DAY 5 - KYOTO TO FUKUOKA

Fukuoka (福岡, Fukuoka) is Kyushu's largest and one of Japan's ten most populated cities.

Because of its closeness to the Asian mainland (closer to Seoul than to Tokyo), Fukuoka has been an important harbor city for many centuries and was chosen by the Mongol invasion forces as their landing point in the 13th century.

Today's Fukuoka is the product of the fusion of two cities in the year 1889, when the port city of Hakata and the former castle town of Fukuoka were united into one city called Fukuoka. Hakata remains the name of one of Fukuoka's central districts and of the main railway station.

SANYO SHINKANSEN

HOTEL NIKKO FUKUOKA

CANAL CITY

DAY 6 - NAGASAKI

Nagasaki is an attractively situated port city on the island of Kyushu and the capital of Nagasaki Prefecture.

As one of Japan's closest port cities to the Asian mainland, Nagasaki has played a prominent role in foreign trade relations for many centuries and was the most important of only a very few ports open to restricted numbers of foreign traders during Japan's period of isolation.

In more recent history, Nagasaki became the second city after Hiroshima to be destroyed by an atomic bomb towards the end of World War II.

NAGASAKI PEACE PARK

MONUMENT IN PEACE PARK

NAGASAKI CHINATOWN

ROPEWAY TO MT INASA

DAY 7 - NAGASAKI THEME PARK

HUIS TEN BOSCH - DUTCH THEME PARK

DAY 8 - MOUNT ASO

Mount Aso (阿蘇山, Asosan) is an active volcano in the centre of Kyushu. Its ancient caldera ranks among the world's largest, with a diameter of up to 25 kilometers and a circumference of over 100 kilometers. In the center of the caldera stand the mountain's active volcanic peaks, including Mount Nakadake, whose spectacular crater is easily accessible to tourists by toll road or ropeway.

DAY 9 - IBUSUKI

Ibusuki (指宿) is an onsen town that is famous for its sand baths, where bathers are buried in naturally heated sand. The town encompasses the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula, and the main downtown area is along the coast facing Kagoshima Bay.

Ibusuki's sand baths can be enjoyed at a number of hotels and other facilities, but the most popular bathing spot is the large Saraku Sand Bath Hall, which is about a kilometer from Ibusuki Station. At sand baths, guests get provided with yukata robes and are then buried by staff members in hot sand that is heated by natural steam coming up from below. After staying buried for typically 10 to 20 minutes, guests wash off the sand and enter regular hot spring baths.