In 1995 Christmas I went to Kyushu in Japan with three of my siblings and their family, 9 of us in total. Japan consists of five main islands. Hokkaido up in the north (famous for lavender fields in the summer and sking in the winter), Okinawa in the south (dubbed Asia's Hawaii), Honshu (the main island that includes Tokyo, Osaka etc), Shikoku the second smallest of the five islands (lesser known of all the islands but a hidden gem I hear), and Kyushu which lies south of Honshu.
I can't remember why we chose Kyushu, probably because Sapporo is too expensive in winter, Okinawa was too small to spend 8 days, Honshu is too big and we had to do a lot of planning on where to go. That left us with Shioku and Kyushu. The latter was better known and the size of the island was just
We arrived at Fukuoka, Kyushu's largest city on the evening of 23rd, tired after the 3 hour flight. It doesn't help when you're flying out during the busy Christmas holiday period on a budget airline. It drains you out easily. After we grabbed a quick dinner in the shopping mall, we wandered around the JR station, one of the busiest part of the city. The Christmas lights were up and there was a lovely vibe. We called it a day very soon and got ready to enjoy our holiday the next day.
Or so we thought.
KANMON BRIDGE
The first day of our holiday didn't exactly start off the right foot. One of the disadvantages of going on holiday with a group, particularly family members is having to compromise....
Kyushu and Honshu (the main island) are separated by the Kanmon Strait, the distance between the two island is only around one kilometre wide, with the narrowest section being around 600 meters. Thre are various ways to cross the strait. Bridge is an obvious one, this the Kanmon Bridge.
Walking through a tunnel is another one. Yes, you heard me right walking through a tunnel under the seabed!!! In London you can walk across a pedestrian tunnel under the River Thames. In Kyushu, there is a similar one, the Kanmon Tunnel. The 750 meter long Kanmon Tunnel is built under the Kanmon Strait seabed connecting Kyushu and Honshu.
Hubby was very keen to walk the entire tunnel across to the main island, Honshu. How awesome is it to say you've walked from one island to another in Japan under the seabed. A few others thought it would be a nice walk. Some were indifferent. One member didn't see the point and wasn't keen at all. In the end, it was agreed, very reluctantly by hubby I have to add, that we'd turn back when we got to the mid point.
Here's hubby at the mid point,standing on the line that separates the two islands. He's facing the Fukuoka perfecture on Kyushu and the Yamaguchi perfecture in Honshu is behind him. I can tell you hubby wasn't a happy bunny, but mature enough not to throw a tantrum. Let's move on.
MOJI
Kanmon Bridge is located on the northern tip of Kyushu in a town called Moji, or Mojiko, ko being port in Japanese.
After we came back up from the Kanmon tunnel we really didnt'have much planned for the day. There was a Railway History Museum nearby and we went over. It was... ok.
Then we wandered around the port area. Moji used to be a very busy port back in the 19th century as it is very near Korea and China. In fact it's mid way between Tokyo and Shanghai increasing it's importance as a trading port.
However the area today has become more of a tourist location. Many western style buildings were constructed back in the hey days and they are still preserved very well making it an interesting area to visit. We passed by one of these historical building, the Old Moji Mitsui Club built in 1921. This was used by the Mitsui Company to receive guest, the most prominent guest being Albert Einstein in 1922.
Our first day in Kyushu was rather uneventful. Nothing to shout about really. Luckily the rest of the trip was better and was more interesting. I'll talk more about it next time.
