[Japan: Kyushu self drive road trip] - Yufuin Onsen town

Theme: scenic drive up the mountains
Weather: summer

Day 1: Fukuoka-Yufuin
We arrived early in the morning! The first thing we did was to find where our car rental pickup was. We rented from rent-a-car.com because they were reasonably priced and had many outlets. Pickups for car rental from the airport are usually at the departure hall level. Exit the doors, turn to the right and walk towards the police post. The ride from the airport to the car rental area is free, so no worries about booking transport there! Fill in some paperwork and you're good to go! They have a selection of Mazdas to choose from, so take your pick online depending on your needs. We got a Mazda Demio! It's sufficiently big for two people with huge luggages. We had to put down the backseat since it's a hatchback, so limited bootspace.

We decided to head to our first accommodation immediately since the highways have tolls and it wasn't very worth it to keep exiting them. Like most highways, there are plenty of rest stops so there is no need to hold your pee in for long.

Our first night was at Yufuin town! It's a little town that is not as crowded as Beppu Onsen. We discovered that they're famous for their desserts! Many shops sold roll cakes, so I had a hard time deciding which to enter. In the end, settled on one that had a tea set (one roll cake + a drink!).

We took a walk round the town and chanced upon an Owl Village! The entrance fee is 600 yen per adult but I personally think it's worth it because it's not everyday that you get to see and touch owls at such close distances. The owls there are on short leashes and you're allowed to pet anyone you see except those with the sign that says "I'm new here!" They're so docile because it was in the day and they're nocturnal.

Finally made our way to the touristy Kinrinko lake (about a 10-15 min walk if you don't make stops). But we made many stops along the way and found small brooks off the beaten path! I'm the type that prefers unintentional and unexpected finds, so I enjoyed the walk up very much. Kinrinko lake is suitable for families or big groups of people who want to take group pictures with a nice mountain and lake background, because it's serene and pretty. However, if you're like me and you prefer random explorations, then the path to Kinrinko would have been more interesting than Kinrinko itself, though I spent some time observing the fishes.

Had an early dinner (due to the lack of a proper lunch) and chanced upon a restaurant offering dons (rice bowls) with Unagi (eel) and beef. They had an interesting way of eating it because they had many small side dishes and a teapot of soup. It is advisable to eat the rice bowl with various combinations of the side dishes and finally wash it down by pouring the soup in the bowl. I personally like the soup combination the best because the slightly more bland soup complements the claypot rice bowl flavour very well.

After heading back to the main part of the town, checking in and resting for a bit, we went out for supper! Most places in the small towns close early (before 7pm) so there weren't many options. But, the trusty yakitori (BBQ skewers) and beer places are always opened at these times. Again, we randomly found one that had really good quality food (somehow I think we're lucky that way!)

You can save the pin on Google maps:
お食事処龍庵
3056-16 Yufuinchō Kawakami, Yufu-shi, Ōita-ken 879-5102, Japan
+81 977-85-3879
https://goo.gl/maps/i5UDyN6D8WM2

Other places at Yufuin to check out:

Gallery Blue Ballen (Wooden art gallery selling table accessories) - Japan, 〒879-5102 Ōita-ken, Yufu-shi, Yufuinchō Kawakami, 1835-4

B-speak (Famous roll cakes!)

Accommodation: Sansoh Tsurunoyu Hotel, booked using Agoda
There are private onsens that you can use and just flip the sign outside to indicate occupied! And the futons are extremely comfortable. As it's a typical family-owned ryokan, breakfast is served at 8.30am and it's a full japanese course breakfast - rice, miso soup, mackerel, appetiser etc

Breakfast at Ryokan

[Japan: Kyushu self-drive road trip] - Pre-trip preparation

This is the first time I'm planning a road trip round an entire island so let me try to walk you through the steps I took!

Step 1: Read up on Kyushu
I try to go for websites that are more authentic - http://www.japan-guide.com, www.japan-talk.com, www.welcomekyushu.com. These are all Japanese websites, so I would suppose their recommendations would be a bit more local compared to others. TripAdvisor does give good tips as well! I also searched for other blogs that have done road trips round the area since it's good to learn from the experiences of others (that's what globalisation and the internet is for, isn't it?)

Step 2: Select locations you wish to visit
After reading up, I managed to pick a couple of places along a certain theme. Kyushu is full of mountains and onsens, so I went with the more scenic route as compared to city-life. I searched for places that were off the beaten path, or things that were more localised and less touristy in that sense.

Step 3: Pin these locations on a map
Google map works well for me. I created a "Kyushu self-drive" list and added all the locations to it. It also makes for easy reference because when I was in Kyushu, I basically referred to that all the time and used it to log the places I went to as well.

Step 4: Connect the dots
It may sound like child's play, but determining the route was rather tough because I tried to create a U-shaped route and planned the region of accommodation each night so that I would break up the long drives.

Step 5: Find accommodations
With the route in mind, I searched for the accommodations based on the regions I would like to stay at. You can refer to my post on "General guidelines for trip planning" on which websites I use for accommodation booking. For Japan, my recommendation is to go with some airbnbs. It's becoming a thing there.

Step 6: Consolidate everything into one note
I'm a mac fanatic, so I use the "Notes" app since it syncs with my macbook pro, iPad and iPhone. You can also add in the pdf files and pins on the map into notes, so it's an all in one consolidated guide for you to refer to when you're there. It eases a lot of stress because you won't get frazzled trying to find things from all the different places you booked the accommodations from.

That's about it! Pre-trip preparations are important to maximise the enjoyment when you're there (: It's a little tedious but being neat and organised goes a long way so I highly encourage it!

Japan: Celebrating New Year in Tokyo

I spent the last few days of 2016 (and the first day of 2017) prancing around Tokyo. So, here's a couple of things to do when you're celebrating new year's there!

Before the trip I actually googled for the iconic things that Japanese do to celebrate the coming of a new year and it's a rather big thing there. However, my beliefs are different from theirs so most of the stuff weren't exactly suitable. Still, I went to take a look for myself.

SHRINES

They're really big on that in Japan. There are all sorts of shrines for different purposes and I can't really explain them here because I myself have not much clue on the different types. On New Year's Day, many people will dress up in their Kimonos and pay respects at the shrine. One of the biggest in Tokyo would be the Meiji Shrine, so you can check that out!

Entrance into Meiji Shrine

Many people queuing up to pray

FESTIVALS

Because New Year's is quite a huge holiday in Japan, there are plenty of festivals around the shrine areas. There are games stalls and street food stalls selling Yakitori, Karaage, Squids etc. The food sold are mostly finger food, but my advice would be to skip dinner and just snack away! If you're in for the festive mood, you can also rent kimonos and walk along the streets.

Extremely crowded in the night!

Crab meat stick 

Street Food Stalls

CLOSURE 

The thing to take note of is that some places do close during the new year period. For example, I couldn't enter any of the gardens as they generally close from 29 Dec to 3/4 Jan.

SHOPPING

Some people say that there are huge sales ongoing during this period. I didn't see that many sales, but I managed to get great deals at GAP and Adidas! For a Singaporean, Japan is a whole lot cheaper for sportswear and GAP, which is rather strange since these are not Japanese brands. There are other shops that you should check out too!

• Stationery - Japan has the prettiest stationery ever! Check out Tokyu hands, Itoya (I personally spent hours at Itoya because it had 7 floors!!)
• Random electronics and just about everything - Don Quijote. They sell branded items (and non-branded ones) on huge discounts, ranging from underwear to cameras and watches. I was really amazed at the amount of things they sold there. Update: I just found out that they're opening a branch in Singapore!!! Whoopee!
• Household items - Daiso. They sell a lot more stuff in the Japan branches as compared to the international ones.
• Apple - it's cheaper in Japan. Enough said. I bought my iPad pro and apple pencil :P
• Japanese-brand clothing - Go take a look at random boutique stores! You never know what cool steals you may find!
• Sneakers - if you're into sneakers like I am, some sneaker stores sell Nikes for cheap!
• More sneakers - Onitsukas. Non leather ones go for 8000 yen and Leather ones go for 12000 yen. The japan made and nippon made stuff are a lot more expensive!

There we go! It's not too much but Tokyo is mainly a shopping area and Ueno is not that well known but there are hidden street gems with cheaper shopping so you can try that area!