One can certainly say that I started off 2008 with a bang!  On January 2nd, I departed from Osaka to Kita Kyushu on a night ferry boat (12 hour trip) with my friend from Nagoya whom I originally met while studying at Ohio University several years back.  As you can see from the pictures, I was sleeping in tight living quarters but was comfortable enough to get a decent night's sleep to start the following day off on the right foot.  Upon arriving at Kita Kyushu terminal, my friend (Masahide) and I got into his car and drove off of the ferry and on to the highway to our first destination, Nagasaki.  The trip to Nagasaki was a quite long one as we decided to save some cash (highways are expensive in Japan) and took the local road a little bit into our trip.  We departed Kita Kyushu at 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Nagasaki just around 3:00 p.m.  One must also take into acount that Masahide and I stopped by Yoshinogari Historical Park for about one hour before arriving in Nagasaki. 

 

Once in Nagasaki, Masahide and I parked the car and went straight for lunch in Chinatown.  After feasting on some food home to Nagasaki, we walked to Dejima, which was an artificial island (not anymore) where the Holland residents lived during Japan's isolation period (roughly 1640 to 1860).  After touring the island, Masahide and I checked into our hotel room and got ready to meet his friend for dinner.  Following our dinner appointment, Masahide and I returned back to the hotel room to call it a night and prepare for our long journey that laid ahead of us for the following day. 

 

After energizing ourselves with breakfast, Masahide and I headed back on the highway for Fukuoka.  We left Nagasaki around 9:30 a.m. and arrived in Fukuoka just after 12:30 p.m.  We were planning to go and visit a shrine along the way but due to a terrible traffic jam (everyone was planning to go to the same place as us) we changed our plan and went directly to Fukuoka for lunch (ramen noodles).  Due to a tight schedule, we left Fukuoka after lunch and traveled to Hiroshima.  The trip took us 6 hours with more than half of the time spent on the local roads.  After arriving in Hiroshima at 9:00 p.m., Masahide and I quickly checked into the hotel and went out for dinner.  After feasting on some popular Hiroshima cuisine, we returned back to the hotel room to prepare for the final leg of our journey for the next day. 

 

Upon awaking and once again breakfast, Masahide and I toured around central Hiroshima for about one hour before heading over to Miyajima to board the 10 minute ferry boat to visit Itsukushima Shrine, which is one of the three recognized national landscape spots in Japan.  After taking numerous pictures of the surroundings, Masahide and I dined on oysters for lunch before taking the 5 hour journey using the highway back home to Osaka. 

 

Even though the trip consisted mostly of driving around, I was able to eat many regional food and enjoy some time away from Osaka.

 

Reference websites:

 

Meimon Taiyo Ferry

http://www.cityline.co.jp/english/index.html 

 

Yoshinogari Historical Park

 

Dejima

 

Miyajima

 

 

 1月2日は4年ぶりに九州まで足を運んだ（やっぱ遠いわ・・・）。今回は電車を利用せずに、フェリーと車で移動。1月2日の夜に大阪から愛知県に住んでる友達とフェリーに乗って九州へ出発！！翌日の朝は北九州に到着。

最初の目的地は長崎市だったので、まずは高速道路に乗って南西へGO！！途中で佐賀県にある弥生時代後期後半を復元してる吉野ヶ里歴史公園に寄って見物。その後、目的地長崎市に到着して有名な中華街で皿うどんを食べた。昼食が終わったら、「出島」って1641年から1859年まで対オランダ貿易が行われた人工島に訪れ。晩御飯は長崎の名物「ちゃんぽん」を食ってからホテルへ帰って熟睡。

3日目は朝から長崎に出て、博多ラーメンを食うために福岡へGO！！昼ご飯を食べる前に有名な神社「大宰府」に寄りたかったんやけど、めっちゃくちゃ渋滞に巻き込まれたから途中で諦めてdirectに福岡へ行った。第一候補のラーメン屋さんは年末年始のため休業してたからbackupとして「一蘭」って店に訪れ、「味集中カウンター」で美味いラーメンを食べられた。

時間があまりなかったために、昼飯後車に乗って、広島へ向かってGO！広島に着いたのは夜だったから観光せずに広島風お好み焼きを食べる時間しかなくてちょっと残念・・・

四日目は朝から広島市内を観光してから宮島へ出発。フェリーの移動時間は僅か10分であっという間に宮島に着いた。厳島神社に写真を撮りまくり。その後ちょっとお腹が空いてきたから、もちろん広島といえば牡蠣やろ！！なので、昼飯として牡蠣のコースを注文して満足した。

その後、時間に圧縮されたので、高速道路に乗ってアクセルを思い切り踏んで大阪へdashして無事に大阪に帰った。

満喫したけど、いつの間にか西日本旅終了・・・

参考：

名門大洋フェリー
http://www.cityline.co.jp/

吉野ヶ里
http://www.yoshinogari.jp/

出島
http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/dejima/

博多ラーメン「一蘭」
http://www.ichiran.co.jp/index.html

宮島
http://www.miyajima.or.jp/