Japan Planning Thread 3

[Takoneko]

Hi!

This is a new Japan Planning Thread for when our last one is full.

Feel free to ask any questions here related to travel in Japan, regardless of budget or style of trip.

@Pusspot One more thing. You might have realised this already but if you’re watching the sumo on tv on NHK, they have English commentary for top division. Look out for this button on TV remote controls and you can switch between languages for commentary. This can also work for any other programming with the bilingual option.

@Takonekothats a brilliant tip about the tv remote - thank you!
Another place we liked was Takeo Onsen. We seemed to change at the station numerous times, so thought we’d explore it a bit. We had a fantastic saga beef hot bento box meal in the cafe, it’s won awards and it was delicious. In the town there is have an enormous modern library (didn’t go in) just before the shrine. It actually would’ve been a good place to base ourselves as its hub for the shinkensen and limited express. We went to Isahaya to see the meganbashi bridge - completey covered in scaffolding! Saga town was rather boring although we liked a brief wander around the castle museum.
Regarding the scenic trains - we booked these when the seats were released with our national JR passes. We didn’t have to pay a reservation fee, but I think you do with a regional pass. The Two Stars was exceptional, we were the only foreign tourists and a couple of Japanese passengers were keen to chat to us.
The Yufuin No Mori was half empty on the leg from Yufuin to Beppu, so maybe it’s worth trying for a portion of the trip rather than the whole journey. Aso Boy yesterday wasn’t full either. We’re going on the Ibusuki train next week, and we set our alarms for 2am to book that one. It was completely sold out when we woke up in the morning. I’m sorry I didn’t mention these trains to you, and I hadn’t appreciated how admired they are until now.
Enjoy your time in Beppu - we walked past the old bath house and it looked fabulous. We liked the side streets too.

@Pusspot I was aware of these trains vaguely, but I knew that they got booked up in advance and we weren’t really ready to lock down our itinerary so didn’t really look into them too closely. We’ve been tweaking and changing plans and sometimes even hotels quite last minute as we go along.

I will look out in case there’s any spaces left on any while we are here as they are covered by the regional rail passes. It’s good to know that they weren’t all fully booked out.