I discovered above on Day 2 (see picture) that the desk in our room on the train has a large pull out side desk - makes the room feel like an office!
I also forgot to show that in the room, there is individual temperature controlled air conditioning - it kept us very comfortable as it was very hot outside!
We went for breakfast at 7am:
Breakfast service was mostly western style and I quite enjoyed it:
Of course Japan still has this thing about serving Salad and Soup at breakfast:
The Omelet was terrific:
Fruit was delicious too:
The train had been travelling overnight, and as we munched on breakfast we had arrived into Minami Miyazaki:
I also got to see a few different JR Kyushu trains while we were there - Sunshine Miyazaki:
Yamasachi train as well:
We relaxed on the train in the morning, and opted out of the Miyazaki shrine visit as the weather was raining and unpleasant.
A view from our room as the morning passed by - we relaxed and enjoyed a morning to ourselves:
At lunch time we got this impressive Bento box and also the prime seat in the dining car with direct views from the large rear window:
The views from the rear window are fantastic, even with the rain around:
The bus took us to our overnight accommodation in a traditional Japanese Ryokan, high in the mountains:
Train passengers walked down to the entry to the Ryokan:
The forest here is amazing and quite a departure from further north in Kyushu:
The traditional Japanese Ryokan was terrific:
Traditional cooking methods are used here:
Here are the steps leading up to our room, which had a leaf with our names on it at the entrance:
Our home for the night:
Inside our room - this pretend spider was replaced with a very real and large spider later on that day! Luckily in Japan, most spiders aren't poisonous, unlike in Australia!
Our room also had it's own private onsen (bath), in additional to the multiple public baths the Ryokan had available to use:
Onsen's are always relaxing, and we were glad to relax in the public onsen for a while before dinner, and later in our private one.
The view from the Private Onsen room window:
Dinner at the Ryokan - wild fresh vegetables are the order of the day:
And raw chicken too. Err...Right.
They raise chickens on the property here, and then kill some of them each day to serve fresh raw chicken to guests for dinner. My wife and I didn't want to eat it raw (the risk of getting ill we didn't want to take) and asked for it to be cooked!
In the morning on Day 3 we were treated to a lovely display of butterflies outside our room:
We had a traditional Japanese breakfast with the our other passengers in the main restaurant room, separate to our overnight room:
Quite the feast, compared to the cereal, coffee and orange juice I would normally have in Australia!
As mentioned the vegetables are sourced on the property, and prepared in traditional Japanese fashion:
Then we boarded back onto the Seven Stars in Kyushu bus, and headed towards Tenku no Mori, a beautiful location deep in the forests of Kyushu:
Tenku no Mori offers a beautiful view of the forests around it, lots of parklands to explore and some great food for lunch too:
As part of our trip to Tenku No Mori, all the passengers helped to plant a tree in the gardens, which includes a wooden description that Seven stars in kyushu passengers planted this tree and the date:
That done, we moved to the restaurant for lunch:
In additional to the fresh vegetables, fresh pizza was also on the menu and tasted great! The light fittings made out of trees were interesting too!
There were other courses too:
After the lunch was completed we came back to Hayato Station to board the Seven Stars in Kyushu train, and continue our journey:
The train headed further south to Kagoshima, which has a beautiful active volcano right next to it:
There were more locals waving to the train as it passed by too:
We were served teatime sweets on the train, which I have to say were delicious:
You can see on the English menu what sweets were prepared for us:
I love that it is mostly local Kyushu produce:
After we finished the sweets, we were almost arrived in Kagoshima, and the volcano came into full view from the train:
Having arrived in Kagoshima, we then left the train again - this time following a staff member waving a flag for us to follow. I have seen this many times in Japan for Japanese tour groups, but this was the first time I had to follow the leader in a tour group myself!
We boarded a bus heading for a pottery museum - here is some shots along the way:
We eventually arrived in a small township where the museum is:
Here is some photos from within the museum itself - the pottery is beautiful, detailed and also amazingly expensive:
Here are the traditional kilns that they used to use to make pottery prior to the modern day kilns:
We were given the opportunity to make our own pottery designs, which were then prepared in their factory (which we also toured) and then the resulting pottery would be sent to us in Australia later - here is the result when it arrived in Australia - it looks great and can be displayed like this or hung on the wall:
The pottery came with a nice thank you note in English from the president of JR Kyushu too.
After the visit to the Pottery museum we also spent some time in a Japanese tea room, opened only once a year! My wife and I were a bit late to it as the pottery design work took longer than we thought! So no photos of the tea room sorry!
After this we boarded the bus back to Kagoshima and to a big shrine, with beautiful views of the volcano:
We were at the shrine to have a special dinner, over many courses - kind of like a degustation I guess. It was very nice and the food was wonderful:
After the dinner there was a fireworks display, and then we came back to Kagoshima Station to board the Seven Stars in Kyushu train again:
One of the crew pointed out the Seven stars platform marker:
At this point we were exhausted and collapsed into bed in our room on the train, which then left Kagoshima, heading north overnight towards Aso Station.
We arrived at Aso Station just in time for breakfast on Day 4 - the rain and overcast weather had gone and it was a beautiful typically hot and humid summer day:
Breakfast was being served alongside the Aso Station platform at a purpose built Seven Stars in Kyushu restaurant, which gave me the opportunity to take a few more pictures of the train:
We entered the restaurant for a buffet breakfast, which was great:
After breakfast we had some time to look around Aso Station, so I took the opportunity to take some more photos!
At this point the diesel locomotive was separated from the rest of the train, to change tracks to head the train for the final leg back to Hakata Station:
View of the train from the other platform at Aso Station:
At this point a local train arrived at Aso Station, which reminded me again just how well polished the Seven stars in Kyushu train is:
From Aso Station, another famous train called "Aso Boy" departs - unfortunately I didn't get to see it running, but this is where kids wait while the train is coming:
From here we could get some great views of Mount Aso:
External view of Aso Station:
We then reboarded the Seven Stars in Kyushu train for the next part of our journey to Oita Station:
I went to the dining car and was able to get the prime viewing spot at the rear window again, allowing me to get some more great shots as the train was going to Oita:
Some more little details on the Seven stars train interior:
A button is showcased too? Strange. Apparently they make them here in Kyushu.
Here we are, now arrived at Oita Station:
We had an hour here, so I decided to do some train spotting, and there were plenty of JR Kyushu trains to photograph:
Close up view of a JR Kyushu engineer working to separate the Seven Stars Loco again:
View of the Sonic trains - Blue and White versions:
Inside Oita Station concourse - I went to the next platform to get some more photos:
On the next platform I was able to take closer photos of the sonic trains, now stopped at Oita station:
Next to Oita Station is a large building with a small railway on the roof and a train shrine! I had to check that out:
And for those curious, here is the train shrine itself:
After this I boarded the Seven Stars in Kyushu train once more and went to the dining car for lunch, our final meal on the train:
It was a bento lunch, and very impressive:
We also got this beautiful treat for dessert - it was delicious!
We were treated to some more nice views of Kyushu as the train continued it's journey back towards Hakata Station:
One of the sights included this former train storage shed facility (roundhouse), with the turntable present but minus rails to the roundhouse!
Another pleasant surprise on the trip back was the news that the first ever trial run of a brand new JR Kyushu train dubbed "The sweet train" was going to pass alongside the Seven stars train today. It is due to start service later in the year!
We only got a glimpse of it as it passed by quickly, but I was glad to grab some photos of it!
It is a stunning looking train!
We then continued on the last section of the trip to Hakata Station, our final destination.
During the last section of the trip, they converted the rear window in the dining car into a big screen and invited all passengers there. They showed a dvd of the highlights of the trip we were still on, all recorded by the professional photographers during the trip and showcasing all the passengers on board through it!
I include a photo showing the pianist and violinist at work as I forgot to grab a photo of them during the journey:
We then pulled up shortly after at Hakata Station and the journey was finished. We disembarked, received our souvenirs we purchased on the train from the staff on the platform, and said our goodbyes!
The Seven Stars in Kyushu is an amazing train and worth the cost to travel on it. I would recommend the 2 day course if on a budget, but the 4 day course allows you plenty of time to enjoy the train and see a lot of Kyushu too.
Here is a selection of some of the Seven Stars in Kyushu souvenirs we bought:
The day and our trip was not yet over though for us - we still had more train plans for Day 4 and Day 5 too - please check my next blog entry for photos of the Kyushu Shinkansen, SL Hitoyoshi, A Train and more trains in Kyushu! :-)
