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    Orange Railway and Kagoshima 2026: All Posts

    #0 Index

    Orange Railway and Kagoshima 2026: All Posts

    Eight days in Kagoshima Prefecture along the Hisatsu Orange Railway: samurai streets in Izumi, the sea at Akune, quiet Satsumasendai, and Tenmonkan nights.


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    A Bartender with 50 Years of Experience

    #12 Stand Bar Hennessy

    A Bartender with 50 Years of Experience

    Darkness has settled into the alleys of Karatsu. There are hardly any signs of people in the streets. Maybe because it is a weekday afternoon. Maybe because it is winter. It is a city that feels truly quiet. Even though this area is considered the downtown district,it is not easy to simply walk around and find a place that catches your eye. Before leaving the previous restaurant, I thought it would be better to search the next place in advance using Google Maps and Tabelog. Of course,if I find an interesting place while walking, I should be able to change…


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    A friendly gyoza bar with a great atmosphere

    #11 Karatsu Gozukon

    A friendly gyoza bar with a great atmosphere

    After finishing a very delicious Saga-gyu meal at Yamamotoya I stepped outside. I had no plan for a second stop. So I simply started walking through the downtown area of Karatsu. Soon I turned left into a small alley where cars could not pass. There were not many shops with lights on. I’m not even sure if a place like this should be called a “downtown area.” Then we noticed a clean little shop with the lights on.That place was Karatsu Gozukon (唐津ごずこん). To say it in advance, I liked this place so much that I visited it twice. The…


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    Premium Wagyu at a Local Price

    #10 Saga-gyu Yoshimuraya

    Premium Wagyu at a Local Price

    From Hadomisaki (波戸岬) to Hotel Riviere in Karatsu, it was quite a long way. After checking in, I unpacked a little. I had been moving since early morning, so I lay down on the bed and rested. My first trip to Saga Prefecture (佐賀県). What is the most famous thing in Saga? Of course, Saga-gyu (佐賀牛). For dinner, I decided I had to eat Saga-gyu. I searched on Google Maps and Tabelog to find a place in Karatsu that serves good Saga-gyu, and found Yoshimuraya (よしむらや), which seemed to handle high-quality Saga-gyu. I went down to the hotel lobby and…


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    The Image I Remember Most from Karatsu

    #9 The Matsuura River Walk

    The Image I Remember Most from Karatsu

    There wasn’t a suitable hotel in central Karatsu, so I had no choice but to book one a little outside the city center. When I made the reservation, I only thought that this “moderate distance” would be inconvenient for me. But in fact, that “moderate distance” gave me the time to walk along the riverside. And it also gave me the beautiful scenery of the wide and refreshing Matsuura (松浦) River. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the hotel to downtown along the riverside path. If you want to get there faster, you can check the bus schedule…


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    A Clean Hotel a Bit Far from Downtown

    #8 Hotel Riviere

    A Clean Hotel a Bit Far from Downtown

    Karatsu (唐津) is a city with quite a few tourist attractions, but surprisingly it does not seem to be a city where many tourists stay overnight. There are not many hotels in central Karatsu. The downtown area also becomes quiet earlier than I expected, which supports that impression. Most tourists probably stay in Fukuoka and visit Karatsu by JR or rental car. On this trip, I had no intention of staying in Fukuoka. I wanted to spend the night in Karatsu, so I tried to book a hotel in the city. Through various hotel booking apps, I looked for hotels…


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    The Sea: Northwest Edge of Kyushu

    #7 A Walk at Hadomisaki

    The Sea: Northwest Edge of Kyushu

    After eating grilled turban shells at Hadomisaki, I took a walk around the area. There were quite a lot of photos, so I couldn’t include them in the previous post and prepared a separate one. To tell you in advance, this walk was truly wonderful. I never expected it to be this good. I had gone there simply because I wanted to eat grilled turban shells, but I ended up encountering scenery far better than I had imagined. Thanks to that, I took a lot of photos and videos. So this post will focus more on photos and videos than…


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    Grilled Turban Shells at the End of the Road

    #6 Hadomisaki Grilled Turban Shells

    Grilled Turban Shells at the End of the Road

    It was disappointing that I couldn’t take the Nanatsugama (七ツ釜) sightseeing boat, but thanks to that I was able to walk a little more through the alleys of Yobuko. I also got to see Yobuko Tenmangu (呼子 天満宮), and I felt relieved, as if I had explored Yobuko enough. Now it was time to say goodbye to Yobuko. The weather was good today, so I was heading to Hadomisaki (波戸岬). It takes about 20 minutes by bus from Yobuko. It’s not far at all. So if you come to Yobuko, I think you should definitely stop by Hadomisaki. After checking…