Joe Rodin Has A Blog

January 18. Instagram My flight to Okinawa is at 9:55am, so that means heading out from the hotel around 7am. Fukuoka airport is a very quick train ride from the hotel, as the airport itself is basically in downtown. Once again the airport experience was a breeze and I made it through checkout in a heartbeat. I grabbed a little katsu sandwich from an airport kiosk and waited patiently for my flight. Fukuoka Airport Art, Fukuoka. Katsu Sandwich, Fukuoka. First view of Okinawa from the plane. Preparing for landing at Naha Airport. One thing I learned on arrival to Okinawa was that I don't have the option to drop my bag at the hotel, and I didn't learn this until I walked up to the hotel to find the door locked and a note that said the lobby is only open from 3pm-10pm. It would be a 15 minute walk to get back to the train station to drop my bag at a coin locker, or my next best option, make it up on the fly. Street Cat, Okinawa. Street Cat, Okinaw...

January 17. Instagram Today is a sad day, because it's my last big train ride in Japan. It's just under 2 hours from Beppu to Fukuoka, and this is also my earliest train of the trip, as it leaves the station at 5:27am. Save the best for last, right? I actually left the hotel so early in the morning, I had to wake the desk guy up to tell him I was leaving. He wasn't like hunched over the desk or anything, he was in a back room and I rang the bell and clearly woke the poor man up. Luckily I was the only person there, so he can go back to sleep for a few more hours. Fukuoka has a tourist day pass that also covers all local metro trains! I didn't look this up in advance, but there was a sign for it at the train station, and it's purchased at the station, so it's a good win-win. The day pass is mostly discounts, not a lot of attractions are free, but it's only $18, so the metro/bus being free all day will be the biggest win. The best bonus of the day is whe...

January 16. Instagram I need to preface this day by reminding everyone the only reason I wanted to go to Beppu in the first place was because of one specific ramen shop. No other reason, just Yume Wo Katare. The train today is going to be a little bit of a long ride, mostly because there's no train that cuts right through the water, so it's straight west, then looping back to the south and east. Two trains, 186 miles in only three hours, I love Japan's train system. Beppu is in Oita prefecture, and is the furthest south I've visited so far. It doesn't feel it as the temperature is in the middle 40's, but Beppu is on the same longitude as Northern Africa and Charleston, South Carolina. There is something really hot in Beppu, and it's what they're most well known for: hot springs. Mount Tsurumi erupted in the year 867, and since then, thermal vents and hot springs take up the entire mountainside, sliding all the way down to Beppu Bay. The hotel I...