(acapella singing)
- [Host] Seven days and nights
in Kyushu, Japan.
The land of snow ...
And fire.
In 7 minutes I'm gonna go over
a whole week in Kyushu, Japan.
So this is gonna be pretty fast and furious.
If you wanna know more, I've got
more detailed videos link in the description
in the Kyushu, Japan playlist.
Our full first day in Fukuoka,
we visited the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine,
one of the biggest shrines in Fukuoka.
And while we were there, something
really cool happened.
A Japanese television crew caught up with us.
From Japanese KBC TV, we spent an hour and a half
shooting some video for their morning show.
I had camera envy.
Their cameras?
Way bigger than mine.
After shooting their video and my video,
Tofur was famished, so we stopped in
to Ichiran Ramen for lunch and had some famous
Hakata-style ramen.
Delicious.
The first night in Fukuoka, we checked out
the Canal City Shopping Mall.
It is the largest development ever
in Japan's history.
Couple-hundred stores, movie theater,
and it has a really neat nighttime
fountain show.
(fast music with soaring vocals)
We spent the night at the Hotel Nikko Fukuoka,
a nice hotel three blocks from Fukuoka's main
Hakata train station.
The morning of Day 2, we visited Fukuoka's
Tenjin neighborhood, the other big train station
and famous for its shopping, particularly
its covered shopping streets, but even more so,
its underground shopping arcades.
These shopping arcades seem to go on endlessly,
were packed with people and stores.
Hey everybody, I am in Fukuoka today
and what am I eating, what did I fly halfway
around the world to Japan to eat?
Is it sushi, no.
Is it ramen, I already had that twice, yesterday.
Today it is pudding.
The yellow building back there?
That's the Hakata Street West Pudding Shop.
What do they sell, pudding.
What else do they sell, pudding.
What else do they sell, nothing else except pudding!
After our pudding, we hopped on the train
to Yanagawa for a Japanese gondola tour,
basically complete with a singing Japanese Gondolier.
- [Japanese 02:02:49] ♪
- [Host] For dinner in Yanagawa, we had steamed eel.
It was the most delicious and most expensive
steamed eel I've ever had.
The steamed eel seems to be about the only thing
this town sells.
After eel, we saw one of the most interesting things
we've ever seen in Japan, it's the
Daizenji Shrine's Fire Festival.
This festival's been going on for 1600 years.
Hundreds of Japanese men carry these torches
through the shrine and then it culminates
in the burning of these really huge torches,
ultimately to drive the evil spirits away from the shrine.
(chanting voices)
Day 3, we picked up a rental car and we drove to Nagasaki.
But first a pitstop in the porcelain town of Arita.
It's also famous for their beef, in this region.
We had beef for lunch, some of the most delicious
and tender beef, ever.
Once we got to Nagasaki, we went to check out
the famous Night View but unfortunately
it was too cloudy and all we saw
was the view of the inside of a cloud.
After failing on the nighttime view,
we went to check out Nagasaki's Chinatown.
Which has these really neat illuminated signs,
it has music in it, that music in the background
actually plays here, and we had Champon
for dinner at this Chinese restaurant
that's been here over a hundred years.
So what's Champon?
Well, it's this!
It's kind of like chow mein noodles in soup.
The next morning, we just had a couple hours
before we checked out, so we went to see
the Megane Bridge, right there, do you
see the Megane?
It's the glasses bridge, it makes
a little reflection in the river.
Well, it's better when it's not windy,
I think it's a little less windy right now.
If you don't see it, then maybe
you need Megane ... glasses.
And then we visited Dejima, this former island.
In the 1600s there was a Dutch trading post
and on Dejima Island, they've done a miniature version
of the island, on the island.
So cute!
And we were hungry before we left.
We got with these delicious pork buns.
It was so delicious, we got a 2nd one,
400 yen, these shops are all over Nagasaki and ...
Mmm, pork is heavenly.
It's so tender, I don't think I've ever
had pork this tender.
Get these if you come to Nagasaki.
After Nagasaki, we took our rental car
and drove up to Aso Mountain.
It's the largest active volcano in Japan.
And, no volcano today but lots of snow,
it's a really high elevation, it's pretty cold.
But the good news is we're staying in
the Onsen hotel in this area.
It's a hundred-year-old Japanese
traditional-style hotel.
That is warm, this is cold.
And this shrine behind me, this is the Aso Shrine.
The "head" of these shrines.
Unfortunately, it's collapsed and so,
they're remodeling it, now.
But still, plenty people come to this shrine.
Day 5, we went to Kurokawa Onsen, one of the best
Onsen towns in Japan.
We had some Onsen eggs, which are eggs
that have been boiled in the hot spring water.
And then after touring the town,
the check-in to our hotel, we drove down
what had to be like the narrowest road in the snow.
Super crazy.
To ultimately check in to the Yamamizuki Onsen Hotel
in Kurokawa Onsen, Japan.
Where we had a very elaborate Onsen hotel dinner
that did include something weird:
fish on a stick.
But Yamamizuki Hotel, it was really nice.
It had the nicest outdoor Onsen hotspring
of any hotel we've ever been at, in Japan.
It was right next to the river, there was
snow coming down, it was just an
amazing hot spring experience.
Usually I do these videos outside.
But it's really cold, outside, can you see?
Kinda looks like Siberia.
It is -3 degrees, we're driving on
the Kyushu expressway, heading to Beppu.
Which is like the capital for hot springs in Japan.
And if you don't believe me, -3, just
take a look at the front of the car, there.
This mountain is part of the Aso mountain range.
Which is Japan's most active volcano.
I had no idea that a volcano could be so cold.
Brrrr!
Beppu is Japan's capital of hot spring hotels.
You can see the steam rising from all the
hot spring hotels, here.
But we visited one of Beppu's 7-helled,
7 different themed hot spring pools you can visit.
This one is the Sea Hell.
Then we checked into the third and final
Onsen hotel on our stay, this one's in Yufuin.
It's the Yufuin Gettouan Hotel, another boutique hotel,
less than 20 rooms.
And to get to our room we had to cross
this rope bridge.
(whispering) So this is a new one ... rocks!
What's it for?
Steak!
Not to eat.
I was concerned, I didn't want to eat those.
But you cook your steak ... on the rock.
It sizzles.
The steak is Tofur's favorite food, bamboo.
Look at that.
But Tofur's favorite part of this hotel
was definitely the private Onsen hot spring bath
in our room.
Well, outside, but right next to our room,
in a private area.
And on day 7, our final day, we spent
the morning exploring Yufuin town,
a cute little Onsen town with an almost pedestrian
shopping street with tons of neat
restaurants and souvenir shops.
Once we finished up Yufuin Town, we
drove the rental car back to Fukuoka,
returned it, and hopped on a Shinkanzen, the bullet train,
just two and a half hours to Osaka.
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