Around Aso

 On Saturday, May 31, I checked out of the hotel and took the train to Kumamoto, a medium sized city less than an hour by high speed train south of Fukuoka. 

At Kumamoto I picked up the rental car. I was very nervous, this being my first time driving in Japan, and on the other side of the road. Also, I am not used to the new cars so when I got in, I didn't know how anything worked. They guy from the rental agency was very patient, and hooked up the Google Maps on my phone to the car's navigation system.

Actually driving on the other side of the road was easy to get used to. The hard part was the fact that the driver's seat is on the right side of the car instead of the left. At first I kept driving way to far in the left of my lane. Then I realized that I was trying to keep my point of view of the lane the same as what I was used to, instead of what it is when seated on the right. Once I realized what I was doing, it got better.

Navigating through the city was very difficult. The roads often take slight bends so I would turn when I wasn't supposed to, or not turn when I should have. The navigation kept saying "re-routing". Even a city like Kumamoto seemed to go forever, but eventually I was on country roads and it got easier.

I reached my hotel about 1pm, too soon to check in, so I drove straight up to Mt. Aso. There is one parking lot with restaurants and the Mt. Aso museum, in front of the green dome of  the highest peak of Mt. Aso, called Takadake. Here is a picture of Takadake. from my hotel.

From the first parking lot there are hiking trails and walks along the base of the mountain. From there you get views of the next highest peak, Nakadake, which has the active volcanic crater in front of it.

Driving a few more minutes takes you to the road that goes up to the crater. Because the gas from the crater is quite toxic and acidic, the entrance is carefully controlled depending on the gaseous activity and the wind. I drove up to the parking lot next to the crater area. At first the walkway to the crater itself was closed, but it opened soon after I arrived. The walkway looks kind of surreal with these concrete shelters that I guess are used when the wind changes.

I went along with everyone to the carter's edge, but I found the gas to still be quite strong. My eyes and throat got a bit sore and a lot of people were coughing, so I only stayed long enough to take a couple of pictures.

A few minutes walk from the crater area is a large flat area of black volcanic sand. There are hiking trails here that go up to the peaks.

I went back to the hotel and checked in, and walked around. It is an interesting area, inside one of the world's largest calderas - basically the remains of a huge, ancient volcano that collapsed in on itself. The result is a flat, agricultural basin full of fields and rice paddings surrounded by a ring of hills, with Mt. Aso to one side.

It was already near dusk when I was walking, and by a field I saw a Japanese racoon-dog, or Tanuki.

 The town of Aso is very small and there are few restaurants, even fewer that are open late.  The hotel has a nice common area with a microwave and coffee and tea. There is a grocery store beside the hotel and several people were preparing food. By then the store was closed, so I drove for a while to find a restaurant.

On Sunday, June 1, I drove to Takachiho Gorge, in Miyazaki Prefecture about 2 hours south of Aso. The drive was beautiful, going over the mountainous side of the caldera, over to the next valley. Winding through the green hills with views of fields and mountains.

Takashi Gorge is a popular tourist attraction, and it is about a 15 minute walk along the gorge one way from the parking lot. It was a sunny day so the views of the blue water of the gorge were amazing. 

Afterwards I drove back to Aso, and then to a to a public bath in a little onsen town about 6 km north of Aso called Uchinomaki.

On Monday, June 2, I got up early and drove to the famous Kurokawa Onsen town about an hour north of Aso. It was cloudy and the forecast was for a lot of rain later in the day.

Again the drive was very interesting, winding up the hills of the caldera, with views of the fields in the basin below.

Once on top of the edge of the caldera the landscape was rolling green hills. It is all part of Aso-Kuju National Park.

Kurokawa Onsen has about 30 ryokan, or Japanese inns, that have onsen, or hotsprings, inside them. At the information center you can buy a pass that gets you into any 3 onsen. In the town there are a couple of cafes and restaurants and shops selling local specialties. The town is on a steep slope beside the river, and the onsen are kind of spread out, so there is a fair amount of walking.

I spent the morning there. After a coffee I went to a couple of onsen. Then had lunch and went to the third. At first, when it was still quite early, things were just opening up. At the first onsen I was the only one there so I took a picture.

Then I drove back to the hotel. It started raining so I stayed inside to read, and pack for the travel day the next day.