Over the last week, I touched upon the highlights of my recent Fukuoka trip, speaking about the best food (2016 Fukuoka Kyshuu trip Highlights Part 1 (Lounges and Food)) and also the best hotels (2016 Fukuoka Kyshuu trip Highlights Part 2 (Hotels)) in my opinion for the trip.
Now is the time to speak about one of the more important things that gets people traveling to different places all the time – the various experiences.
Best Experiences (Nature)
Now I know that not everyone is a fan of experiencing the outdoors, but for the ones who likes them, I really do think the must visit in Fukuoka are Mt Yufu hike and the Kumano Magaibutsu. The Mt Yufu hike is particularly good in that you actually do go up quite high and it ended up being quite the workout. The fact that you also see the changing climate as you walk up is an extra experience that you don’t normally get. (Ms Buddha and I got snow!) (More information here: Mount Yufu Hike – Experience)
Kumano Magaibutsu is a much lighter experience, although the surrounding is so tranquil that it was definitely worth the effort of getting there – you also get to experience a bit of culture on the side with the “Wealth temple” next door! (You can find it here: Kumano Magaibutsu, Oita – Roam – Experience)
Best Experiences (Culture)
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Ms Buddha and I love to visit historic places where there’s a lot of old monuments to view, because ultimately, you can buy things online from almost anywhere now, but you can only see certain monuments at specific places. Which brings me to the Usuki Roams, and also the Kitsuki experience.
Usuki resonated with me mainly because of how peaceful the small little town was, and how excellent the service was in terms of the bloke who sold us the tickets – obviously there is a motive to promote the town, but at the same time, you get the feeling that the residents are actually very proud of the town – not something that is easy to feel coming from somewhere like Hong Kong.
You can read all about Usuki here:
Usuki Stone Buddhas – Usuki, Ōita Roam – Experience
Usuki (臼杵市) Roam – Usuki, Oita – Experience
Usuki Museum – Usuki Oita – Experience
Next on the list would be the town of Kitsuki, home to Samurais in Japan. There’s plenty to see here, and because it is slightly out of the way, you do miss a large majority of the tourists, especially if you go on a temple roam like Ms Buddha and I did.
Kitsuki (杵築市), Ōita – Samurai Town Roam – Experience
Best Experiences (Art and History)
Finally, when it comes to traveling, one thing that I really do enjoy is going to museums and seeing different aspects of history, and the OPAM and the Gunkanjima (軍艦島) experience took the top spots for me.
The OPAM was terrific in that nestled in the older town was this massive building which was modern and housed exhibitions that you wouldn’t find in other countries (like comics) and it just shows how accepted the whole Manga culture is in Japan!
OPAM, Oita, Japan – Roam – Experience
The final experience highlight was the Gunkanjima (軍艦島) which was incredibly difficult to book, but because I am such a fan of anime and Attack on Titan was such a hit! The history around the island itself is also very interesting and makes you wonder how a civilisation can just vanish almost overnight – kind of like a window into how our cities will look when we all leave.
Gunkanjima (軍艦島) – Battleship Island – Experience
Buddha Explores 