Japan Trip Winter 2011Day 7: Beppu Ropeway and Lake Kinrinko

Day 7: 18 December 2011

Beppu Day Pass (Bus): ¥1600
Take the bus from JR Beppu Station, West Exit, Terminal 1.
Stop at Mt Tsurumi Ropeway (22 mins).

Be there early to avoid tour buses. No queue!

Take note of the bus schedule

Japan Trip Winter 2011Day 6: The Hell Tour

Day 6: 17 December 2011

Beppu One Way Ticket (Bus): ¥900
Beppu Jigoku Meguri (Tickets to 8 'Hells'): ¥2000

Hot springs everywhere in Beppu, even water that's going down the drain is steaming!

That's hot~

That's hotter!

Japan Trip Winter 2011 Day 5: Beppu

Day 5: 16 December 2011

We reserved seats (shinkansen and express trains) for the rest of our trip at Kumamoto Station.
Off to Beppu!

Shinkansen Sakura: Kumamoto → Kokura (JR Pass, 61 min)
Limited Express Sonic: Kokura → Beppu (JR Pass, 69 min)

Check-in: Hotel AILE

This was one of the bigger hotel rooms - there was a sofa, and I could open up my luggage, and still had space to walk around it.

View from our room

Japan Trip Winter 2011 Day 4: Kumamoto Castle and Suizenji Koen

Day 4: 15 December 2011

Free breakfast at Toyoko Inn

Destination: Kumamoto Castle (0830 - 1700 / ¥500)
Tram it: JR Kumamoto  → Kumamoto-mae Tram Stop (10min / used 2-day tram pass)

Japan Trip Winter 2011 Day 3: Kumamoto Number 1!

Day 3: 14 December 2011

Kumamoto's mascot

Before we tell you why we love Kumamoto, let's be more systematic and go back to Yakushima.

Security check at Yakushima Airport

Goodbye Yakushima!

Japan Trip Winter 2011 Day 2: Hiking at Shiratani Unsuikyo

Day 2: 13 December 2011

JNTO: Yakushima Island
Map of Miyanoura

The hotel guy asked us if we were going hiking. We said yes, and he looked at our boots - not safe! Slippery, he said. We needed proper footwear. We rented a pair of clean and unsmelly hiking shoes each (¥600), he helped us with directions to the bus stop and we left.

Yakushima Area Guide
Local Buses in Yakushima

Bus schedules, to the minute!

 

We took the 8:28 bus (¥500, 30 mins)

Opposite the bus stop

Japan Trip Winter 2011 Day 1: 3 Flights to Yakushima

Day 1: 12 December 2011

Planning for this 3-week trip was done way in advance, mostly done by unleash. I booked flights and hotels which were a good distance from places we were going to visit.
We hope the info here will be useful if you're going to Japan. Feel free to ask anything, we'll help if we can :)

Singapore to Haneda (ANA)
Haneda to Kagoshima (ANA)
Kagoshima to Yakushima (JAL)

All tickets purchased online through their official sites.
ANA | JAL

Green tea KitKat, yummy!