Monday, 24 November 2025

Today was a travel day, 4 trains and eventually a gondola.

The trains, a local Sanyo main line, a Sanyo Shinkansen Nozomi, a Limited Express Relay-Kamome, and finally a Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Kamome. I haven’t bothered to work out how far each of them got me but they took 71, 44, 62 and 31 minutes respectively which suggests that the Sanyo Shinkansen Nozomi did the heavy lifting. Japan Railways’ idea of a normal connection can be entertaining too as they were 5, 7 and 3 minutes. Fine if you know what you are doing and where you are going but it can be stressful. The shortest one was easy as the trains were sitting on either side of the platform. JR Kyushu’s solution to the problem of the air gap in the Shinkansen network between Hakata and Takeo-Onsen is the Limited Express train and making it as seemless as possible is very desirable (although you still need to muck about in Hakata).

They are doing some sort of building work around the station at Nagasaki and so when I went looking for my hotel, which is a JR Kyushu hotel and near but not in the station, I got lost circling, and going through a shopping centre. Eventually I found the escalators that would take me to level 2 and the front desk of the hotel. Of course I was too early to actually check in by about an hour. It was lunch time though so I left my carry one type bag with them (potentially to join my suitcase that I knew had already been delivered there) and sought out a bakery for lunch (or maybe it was brunch since this morning’s hotel was chaotic and the queue for breakfast ran from the start of the buffet, past the lifts, to the front desk and then doubled back to the lifts. This was at 6:30am when breakfast started at 6:30am. Toyoko Inns don’t always have a breakfast room and so the lobby area is used, as was the case with this hotel but it is not big enough for the size of the hotel. Anyway after some enjoyable bakery items out in the sun it was back to the hotel to get a room key and collapse.

Towards sunset I decided to venture to the ropeway and see what the sunset/night was like at the summit of Mt Inasa.

sanyo main line train

I wasn’t really expecting this relic from the 60/70’s but that’s what was delivered up and it left on time, was quite comfortable, and arrived on time.

opening windows

It also had windows that appeared like they would open, although I didn’t test the theory in case they did open but wouldn’t close again properly.

view out the window

One of the good things about the local trains is you can see the scenery and this is the coast line as we travel along. Note we were passing this car. I don’t know what the speed limit is on the road but we were doing a respectable 100km/h.

coast line can be industrial

I have noticed that there is a lot of industry built right on the coast.

At the station a brisk walk following the Shinkansen signs brought me to the correct platform in plenty of time, although I misread the car signs on the platform and was standing at the one appropriate for an eight car train rather than a 16 car one. I was moving to the correct location as the train pulled in.

view of a Hikari Rail Star

This is what an iPhone camera makes of a Hikari Rail Star sitting in a station as a Nozomi thunders past it at 300km/h. If my experience on the 500 is any guide the passengers on the Rail Star felt more than saw the Nozomi rocket past it.

At Hakata station I had to leave the Shinkansen area and enter the regular part of the station as the Relay-Kamome is a narrow gauge train. It was a bit confusing when I arrived on the platform to see the signs indicating that this train was the Relay-Kamome.

787 LE around the kyushu

The 787 LE Around The Kyushu was a pre Shinkansen train and it would seem that JR Kyushu can’t be bothered giving it a new name and repainting it. No time to venture to the front for a better shot, just get on.

a bit of nice scenery

We flashed past some nice Kyushu scenery until we reached the Takeo-Onsen station where the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen was waiting for us.

relay-kamome

I got closer to the front of the Relay-Kamome as I moved from car 5 to car 1 but it still seemed unwise to push it by going to the front of the train unlike the Shinkansen as it was sitting a bit further back in the platform and I could aim to use the door next to the driver’s door.

shinkansen

inside

I was the last to get off so here is the inside of the car. Note this is a reserved car and not a green car (there aren’t any) but it is 2×2 seating. A Sanyo Shinkansen has 3×2 seating in reserved so these trains must be narrower.

Here is an interesting picture from my room. Note the step up into the bathroom. I can’t recall anywhere else I’ve stayed in Japan with such a large step.

the bathroom

Anyway onto the ropeway.

going up

blue light

night

not as packed as hakodate

There were quite a few people up there but there wasn’t any long queues to get on the gondola and just looking at the crowd I would have said it was a lot less than either Hakodate or Sapporo. This is a place that claims to be in the top 3 of night time views, along with Shanghai and Monaco. I’m pretty sure that Hong Kong should be on that list but whatever.

Dinner time so consult Tabélog for the area. A Chinese noodle soup restaurant is the most popular but not with me, then a bakery! One of the Hilton’s restaurant’s gets next place but I’ve broken the no hotel restaurants rule once this trip and it is current #1 on the most disappointing list (it’s possibly the only member of that list) so I’m not doing it again.

So the winner is Uodana Asa, a Izakaya. I wonder if I can get in? Yes there is space for one person at the counter so I have a spot and a gin and lime is acquired. They have an English menu, I also get a specials menu handwritten in Japanese (Google translate can be a barrel of laughs with those).

octopus with wasabi

That’s an appetiser of Octopus prepared somehow with wasabi (at least that’s what the menu implied but it might be lost in translation even on the English menu). It was certainly octopus and it was very good.

today’s sashimi

Nagasaki is a fishing town so I’ve got to have sashimi here.

stir fried pork wih kimchi

A Korean friend of mine who sadly passed away a number of years ago used to say that he was always glad to get home after a trip to Japan as the food wasn’t spicy enough. He might have approved of this dish.

tempura

And to finish some delicious tempura.

Tomorrow’s a day to see the sights of Nagasaki but no Battleship island. All the tours seem to be booked out until the middle on December so I don’t have to worry about the weather, or the swell, or be irritated by limited time/access and other tourists getting in my shots as there won’t be any 🙂 Time to visit the Peace Park and associated sights plus Glover Garden and the old European quarter instead.