Kyushu 2024 Day 1 & 2: Fukuoka - Nagasaki

  DAY 1: 25 NOV 2024

teamLab Fukuoka

It's the holiday season again and we explored Japan's Kyushu region!

We settled on the destination pretty early in the year and 

booked our flight and hotels to lock in cheaper rates.

This was also the reason why we flew Singapore Airlines 

as the prices were reasonable for our travel dates.

As Zhi Sheng had free airport lounge access, we visited the SATS premier lounge before our flight.

However, our experience was underwhelming and the lounge is definitely not worth paying for.

Our flight took about 5.5 hours and we arrived at Fukuoka airport at 8.30am local time.

It is highly recommended for visitors to Japan to complete the online immigration details on the Visit Japan Web before arriving as it makes the immigration process quicker.

We didn't do so and completed the hardcopy forms instead.

We booked a night's stay at Hotel Forza Hakata-guchi which is a 5 mins walk from Hakata station.

From the international airport, we first took the free shuttle bus to the domestic terminal before transferring to a train.

As the airport was located near the city, we arrived at Hakata station in no time.

After checking in, we headed to our first attraction: Kushida shrine.

Entrance of Kushida Shrine

After exploring the shrine, we explored the area around Hakata station before heading to our paid attraction: teamLab Fukuoka

teamLab Forest Fukuoka

We bought our tickets on Klook and chose the 2pm slot.

There were a total of 7 rooms and we had to install an app for the first room.

If you enjoyed Pokemon Go, you will definitely enjoy the first room.

Using the app and phone camera, we had to shoot arrows to capture the animals on the screen or cast a net to catch sea creatures on the floor.

We were so engrossed in this game that we spent close to 40 minutes in this room!

The other rooms are also immersive with vibrant light projections.

The second last room had a colouring activity where we could project our final artwork as an animation!

Not only that, each animal or flower has a mission tagged to it.

I coloured a snake and its mission was to continually eat lizards to not disappear.

This teamLab exhibition surpassed my expectations and I truly enjoyed my time there!

Hakata Issou

After exploring a mall near teamLab, we decided to have an early dinner at Hakata Issou.

We originally popped by this ramen place in the afternoon, hoping to have it for lunch.

However, to our dismay, the queue was long and we would not be in time for our teamLab admission.

Since we arrived before 6pm, we were first in line and get a table quickly.

Hakata Issou is famous for its tonkotsu ramen.

The char siew is good and tender, while the broth is creamy and rich.

The uniqueness of the broth is the tiny bubbles formed on the surface.

To be honest, the pork taste and smell is too strong for my liking.

Aside from that, it is still a good bowl of tonkotsu ramen.

After dinner, we explored the shops at Hakata station.

Christmas market at Hakata station

After window shopping for some time, we decided to head back to the hotel to get some rest.

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DAY 2: 26 NOV 2024

Ohori Park

We had till mid-afternoon to explore Fukuoka before taking the train to Nagasaki.

Our plan was to visit Ohori park in the morning.

However, the weather was bad and started raining the moment we stepped out of the train station.

Instead of exploring the park in the rain, we decided to visit the Fukuoka Art Museum while seeking shelter.

We paid 200 yen each to view the regular exhibits.

The exhibits were interesting and kept us occupied for more than an hour.

The rain finally stopped when we exited the museum.

We took a walk to Maizuru park to have a look at the Fukuoka castle ruins.

There was nothing much to see and I feel that you can skip the castle ruins if you are short of time.

After exploring the parks, we took a long walk to Tenjin to have our lunch.

Our lunch place today was Gyukatsu Motomura!

I was craving for this before our trip and was super excited to finally satisfy my cravings.

As we arrived close to noon, there was a long queue due to the small shop space.

We queued for slightly over an hour before finally getting counter seats!

I ordered 1 portion while Zhi Sheng ordered the 1.5 portion.

I love how we could cook the meat to our preferred doneness on a hot stone plate!

After lunch, we took a train back to Hakata station to catch our train to Nagasaki!

We bought the 5-day JR Kyushu rail pass (All Kyushu) on Klook for S$188.

As we were bringing our luggages on the train, we reserved seats at the pass office yesterday.

Thankfully, there were luggage storage areas at the front or back of each carriage!

To get to Nagasaki, we had to change train at Takeo Onsen station.

The change was seamless as the second train was at the same platform on the opposite side.

Our seats were also reserved in a way which minimised movement.

We arrived in Nagasaki at around 4.40pm!

We quickly made our way to our hotel, Dormy Inn Premium Nagasaki Ekimae, which was a 5 to 10 minutes walk from the JR station.

Our original plan was to next explore Chinatown.

However, as the weather forecast for tomorrow is bad, we decided to visit Mt Inasa Observatory instead.

We took bus no. 4 to the Nagasaki ropeway station using our Icoca card.

After a short bus ride, we arrived at the ropeway station!

We book return tickets for 1,250 yen each.

As we only reached the observatory at 6pm, we unfortunately missed the sunset.

However, the night views were amazing!

Despite the cold weather coupled with strong winds, we enjoyed the views of Nagasaki city.

Zhi Sheng could even spot our hotel from above!

If you are feeling too cold, you could enjoy the views in the indoor building too.

Hot drinks from the vending machine

On our walk to the observatory, I spotted a vending machine selling warm corn soup in a can!

I had to try it on our way back.

The soup was yummy and kept me warm!

Our ride back down was even more comfortable as there were only 8 of us in the car.

We did not wait long for the ride too.

After the ropeway, we took a bus back to the JR station for dinner!

I found a kushikatsu chain restaurant, Kushikatsu Tanaka Nagasakieki, located within the JR station.

 

The restaurant provided English menu which made it easier to order.

We didn't order a lot as our hotel provided free ramen from 9.30pm to 11pm.

The skewers were crispy and not too oily!

I had a beer which had hints of ginger ale while Zhi Sheng had lemon sour.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel as the shops closed by 8pm.

We visited the hotel's comic room which also has a free ice cream bar and massage chair use!

We had some ice cream and used the massage chair which ran for 15 minutes per session.

Free ramen for supper

After hanging out in the comic room, it was finally time for supper!

We headed to the restaurant at level 2 to have some free ramen.

The ramen was good and warmed our bodies up!

And that's it for our first two days in Kyushu!