I spent a lot of time in the months before this trip, trying to figure out what we’d do for a day in Yatsushiro.  The biggest place nearby is Kumamoto, which has a rebuilt castle, but it was a half hour train trip away, and we’d be seeing much better examples of castles on our […]

After two restful days at sea, we arrived in southern Japan; specifically the port of Nagasaki, in Kyushu.  Nagasaki is a small city which hugs both sides of a steep valley, in fjord-like fashion.  At the entrance there are some shipyards and other industries; it was those shipyards which led to Nagasaki being on the […]