Of the 47 prefectures in Japan I have now been to 41 of them with the most recent new addition being Oita in the north-eastern part of Kyushu; Japan’s most southerly main island. I’m sure I’ll vist them all eventually but Oita was the one remaining prefecture I had something of a desire to visit and that was finally realised last year when I took a one-way flight there.

A flight being just 20 minutes late is not usually a problem but on this occasion it meant that I just missed my intended local bus from the airport. Instead, I had to take a more luxury (and expensive!) coach to Kitsuki Interchange. That was followed by a 40 minute walk to the samurai district of Kitsuki which is famed for its sloping streets and Japan’s smallest castle. More details here.

Once at Kitsuki station, I then caught a train the fairly short distance to Beppu station. When I originally booked this trip to Oita I wanted to take a hot spring bath in this region which is famed for such a thing. Sadly the beach onsen place I’d seen some friends do in previous years had closed, and with time not on my side I had to forego one of the indoor ones. Still, I got to dip my finger in one outside the station so not all was completely lost!!

My main goal in this area was just to see Beppu Tower; a 100 metre construction that was built in 1957 to try and boost tourism. I have no idea if that worked or not but it is starting to look its age but that makes it more appealing to me than the slick modern day towers.  There is an observation deck on the 17th floor (800 yen) but I didn’t have time to go up which I wasn’t too bothered about.

As I rushed back to the station I was quite surprised to see a local shopping street called Sol Paseo Ginza. With a name like that I thought this 300 metre long shopping arcade  might have something of a Spanish flavour to it but it didn’t. Instead, it was a fairly deserted street full of Japanese restaurants and bars. I suspect it comes alive more at nightime!

One of the main reasons for visiting Oita was to see the football stadium but before that I took a quick detour to see the most local of unstaffed stations at Takio. Sadly, it had changed a bit from what I’d seen in an old Japanese magazine but still retained its very local charm and spirit. More details here.

Once back at Oita station, I came across a huge kokeshi doll outside the main entrance. When I first came to Japan I actually took a fairly strong interest in these simple wooden dolls (I even bought a couple which I still have on display now!) which are thought to ward off evil spirits and protect homes from fire. If your house was on fire then I doubt that such a wooden ornament would do much to stop it burning!

A fairly long bus ride to Oita Big Eye stadium followed. It was great to see the architectural wonder which has hosted World Cup football and rugby matches but sadly the J2 game I saw was a miserable 0-0 draw. More details here.

I could’ve slept during that match but actually had to wait till I got to my hotel late that evening and then it was a very early start the next morning. Of course this local modern art museum (simply known as Art Plaza) was closed at 5:00 am on a Sunday morning but thankfully I only wanted to see the unique concrete exterior which was designed by a local architect.

Despite leaving for Saga prefecture just after 8:00 am, I decided to squeeze in a place before that which is why I took a two hour return train journey at 5:30 am just to see some signage at a station with a connection of sorts to the USA! More details here.

After a whirlwind 20 hours in Oita it was time to leave as I splashed out on a more luxury train than usual to take me west for about two hours to the quirky-looking kappa station in Fukuoka prefecture before heading on to my destination in Saga Prefecture.

Click here to read ‘An Afternoon In The Samurai District With Sloping Streets Aplenty, Japan’s Smallest Castle & It’s Largest Iron Buddha Statue Too!’

Click here to read ‘Unstaffed Stations Of Japan #18 – Takio’

Click here to read ‘An Away Day Trip of Note to One of My Bucketlist Japanese Stadiums’

Click here to read ‘USA Is Actually Closer To Tokyo Than You May Think!’