital city Naha you’ll find Yachimun Street, the centre for pottery artisans during the Ryukyu period more than 300 years ago. Twenty potters still work here making Okinawa’s signature glazed and unglazed pottery styles and you’ll also find two ancient ‘climbing kilns’. Take tea in hand-made cups in the Fuee nu Kama café, owned by a famous local potter. Jasmine tea £5.

How to get there
Naha is a 2 hour 30minute flight from Tokyo or 2 hours from Osaka.

Adventure | Gourmet | Traditional | Cool and contemporary

Cool and contemporary

Visit the mysterious gorge of Shiratani Unsuikyo
Suite room from £300 for 2 including meals, 553 Haginoue, Mugio, Yakushima-cho, Kumage-gun, Kagoshima (www.sankarahotel-spa.com)
Anime fans should head to Yakushima to see the beautiful and mysterious gorge of Shiratani Unsuikyo – the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s forested idyll in Princess Mononoke. Pack a mac, though, as this is one of Japan’s rainiest places. Dry off at the island’s new luxury resort, Sankara.

How to get there
Yakushima is a 35 minute flight from Kagoshima, or around 2 hours and half by jet-foil ferry. Kagoshima is a 2 hour flight from Tokyo or 1hour 15minutes from Osaka.
Get a unique perspective
2-3 Akizukimachi, Nagasaki (www.gt-nagasaki.jp)
With panoramic views of the port and city of Nagasaki from halfway up Mt Insasa – and now a new restaurant from which to enjoy then – the striking Garden Terrace Hotel was created by architect du jour Kengo Kuma, the man behind the Tiffany building in Ginza, Tokyo.

How to get there
Nagasaki is a 2 hour flight from Tokyo or 1hour from Osaka.
Treat your skin to a mud bath
Entry £6, Next to Oniishi Bozu Jigoku, Beppu-shi, Oita
Bypass Beppu’s famous hot sand ‘bath’ on the beach and instead treat your skin to a mud bath in the hot spring town in eastern Kyushu. Close to the bubbling Oniishi Bozu Jigoku (Monk’s Hell) is the open-air clay mineral spring of Kodei Onsen. Wash first, then soak in the cloudy grey water for 5-10 minutes; get out and allow the clay to dry on your skin before washing off. If in doubt, follow the locals.

How to get there
Oita is a 1hour 40minute flight from Tokyo or 1hour from Osaka.