The first thing I have to say is I can no longer trust Google Maps for transit info. Especially not in the Japanese countryside. I already had it make me walk further than I needed to because it’s bad at backtracking even when it’s quicker (i.e. getting off at a later station and walking back.) This morning I was planning on getting on a bus and then switching to a train because it was supposed to be the fastest way from Imari to Karatsu. Unfortunately Google Maps doesn’t know that the weekend bus schedules are different here.

I got to breakfast at the hotel and the whole cafeteria was full of high school girls. Or maybe college. I’m old and kids look like kids. The buffet was picked over but fortunately most of them were finishing up and the staff started refilling things as I was making my choices. There were a LOT of choices.

I didn’t fill up all of the spaces on the plate but I double-stacked two of the spaces. And while it looks like I didn’t get a lot of food, I was completely stuffed.

I made it to the station for the nonexistent 9:43am bus. The schedules told me the quickest way to Karatsu was to wait for the 11:03am train. That meant I had plenty of time to kill. Fortunately there was a free work space at the station with free power and WiFi. I should’ve used that time to plan tomorrow’s travels but I just watched some YouTube videos.

The train was even smaller than the one yesterday. Ran like a bus (again) and was diesel as well. It wound through the countryside and and made many stops but hardly anyone got on or off.

I made it to Karatsu around noon and had them clear my Suica card. At Arita I scanned the wrong IC card reader and I was warned that I would have to clear it when I got to the next JR station with a card reader which turned out to be Karatsu station a day later. i also got some suggestions from the tourist information desk. Then I took a cab to the ryokan I’m staying at. Couldn’t check in so early but they did let me stash my luggage. The ryokan wasn’t close to the station but it was very close to the castle.

Here’s a view from the top of the castle of the peninsula where the ryokan is located.

 

And a view of the castle from the bridge leading from the peninsula.

Does it look like there are a lot of stairs to the castle? There were a lot of stairs to the castle.

There was a ¥100 elevator that I was planning to take on the way down, but I accidentally walked right by it and walked all the way down. Fortunately I didn’t trip on the uneven stairs.

The wisteria were starting to bloom and attracted a lot of bees.

The castle is a reproduction built during the Showa era which usually means it’s all museum inside. At least it wasn’t just concrete walls.

There were more stairs to climb but being so high up the view was pretty nice.

I walked to the former residence of Taketori, a local coal magnate. It was huge. The entry room was 4m tall and he even had his own noh stage in one of the wings. I didn’t take any pictures of it but it was a mansion and a half.

From there I went to Karatsu jinja (another shrine) where I again took no pictures. I do have one of the former Karatsu Bank that they proudly say looks like Tokyo station. The guy who designed Tokyo station was from Karatsu and designed both buildings.

Then I went to the Hikiyama Float exhibition hall where they house all of the portable shrines used during their big November festival. With that I had completed the recommended tourist route through town and thought I’d better figure out where I’m going tomorrow. I know I need to end up in Hagi, but I told my cousin I’d swing by and have lunch with her in Tokuyama, which is kind of out of the way. I was recommended a small coffee shop near the station where I could sit down and stare at my phone and google maps.

The food on the menu looked delicious but I knew I’d have plenty to eat back at the ryokan so I didn’t get anything besides the cake and a cup of tea. I did sneak a picture of the inside.

I also didn’t think I’d need my usual Wilkinson but I took a picture of the selection in the station FamilyMart.

Then back to the ryokan. I haven’t posted any pictures from my hotel windows because who needs pictures of parking lots? This is much better.

The owner’s house is towards back of the garden and I could see him talking to some foreign guests.

And then dinner in the room. I’m not going to describe things unless someone really needs to know. It was delicious.

My overeating continues.

Today I traveled to Imari. It’s a very small town. I didn’t really have lunch, but I’ve been eating a lot lately so it’s not like I’m going to waste away.

I think I’ve seen most of the things in Nagasaki that I want to see but I like the place and I’ll definitely go again.

I decided to try the western breakfast at the same restaurant because I’ve had the Japanese breakfast at the restaurant at least three times already. As you can see, it’s still kind of Japanese. How often do you see picked vegetables and stewed tomato something-or-another in a western breakfast? Maybe it’s more European than American. The rest is my own fault: the salad, croissant, and coffee are from the buffet. I’m used to doughy flat croissants but this one was crisp and flaky.

Then I checked the train schedule and saw if I just left a little earlier I’d make it to Imari before lunch instead of after. I had a non-reserved seat ticket which meant I could leave whenever I wanted. Even after buying a coffee at Mickey D’s, I made it to the train platform a half hour early and was first in line. It wasn’t crowded so there was no problem.

I make fun of the Kyushu shinkansen all the time because it is a little weird and doesn’t go that far. It was supposed to connect Fukuoka and Nagasaki but Saga Prefecture in between thinks no one will stop there and won’t allow them to connect the two ends.

At the end of the line (in the middle of nowhere) I transferred to the Huis Ten Bosch line which I think also goes to Sasebo, but I only rode it one stop to Arita.

Then I got on the Matsuura Railway which was two cars with a diesel engine and ran like a bus. That is, you get in towards the rear, take a ticket (or scan your IC card) on the way in, and then pay according to the distance you traveled when you get off. Being the sticks, the train only comes once an hour. I guess Google Maps doesn’t like lettting you backtrack, so it told me to get off in the middle of EBFE and wondered if I was just going to a farmer’s house.

I think it was closer to go to the station and backtrack.

I left my bags at the hotel and headed off to see Imari. The front desk told me I should go to Okawachiyama, where the potters historically had their kilns. I only had 15 minutes to make it to the bus, which runs once every two hours. Okawachiyama was a nice little town in the hills, only a 15 minute bus ride away, so I bet a taxi would’ve been affordable (if there are any taxis here).

Did I mention the hills? It’s pretty steep. Lots of pottery stores and my sister suggested I buy a mug. The cheapest mug I liked was about $60US so I punted. (The cheapest one I saw was probably $40.) So much beautiful porcelain wasted on me there. Anyone have a million yen for a vase?

I guess this is a waterway and not a stream. 

And a spillway or a water diverter?

I didn’t take any pictures of the pottery because most of the displays were in stores and not galleries. I’m filling in by showing pictures of the creek.

I tried looking for the shrine built in a cave but I went the wrong way (as usual) and ended up at the cemetery. It’s not in the guide book but there was a sign that said there were many Korean potters who were brought to Japan and never got to go home. There’s a monument to them made up of their gravestones in a mound. I didn’t think it would be respectful to take a picture. Sorry. I found a picture online so there are pictures of it.

I had a few minutes to kill before the next bus so I got a my usual sightseeing lunch: soft ice cream. It was out of one of those machines that uses a pod and you make your own cone. I should not be trusted with a soft ice cream machine.

Oh, I got some tea as well.

I caught the bus back and did the tour of the town. There’s a very small pottery gallery at the station with several pieces of Edo era pottery. The information bureau also suggested the Silk Road exhibit and the merchant house next door to it.

The Silk Road exhibit is in an old house. The first floor is a pottery store (of course) and the second floor had a few displays. There was also a larger area next to the displays where you could paint your own porcelainware.

The merchant house was more fun. If you follow Japanese history you know how the rulers liked controlling things. People weren’t allowed to just go to the pottery studios in Okawachiyama but were made to buy things from the merchant in town. The lady there was super nice and explained the whole thing to me, showing me all the rooms.

I took a picture of both buildings and they’re the smaller ones in the middle.

My last stop was Imari shrine and on the way there were ceramic tiles on the walls. As you’d expect, there’s ceramics everywhere. The most interesting ceramics were at the ends of the bridges.

There were way more porcelain figures at the ends of the bridges but I’m not really a pottery guy so I only took a couple of pictures. Plus one of these roosters.

What I thought was the shrine was just the bottom of the steps to the shrine.

The shrine itself was quite peaceful and no one was there! Usually there’s people selling fortunes and amulets.

I walked back to the hotel and they recommended two places for Imari beef but one no longer serves dinner. The only choice was a cafe that serves Imari beef hamburger steak. I know it’s kind of a waste to grind up good beef but it was very tasty. But I started off with a lemon squash, which I hadn’t had in years.

I’m just building up the suspense.

Sometimes you get some odd flavors with hamburgers but this one was just perfect.

I had what I hope is my last disaster of the day — when I tried to pay for dinner I couldn’t find my wallet! I’ve pulled this stunt before. Since I pay for most things with the Suica app on my phone (a substitute for the IC transit card) I didn’t realize my wallet was in one of my bags back at the hotel. I rushed back to get the wallet and came back and paid. Phew. They were super nice about it.

The convenience store wasn’t on the route back to the hotel so I looked for some more Wilkinson fizzy water at a Daiso. No dice, but there was a MaxValu supermarket next door. And they had another flavor I hadn’t seen before! Checking out was kind of a nightmare. Self-checkout with lots of Japanese to read on the screens.

There’s a big bath on the third floor of the hotel so I’m going to head up in a bit. I hope I’m done with all my mistakes for the day.

This post will be edited after I go out for dinner, but right now it’s about 3:30pm and I’m back in the hotel relaxing for a bit. Hey, it’s my vacation, I can do what I want.

Nagasaki is much better without sciatica. I’ve been here twice before, once with my mom and sister about 20 years ago (man I’m old) and once three-ish years ago, right before the new section of the station shopping mall opened up. In fact, I left on opening day. It was also the year the Japanese COVID travel restrictions lifted and was my first time in Japan since 2019. In any case, I got sciatica on the trip and going up slopes and climbing stairs was particularly painful. Nagasaki has a lot of small steep hills and pedestrian overpasses with stairs and that wasn’t great.

Breakfast was in the hotels’s restaurant, next door in the new mall, and I remember it being better. Then again, it was right after the COVID shutdown and I think there wasn’t a buffet. I also remember it being way more crowded since there weren’t that many breakfast options then. Even with my complaints, breakfast today was really good and honestly I wasn’t hungry at lunchtime.

They had a couple of desserts but I just took a picture because I was full.

I put in my contacts and then I couldn’t find my reading glasses. Off I went to a 100 yen shop where the ladies laughed because they wore reading glasses too and probably have done the exact same thing.

After that I went to the tourist information counter at the station. As usual, they were surprised that I wanted to walk around instead of taking mass transit. The first thing I did, of course, was get lost. I did find this great view of the harbor.

It was actually not far from the back of the train station.

After that I wanted to find the mall we ate at during my first trip to Nagasaki. It was a long time ago and the train station was much smaller back then. Now there’s a giant complex of stores at the station.

I was expecting a run-down department store like I’ve been to in a lot of smaller Japanese towns, but this mall was renewed quite recently. Very clean and nice and much further from the station than I remember. The first time I went with my mom and my sister it was pouring down and I think we took a taxi.

Then it was off to walk to Chinatown (or more literally translated, China Street). On the way I was going to a shopping arcade to check out a chawanmushi shop where I think they invented the dish. In any case my sister wouldn’t stop telling me to go there and so I did. Turns out I went there on my first trip to Nagasaki and I remember the loud entryway where they clack wooden blocks to get the attention of the attendants upstairs. This time I sat at the counter downstairs.

I was still full from breakfast so I got the basic set.

Ha. Here it is with the lids off. It was very tasty and I’m saying that as someone who wasn’t even hungry at the time.

Then it was off to Chinatown. I gave the literal translation earlier because Chinatown is two blocks long, in an ell. It’s tiny. I was hoping to try some street food but it was mosly pork buns and Nagasaki pork buns and you can get those at the station. Plus I was stuffed from the chawanmushi.

By that time it was only about 12:30pm and I had run out of things on my short to-see list. I decided to visit the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture which is also quite new. On the way I saw this restaurant that was full of businessmen and took a picture of the plastic food display mainly for my sister who hates onions. Every dish seemed to have a ton of spring onions in it. (The joke probably isn’t worth it, but you’re not paying to view these pictures so whatever.)

Near the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture was the Santo Domingo Church Museum which was free but I really couldn’t be bothered to go. The NMHC (I’m not typing it all out again) was interesting, half being history and the other half being a reproduction of historic government offices.

The reproduction area required you to remove your shoes because there were tatami rooms you could enter to see what the government offices looked like.

That’s it for except for dinner. I’ll add that later (the half-dozen people who read this probably won’t notice because you’re in Portland and it’s after midnight and you should all all be asleep.)

—–

I was paying my bills on my computer, one reason I bring my computer, and I had to scribble some notes using the hotel room pen. It had a surprisingly nice feel to it but it had some interesting writing rather than a logo:

I tried booking my “Shinkansen” ticket online (the mini Shinkansen that goes from Nagasaki to Takeo Onsen) but the payment page said I had to go pick up the ticket in person so I just went down to the station to make the reservations in person. That’s one of the benefits of staying at the station. The ticket office was surprisingly empty and they told me I just hit it at the right time. They’re usually quite packed. I remember having to take a number the last time I was there.

It was dinnertime but I wasn’t hungry yet so I went shopping. I’m not a great shopper unless there’s something I’m looking for. I went to the nearest “Loft” and checked out the new water-based gel ink pens since I saw several ads on Instagram but couldn’t decide on anything. I also looked for some better reading glasses but they were ¥4000! I’ll stick with the cheapies. Then I looked around the restaurant floor of the new mall building thinking it was very familiar just to realize it’s the same one where I had breakfast. It’s weird approaching it from a different direction. I also realized I’d been there before when all the restaurants were open. It’s kind of confusing because there is only one open restaurant at breakfast time and the whole place has a different feel to it.

I usually ask the front desk of the hotel what the area food specialty is and they suggested toruko rice, Turkish rice which has nothing to do with the country of Turkey. They also suggested I get it at “Nicky Austin” in the train station restaurant area. I ordered the one that was marked “ichiban ninki” (most popular) because they have over a hundred different combos. I also realized I’d been there before during my sciatica visit and probably ordered the same thing.

Needed a touch more salt but it was good.

Here’s another picture that’s mainly for my sister.

She said she couldn’t find flavored WIlkinson during her last trip to Japan in the fall and so far I’ve had good luck. Usually it’s just plain or lemon but in Nagasaki I’ve been finding all sorts of flavors. Wiikinson is like LaCroix but better. Just like LaCroix, the tiny bit of flavor does make a difference.

Anyway, that’s it for Day 1. It’s only 7pm but I’m no longer a drinker (also I’m old) so I’m just going to hole up in my room and hope my jet lag doesn’t get to me tonight.

I didn’t make it to Japan in fall of 2025 because I was feeling poor. Being retired and having no job means my income is less. That’s usually fine, but covering all my medical bills was making me nuts. I didn’t spend any more on medical bills than a usual year but my financial advisor wasn’t trickling out enough money to cover it all. Plus, one of my doors was rotting and I had to pay for that (which was months later but that’s another story). Anyway, I figured out I was OK. And now it’s spring of 2026 and I’m back in Japan!

First day was kind of a doozy: 26 ½ hours from when I got up to now. Got up at 4 AM to catch a 7am flight from PDX to SEA, and then the long flight from SEA to HND. I got my flights on Expedia and my sister wondered why it was so expensive. Turns out I got the Comfort++ seats (or whatever they call the class between comfort plus and business) where the food was served with tablecloths and was better than what I usually get on an airplane. They provided headphones, not just wired earbuds, but I like to use my noise cancelling headphones. Unfortuately the plugs were all moved making things inconvenient for my usual setup so I ended up using the provided headsets. That means I carried my bulky headphones to Japan for nothing.

Watched a few movies, like I usually do. First Anaconda with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Plenty of dumb fun. After that I watched Zootopia 2. Then I tried watching No Other Choice which is supposed to be a black comedy but I found no humor in it. Maybe I’m not cut out for Korean movies. It was also hideously long and I could only stomach about half of it. I switched to watching Shrek which I’ve never actually seen, and after being scarred (ha) by the Korean movie I stuck to watching episodes of High Potential since I’m not caught up on the current season.

The long slog from the plane to immigration started out the same as usual.

But then there was a choke point. I didn’t see any Chinese tourists but holy crap there were still a lot of tourists coming into the country.

It took a while but like the friendly guys from the plane seats next to me said, “It’s way faster than Disneyland.”

I had a five hour layover before my flight to Nagasaki and there was a lot to do in the airport (at least for me). First, shipping off all of the gifts for friends and family, checking in my bag for the flight from HND to NGS, and then getting dinner since I wasn’t getting to my hotel near Nagasaki station until 10-ish. I went to my usual casual cafe and got my usual Napolitan spaghetti (ketchup spaghetti). I love the stuff. Probably too sweet for most Americans.

The view from the cafe isn’t bad, either.

Up to that point I was feeling great. I usually start fading after eating dinner, even though it wasn’t very much food. The flight started boarding about 6:30pm and they were really quick about it. The plane was mostly empty and it took a couple of hours to get to Nagasaki airport. It’s a very small airport. I only saw two other planes on the field and one was a small propeller-driven commuter plane. From there the bus takes about 50 minutes to get to Nagasaki station and I checked in to the hotel before 10pm PDT, 26 hours after leaving. I hit a combini before I went to bed (had to make sure to hydrate) and also got a korokke (beef croquette) as my late-night snack. WIlkinson is fizzy water that’s a tradition for me and Pocari Sweat is a sports drink.

That’s it for my first travel day!