MIYAZAKI / KYUSHU WITH KIDS (GUEST POST BY BEX KELLY)

It has taken us 6 excellent years of living in Japan before FINALLY planning a trip down to Kyushu.

Upon googling, we realized that it was tricky to get specific on what we wanted.

Kyushu is in fact pretty huge and we couldn’t figure out where would be best to suit the whole family’s needs.
We have a 4 year old and 2 year old for this trip, so our dreams of wanderlust road-tripping sort of shattered by the image of two yelling toddlers, snack crumbs all over carseats and endless runs of “Ebi Kani Ebi Kani” (Prawn, Crab Prawn Crab – if you don’t yet know this song, here’s the link, you are welcome)

 

With no regrets we took the 1hour 40 minute flight from Haneda to Miyazaki, a small and easy airport to get through, with the center of town just 12 minutes drive from the airport. With huge  convenience we hired a Budget Rent A Car at the airport, where they helped us with luggage and it was ready to go in a jiffy with carseats already installed for us.

Miyazaki is a quiet, delightful little spot to visit for a family, especially if you’re a surf or golf lover. But even if no one is as keen on the waves or the course, the beaches of Miyazaki are wide and beautiful, palm trees shading a pleasant bike path behind the beach and lots of little rock pooling areas for kids to play in for hours. Understated and with a friendly local feel.

The coast is punctuated with the lucky Aoshima Island. It houses nothing much but a small but colourful red shrine set back in the middle of its jungly trees. It only takes 30 minutes to walk around the whole island, and is said to be lucky for those getting married. We ventured over the bridge with the children to take in the beautiful views. A walk through the temple would be best done before the midday sun, our kids just got too hot for it!

The Holiday Inn was also attached by a grassy expanse to “Kodomo No Kuni” – a delightful  ourdoor area with shady trees and big expanses of grass, equipped with wooden swings, treehouses, slides and the most stunning rose garden we have ever laid our eyes on. All interspersed between retirees playing mini golf – cute.  We whiled away a few afternoons here whilst the kids were in heaven, as we were, with the ability to have conversation for the first time in a few weeks in such a pretty setting no less. With a picnic rug and a few onigiri (rice balls) – we had it made.

Whilst the Holiday Inn is definitely stuck in a 1994 time warp, the giant onsen makes up for everything with its sweeping views of the ocean and multiple baths to chose from. We also loved our simple tatami room with bright views to the palms and over the sparkly ocean.

There is a stunning Miyako Botanical Garden just 5 minutes drive (15-20 minutes walk) from Kodomo no Kuni, with delightfully large greenhouses filled with tropical delights.

The kids loved exploring these and finding all the fruits dangling from giant stalks. The main street of Aoshima sits right behind the park lined with ice creams and tasty snacks and leads  directly to the beach, Aoshima Island and the rock pooling sites with a lazy shady tree area behind to have picnics.

We were also really impressed with some of the food choices for such a sleepy little town, namely, Sayur Cafe for amazing Italian inspired dinner with kid-friendly couch seating, Upper Yard for brilliant Tex Mex where we inhaled a veggie burrito each after a long day at Kodomo No Kuni. Nextdoor to Upper Yard we happened upon a brilliant Thai spot for take aways. We also made good use of “Bon Delice” the local grocery store which we used to supplement all the kid snacking. (See carseat crumbs)

With 3 solid days spent in Miyazaki, the kids were happy, we were relaxed, beached up and ready to head north into the forests of Mount Aso. With such an easy transfer from the airport, it would make a great long weekend trip away from Tokyo.