Kumamoto, Shimabara & Mount Aso
Some moments seem to defy belief. Then you remember where you are.
Out for a beer in Kumamoto after a long day in the historic town of Shimabara, we sat at a pavement cafe table. A lady with a small dog came and sat next to us and ordered a beer for herself from the waiter. She took off some of the dog’s clothing (naturally it was sporting a full outfit), chatted away to it and then cheerfully removed its nappy. We both did a double take. We hadn’t really just seen that. No. A quick inspection of the contents, then a deft and swift transfer to a tiny plastic bag, no doubt expressly designed for the purpose. More lovely, cutesy doggy chat, then she went inside. No, we reconfirmed to each other, that hadn’t actually happened….We pondered later why the dog didn’t get a new, clean pair of velcroed pants. Perhaps in conversation it had promised to be a good non-diapered doggy and not piss all over the cafe carpets.
It’s hard not to love Japan in its utter bonkersness, though it seems like a parallel universe at times. Kumamoto was no exception and handed us a fine example of the glorious art of over-complication for its own sake. After a strength-sapping day travelling from Nagasaki, a 6 hour trip ending with a 2 kilometre walk with full packs (trying to save cash by avoiding extortionate taxi fares) we had to deal with the electronic ‘guardian console’ at the entrance to our apartment. To be fair, at least it had an English language option. We selected the ‘Check-in’ option. You’re not properly registered, it told us. We did that yesterday, but it clearly hadn’t worked. We scanned a QR code to sort it out – off to a website on the phones, uploading documents and passports. Good, that worked. Now enter the passcode. We found the email that had the passcode and typed it in. We need to speak to you. We pressed the Let’s Chat button and got through to a human being. She told us we needed to get a key from a box located under the console. She read us another passcode and we entered that on the box keypad. Success, it released the key. We rang off. But how do we get through the electronic door to access the lifts? There was no keyhole or obvious place to wave the key fob at. We searched our lengthy emails again. Ahh – a 10 minute video of how to get in. Wonderful. On Instagram. Neither of us had an account. I set myself up and after 5 more minutes, we watched the video – at the end (most of it described what we’d just endured and were now enduring again) it showed a bloke waving the key fob somewhere behind us. We mimicked the bloke. Miracle – the door slid back and we were finally able to enter. Open bleeding sesame. 20 minutes of our lives we will never see again.
Some things on this trip are very different from travelling on holiday. Occasionally you get a little sick of going out to restaurants and crave a bit of time in, now and again, cooking for yourself. It was the reason we’d booked this flat and it was hard not to get a wee bit annoyed that it had virtually no decent equipment to cook with, so a further trip was needed to find a shop that sold cheap cookware. We’re now travelling with a large black spatula and two slightly stained plastic bowls in case it happens again. That, plus the 2 plastic mugs acquired in Kazakhstan & 2 plastic spoons which also double as knifes in emergencies (like birthday cake cutting).
We’d come to Kumamoto primarily as a means to get to Shimabara and as a push-off point to get to the town of Aso where we intended to do a bit of walking. To be fair, there’s not much to do in the city itself. It has a castle, a rather enormous one at that, and one that’s recently been rebuilt after being very badly damaged in an earthquake that hit the area in 2016. The restoration work continues so the whole place is still a building site, but the castle itself is finished and now looks like it was built yesterday (mainly as it was). Beautiful on the outside, the interior is an unfortunate let down. Rather than show the public how the residents of a mediaeval castle might have lived, it houses a dark, windowless and rather tedious museum over 4 floors with exhibits only in Japanese…
Shimabara however, was more than worth the effort. “It’ll be a relaxing day-out,” Helen convincingly informed me. “It’s only a half-hour ferry ride away.” Though the ferry was indeed a half-hour, it took 30 minutes to walk to the nearest bus stop (we ended up running as we nearly missed it), followed by a 40 minute bus journey to the port, then a further 20 minute bus trip on the other side. All of that to do in reverse too. Still, it was a gorgeous day and the castle here was superb, housing lots of fascinating exhibits on the Shimabara Rebellion, a short civil war from the Edo period in which 37,000 rebels were summarily executed after protesting about high taxes and the suppression of Christian religious practices. It had loads of mannequins draped in crumbling Samurai battle-dress too. The real highlight though was the area where several Samurai houses have been preserved and where you’re free to wander around at will. A fresh-water stream runs down the middle of the unpaved street where the best examples are, a little babbling brook surrounded by tiny pink flowers. Residents use it for washing, cooking & drinking to this day. The town is also famous for its Koi carp (loads seem to live in random street-side pools) and a sweet dessert known as ‘Kanzarashi’ – tiny white dumplings made of rice-flour and served in a syrupy, honey-like sauce. Each ball tastes remarkably like rubber and take an age to chew through, by which time any pleasure you might have received from the sweet sauce is all but a distant memory. We had jaw-ache when we’d finished. The lure of the ‘local delicacy’ strikes again…..
Going to Mount Aso a few hours away from the city was a bit of a gamble at this time of year. There are several very well trodden trails here, covering the various hills and mountains that make up the Mount Aso range, but many are often closed due to the strong winds that blow poisonous fumes across the area from the very active volcano that sits at the centre. We took a chance as the walking looked just too good to miss. It turned out to be the right decision.
Our first hike was the centre-piece of the range, a slog up to Mount Nakadake which overlooks a boiling, steaming crater lake. We’d hoped to get a beautiful day. The day before was warm, blue and bright, but today was extra special and we were treated to a ‘sea of clouds’, a strangely wonderful phenomenon that occurs when atmospheric conditions are right in early winter. A thick blanket of cloud settles in the valleys that surround the mountains, giving the appearance that the Aso range is an island, completely isolated from the rest of the world, with only high mountain tops rising out in the distance. It made the difficult ascent up through a steep gully stinking of sulphur and strewn with volcanic boulders pretty special and when we made it to the top, we got the effect in full. Another sushi picnic, this time with ‘weird eggs’, according to Helen, in another remarkable place. Alas, our next day’s trek up a smaller mountain, Mount Eboshidake, was a little less successful. It started well and we were soon surrounded by huge swathes of silvergrass catching the morning light, in stark contract to the moonscapes we’d trudged through the day before. But cloud of a different kind descended on the hilltops and obliterated any view we’d hoped to see. I suppose you can’t get lucky all of the time.
Whilst at Aso, we lodged at the Base Backpackers for a few nights. Our first hostel since Jeju Island in Korea, it was a wonderful, spotlessly clean place with some truly lovely fellow guests. It was a joy to be able to chat with like-minded travellers again, a pleasure we’ve missed somewhat since our experiences in central Asia. And good conversation tends to get even better when you introduce several bottles of sake into the equation….However, we also made time to stay at a local Ryokan, a traditional inn that offers a quintessentially Japanese experience. We managed to get a room just a couple of days ahead of our 20th wedding anniversary. Helen’s writing a piece on our fabulous stay there and our simply marvellous day of ‘onsen hopping’ that preceded it.
Kyushu has proved to be a fabulous re-introduction to Japan – busy and at times chaotic, but with easy escapes to non-touristed places or wooded countryside. Hopefully Shikoku, our next island, should prove even more off the beaten track.
Footnote: We were most thrilled to plan our route across Kyushu so that our final destination was the port town of Beppu, situated in the prefecture of Oita. Oita used to be known as Bungo and was one of the places Elisabeth Beresford chose as the names for her Womble characters. So, on our travels so far we’ve visited the homes of two Wombles (the other being Tomsk in Russia), but still no sign of the buggers. Anyone would think they were trying to avoid us….
Simon (15th November 2025)
How on earth will you ever be able to settle to a ‘normal’ life in the future…I think you’ll become ‘Wombles’ and hideaway somewhere. X
Ha ha – maybe that’s not too far off the mark. You’re right that normal life will be hard to adjust to, but we’ll have a new normal of not being at work when we return, so it ain’t exactly bad….
Still laughing about that dog 😁
Looks like some fab walking, I bet it felt great to get up there.
It was tremendous on the mountain, even with the stink!
Doggy diapers are all the rage!!!. Surely you are not shocked by this strange sight after all the sights you have come across around the world.
Happy Anniversary couldnt send a card but as we are in Fuertventura we had a few glasses of procecco. X
Thanks for toast! Hope the holiday was good.
Sounds and looks amazing, with another random dog story to give us that entertainment factor. Looking forward to hearing about your onsen hopping and happy anniversary!!!
Thanks Zoe – the anniversay was fab indeed. Post about it coming soon…