**Note:  I was on the island of Kyushu in March 2016, just a month prior to the April earthquakes.  I have some family who live on Kyushu, but thankfully they are safe.  They live far enough away to be safe, but still close enough to feel the tremors.  It must be so scary for them.  I have been to Kumamoto on previous trips to Japan and it hits me in my heart to see the pictures and video showing the aftermath of the quakes. I see photos of the damage to Kumamoto Castle and am so sad. 

We went to Yoshinoya for breakfast on our first morning in Fukuoka. It is an affordable place for breakfast. You can choose from salmon meals or gyudon or even ham and eggs. We enjoy ordering the meals with  natto and egg to make a tamagomeshi. Such a comfort food for me. After breakfast, we headed down to Saga-ken on the Kamome train. The train is so much more comfortable and modern than it was when I first remember riding it as a child. Things have changed so much over the years. We got off at Hizen-Kashima station and noticed that even the station had changed so much from our last trip there. The station is now ADA compatible when just a few years ago, it was not. We chartered a taxi to take us around my mom’s hometown for a few hours. We found my grandparents’ home. If I understood my uncle correctly when we had dinner the night before, the plan is to demolish the house. No one is living in it and it doesn’t seem to be easy to sell. This may be the last time I see the home

My Hilo friend, Rimban Jeffrey Soga, told us that Saga is famous for sake.  I did not know that fact prior to this trip. So of course, we visited a sake shop in Kashima. At this shop, the salesperson allowed us to taste several different sake that was made in Kashima. Delicious.  This is a small town that reminded me of Hilo in a sense. The taxi driver and the sake salesperson are classmates. Everyone was really nice and know about the town and its history. In fact, I was able to find my grandparents’ house because of their historical knowledge.  I asked the taxi driver about a place that used to house an old Family Mart combini (that is now a newspaper office) and that is how I found my way. So similar to living in Hilo.

After visiting the house, the sake shop, and  the famous Yutoku shrine, we were back on the train by 1:15 p.m. and headed back to Fukuoka. We had some Hakata ramen for lunch and did some shopping in the afternoon.

For our last full day on the island of Kyushu, we decided to go to Kagoshima. We went sightseeing at Shiroyama where we got a view of the whole city of Kagoshima. After sightseeing, we ate lunch at a shabushabu/katsu restaurant. Kagoshima is famous for their kurobuta and our lunch did not disappoint.  Tender, juicy, and delicous.

At Kagoshima station we bought some mizuwari shochu for the shinkansen ride home. Kagoshima is famous for their shochu and I didn’t want to leave without trying it. Much of the bullet train ride is through mountain tunnels, so there isn’t much view during this ride.

After getting back to Fukuoka, we had dinner and drinks at a neighbrhood izakaya with my Fukuoka cousins.  The family blog post can be seen here. It was a great way to close out our Kyushu adventure.