Next up was another spot that I wanted to check out purely because I had seen the following photo floating around online.
It was located a bit out of the way but was reachable by bus from Fukuoka, so we added a night in Fukuoka to basically dedicate a day to making a trip to Akiyoshidai to check out the Akiyoshido Cave. Anything else we managed to see would just be a bonus on top!
To Fukuoka
We woke up really early to start getting ready, since the train that we had seats for was leaving the station at 7:42 AM. We figured this was our best bet to spend more time exploring, sicne the next train didn’t leave until 9:17 and wouldn’t arrive until closer to 11. Because the bus to Akiyoshidai didn’t run very often, we wanted to make sure we’d have a reasonable chance with room for mistakes. That being said, this was going to be one of the more stressful series of transportation switches we would make, with the full schedule looking like this:
| Mode | Departing | Arriving | Departure Time | Arrival Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shinkansen | Kagoshimachuo Station | Hakata Station | 7:42 AM | 9:21 AM | |
| Drop bags off at Hotel | |||||
| Shinkansen | Hakata Station | Shin-Yamaguchi Station | 10:45 AM | 11:20 AM | |
| Bus | Shin-Yamaguchi Station | Akiyoshido Bus Stop | 11:27 AM | 12:02 PM | |
| Spend time at Akiyoshido | |||||
| Bus | Akiyoshido Bus Stop | Shin-Yamaguchi Station | 5:35 PM | 6:12 PM | Alternative was 3:40 PM if we finished earlier |
| Shinkansen | Shin-Yamaguchi Station | Hakata Station | 6:23 PM | 6:55 PM |
We got a really nice view of Sakurajima from our hotel window, with the sun perfectly framing the volcano surrounded by clouds.
Friend J went to get the hotel breakfast while I ate some stuff I had picked up at the convenience store, since I wanted to take my time getting ready today. When he came back he said that I actually didn’t miss out on much, it was basically the same things we’d been seeing the last few days. We took a taxi to the station, where I was able to properly communicate where we were going and where to put our luggage for once. After the mess yesterday, it was really reassuring that I was still able to communicate even a little bit.
The train ride itself was fairly chill and uneventful since we gave ourselves extra time. Once we got to Hakata Station we stopped by the hotel to drop off our bags, once again carrying only the bare minimum. It was fairly close to the station, and we had time to spare so Friend J found a nearby shrine that we could visit. We stopped by to look around, and while we were there I figured it’d be a good time to greet the gods, thank them for helping us so far and ask for their watchful eye for the rest of our trip. We also saw a statue of an ancient sumo wrestler in the shrine, which I thought was cool cause I had just learned one of my friends was into watching sumo.
Afterwards I wanted to stop by a Lawson for to get a drink to carry around, and to also check for Hololive goods since I was hoping to find something based on what the employee at the Satsuma Kiriko place had told me about. I only ended up finding Nijisanji stuff, but none of the members were ones I followed. On the bright side though I got a pickled mustard onigiri that was pretty good, which hit the spot since I figured we wouldn’t be eating again for a while.
We headed back to the train station, where we got on our train to Shin-Yamaguchi. I used Google Maps to try and plan our next move, since we had to find the bus stop within 7 minutes, and we did not have the best track record so far. Once at the station we got off quickly and speed walked our way across the entire station, but managed to locate it thanks to our planning and made it with just a minute to spare.
Akiyoshidai
I didn’t realize this until we were there, but Akiyoshidai is the name of the karst plateau, where as Akiyoshido is the name of the natural limestone cave that runs beneath it, which led to a bit of confusion while walking around!
Mine City
The bus dropped us off at the stop not too far away from Akiyoshido Cave. Most of the shops around the station were closed, except for the ones on the main street leading up to the cave entrance. We walked through the street looking at the various shops selling food, street food and various souvenirs. We got lunch at one shop that had a bit of a cafeteria vibe, where you order at the front and then sit at one of the tables behind it.
While we were there I saw a yukata with temari patterns on it that looked really pretty. It immediately reminded me to Ina’s new song that she had just released 10 days earlier, and I thought that it could be a really cool thing to wear to a future concert or as a cosplay. However I ended up not purchasing it, mostly because I didn’t want to carry it around. I do recommend her song though!
The Cave
We continued walking up the street to the cave entrance itself, where upon buying a ticket and walking past the gate and through a small cedar grove, we were almost immediately greeted with the site of the bridge I had seen a picture of. I almost didn’t recognize it since I had expected it to be inside the cave and not outside.
I kind of expected this to be the case, but seeing it in person wasn’t quite as pretty as the picture made it seem. I think it was because I was expecting it to be a bit more narrow, like the feeling you’re in a chasm, however it was considerable wider than I expected, and the bridge was much closer to the water below than I expected. That being said I was still excited to see this view in person, and we spent some time admiring it and taking pictures.
We walked on the bridge and entered the cave itself. It took a bit for our eyes to adjust, and the bright spotlights dotting the path didn’t help since they were blindingly bright. Eventually though we adjusted and were able to see all the various features and formations of the cave itself. Inside was nice and cool, and the path was wet from condensation. We continued down the path while translating the various signs to learn more about the cave itself.
Turns out the cave is the second largest in Japan, with the total length reaching over 10km long (although only 1km is open for sightseeing). Moving water had carved out the soft limestone, making winding passages and chasms. Meanwhile dripping water had created strangely shaped formations, many of which were named. Some of the really interesting ones included the Hundred Plates formation (pictured above), which resembles stacked plates or rice paddies, and also the Golden Pillar, a massive 15m high and 4m diameter pillar of rock.
In the middle of the cave path is a lift that takes you up to the karst plateau above, however we decided to continue all the way first before doubling back to take the lift up. We talked about how it was funny how many of the limestone formations were named after food items, but at some point they suddenly switched to mostly majestic sounding names.
Akiyoshidai Karst Plateau
After doubling back, we took the lift up where we walked up a hill to the observatory. From the observatory we were able to see the Akiyoshidai karst plateau, with it’s signature rock formations jutting out of the ground. Apparently this area used to be a coral reef hundreds of millions of years ago, and the view we see now is a result of limestone being dissolved by rain.
In the distance we saw what looked like a huge tree standing on it’s own on an elevated platform, so we decided to go check it out. We walked through one of the paths through the plateau, where little signs described various pieces of trivia, such as how sinkholes were common occurences due to rock collapsing from erosion from rain but also the caves below. Another interesting fact was that there’s an annual event to burn the grass on the mountain that helps with maintaining the karst landscape, pest control, and promoting new grass growth. Everywhere we looked were rolling hills covered in yellow grass, dotted with the rocks jutting out.
When we reached the tree it turned out that it was a bit of an optical illusion, and it wasn’t actually that tall. A stone sign marked the area as Mt. Wakatake, and it provided nice views of the observatory area and people walking up and down the path we had just followed. We followed the loop around the hills which went down and up a fairly steep hill, however it was suprisingly not too bad to walk. I think the stretches I did the previous night really helped release a lot of tension in my legs so I wasn’t feeling as much pain as before.
Back at the observatory there was a cafe serving snacks and drinks, and after walking around my legs were killing me, so we stopped by to get a little something before heading back. We each got a pear cider and a slice of pear castella cake, which were both so good. It really hit the spot after all of the walking that we had been doing.
Back to Hakata
We headed back down to the cave and walked back towards the entrance. While walking along the main street towards the bus stop, it looked like most of the shops had closed up for the day, however a few street food stalls were still open. So I figured it was a good chance to get some anko taiyaki and yakichikuwa since we had some time to spare. Back at the bus station we saw a poster for a new season of G-witch, which had some art I liked a lot. I’ve always been a fan of 2d art overlayed on real photos.
We had an uneventful bus ride back to Shin-Yamaguchi Station that I’m pretty sure I passed out for the duration of. When we got there and started making our way back to the Shinkansen platforms, we saw the sun setting off to the side and had to stop for a second to admire the sky.
While we were heading back to Hakata we were thinking it’d be good to try the famous Hakata ramen for dinner. Based on our research it seemed like the most popular restaurant that invented Hakata ramen was Hakata Issou Honten, however it was known for having really long lines. Instead we went to a different branch that was a short walk away called Hakata Issou Gion. The line was fairly short and only took us about 10-15 minutes to get seated.
They’re known for their rich, milky tonkotsu broth that’s sometimes called “tonkotsu cappuccino” because of foam on top. It has thinner al dente noodles and super tender chashu pork that melts in your mouth. I think I’m not a huge ramen fan normally but this one was definitely up there on ones I would try again!
Afterwards we just went back to our hotel to chill and prepare for our next journey.
Thoughts
It was actually really fun being able to learn about new things while seeing them in person at the same time! Although we only went to Akiyoshido cave to see the bridge, the overall experience was great and I’d definitely recommend visiting if you’re interested in geology.
Day 5 Travel Numbers
~3 hour and ¥23,750 yen covered by JR Pass
~1 hour and ¥2,340 yen not covered
JR Pass Value after Day 5
Cost saved: ¥60,930
Time Travelled: ~15.5 hr
Not covered by JR Pass
Cost: ¥2,620
Total Transportation Time
Time Travelled: ~17 hr
Some information may be outdated