Kyushu Plans

Hi all! How does this sound? I will be utilizing a JR Pass, although I know lots of areas are better covered by buses.

Saturday - depart Shin-Osaka Station for Nagasaki and arrive around noon. Spend day in Nagasaki.
Sunday - Spend full day in Nagasaki (happens to be Shi-chi-go-san which should be nice)
Monday - depart Nagasaki for Unzen Onsen. Stay overnight at Unzen.
Tuesday - depart Unzen for Kumamoto and overnight Kumamoto.
Wednesday - depart Kumamoto for Kyoto sometime in the afternoon.

I was originally planning to arrive in Nagasaki much later on Saturday night, and spend Saturday - Monday night in Nagasaki. Now I think it is better to arrive earlier, have almost two full days there, then move on to Unzen. I've never been to an onsen town before, so I think it would probably be worth it.

Thoughts?

Unzen Onsen is reached by bus from Nagasaki and to go to Kumamoto from Unzen instead of backtracking to Nagasaki a more interesting route is to go down to Shimabara by bus followed by a scenic ferry ride to Kumamoto. Time allowed Shimabara is worth a couple of hours visit. Just note that if you take this route the buses and ferry are not covered by the JR pass.

Thanks, William5! I actually read some of your other posts and thought that Shimabara seems like a place I'd like to stop. I'm really interested in the history of the Shimabara Rebellion, the jigoku of Unzen, and other history about Christianity in the area, not to mention the Disaster memorial in Shimabara.

The main action of this rebellion took place at Hara Castle, on the south end of the Shimabara Peninsula, where the rebels held out against a 125,000 strong shogunate army for 4 months before they ran out of food and all were beheaded. They are all buried under the ruins of this castle.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E5%8E%9F%E5%9F%8E%E8%B7%A1/@32.6290...

The rebellion wasn't religious, it was just there were a lot of Christians in the area. It was a peasant revolt against high taxes and the feudal lord, Matsuura Katsuie, taking all the food and labor needed for farming to build the Shimabara Castle causing starvation.

There isn't much in the onsen town of Unzen except the hot springs. Japan's first golf course is in the area built by Nagasaki foreigners as a cooler escape from the harbor, and a ropeway up from Nita Pass if you want to overlook Fugen-dake, the active peak.

Thanks, Anaguma! I've been looking for some books to read about the history of the Shimabara Rebellion. My interest in the area started by reading Shusaku Endo's "Silence". I'm a Christian, though not heavily religious, and I am just totally fascinated in Christian aspects and non-Christian aspects. Overtaxation and famine would upset anyone, and the fact that they happened to be Christians ... well, I'm not super knowledgeable, so I want to know more.

I've proposed my plan to my husband, and he's kinda eh on idea. He wants to go to Fukuoka for the sumo tournament, so we might end up just visiting Shimabara for a day, and then heading back up to Fukuoka.

Great to hear that you are also interested in Shimabara as most just use it as a jumping-off point for the Kumamoto ferry. The castle, the samurai district and its streets with carp filled streams all make up for an interesting visit. Besides the Mt. Unzen Disaster Memorial Hall it would be nice if you have time also to take in the Suffer House Preservation Park where half buried houses are preserved to show the force of nature.

http://mizunashi-honjin.co.jp/
http://www.yado.co.jp/kankou/nagasaki/simabara/simabindex.htm (click on 道の駅みずなし本陣)

The first thing that comes to mind is that it'll take close to 4¾-5 hours from Osaka to Nagasaki, so for a noontime arrival you'd better be at Shin-Osaka Stn. about 7 AM or earlier.

If you are interested in the Christian history of the area, you might look at:
http://christian-nagasaki.jp/en/

If you are going to Kumamoto, be sure to see the Suizenji Garden, which is a delightful place well worth seeing - one of Japan's traditional finest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9xyXmU8U1g

Thank you for the Kumamoto suggestion, Ken! I will add it to the itinerary. Ugh, trust me we are not thrilled about the Osaka - Nagasaki travel time, but it is what it is. We will depart at 7:15 am from Shin-Osaka Stn and arrive in Nagasaki at 11:49 am. I placed us in a Toyoko Inn right next to Shin-Osaka so it doesn't require much effort to get there that morning. Hopefully we will nap on the train, lol.