Kuma-where? I had by no means heard of Kumamoto previous to our Star Cruises Japan journey. We have been now on the fourth day of our cruise, visiting Nagasaki the day earlier than. It seems, the Kumamoto Prefecture is only a sleep away by way of a cruise ship. I wakened with our ship docking at Kumamoto’s cruise port, a purple lighthouse punctuating a really nonetheless and calm Japanese morning.
BOOKING A STAR DREAM CRUISES TOUR
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| THE TOP DECK OF STAR CRUISES’ STAR NAVIGATOR SHIP |
StarDream Cruises is the brand new branding for Resorts World Cruises. It has since reverted to its basic names, Star Cruises and Dream Cruises.
Star Cruises gives probably the most reasonably priced cruises in Southeast Asia. It has two ships, the Star Voyager and the Star Navigator—which we’re at present on.
Reserving a cruise is straightforward. Try the steps beneath:
1. Head over to the Star Dream Cruises web site.
2. Click on on “Offers”, then select “Present Offers”.
3. Select a ship you need to cruise on.
4. Click on “Any Vacation spot” or any particular vacation spot you need to go to.
5. Select your most popular departure port.
6. Select the month you need to cruise.
Observe that additionally they have quite a few promos you can avail proper earlier than testing—like a free or discounted reserving for the second individual becoming a member of the cruise. Charges begin at USD 379.00.
You can even get an further low cost by utilizing my low cost code: lakadpilipinas (small caps, case-sensitive).
One of many issues I actually like about their cruises is that there’s completely no must get a Japanese or Korean VISA (besides for his or her Busan cruise) to hitch their Japan and South Korea cruise.
➤ CHECK OUT: STAR NAVIGATOR CRUISE REVIEW
KUMAMOTO CRUISE TOURS
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| ON A TOUR BUS AROUND KUMAMOTO |
Positioned on the island of Kyushu, Kumamoto sits east of Nagasaki. It’s the second vacation spot for our 6D5N cruise by way of StarDream Cruises’ Star Navigator. And for this leg, they provide 4 package deal excursions—which in cruise terminology are known as shore excursions. I like how completely different every shorex is, catering to various kinds of vacationers and vacationers.
Once more, these excursions require a separate price from the one you paid for the cruise itself. DIY excursions are allowed—simply remember to be again on time, lest the ship depart with out you.
Under are the excursions at present supplied by the Star Navigator:
The Essence of Kumamoto: Grownup NTD1,500 / Youngster NTD1,500
Immersive Mt. Aso Volcano Tour: Grownup NTD2,600 / Youngster NTD2,300
Kuma River Rafting Expertise: Grownup NTD2,500 / Youngster NTD2,200
Kumamoto Household Journey Tour: Grownup NTD1,800 / Youngster NTD1,600
➤ BOOK KUMAMOTO DAY TOURS HERE!
OUR TOUR: THE ESSENCE OF KUMAMOTO
One of the crucial in style shore excursions for Kumamoto is The Essence of Kumamoto tour. It principally touches base on the very best of what Kumamoto has to supply for a single day-tour. And that is what we picked for this cease.
SHORE EXCURSION PREPARATION
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| WAKING UP TO THIS VIEW OF KUMAMOTO |
The Kumamoto tour required us to wake particularly early because the Yatsushiro Cruise Port is situated fairly a methods away from town. Name time was at six, so we have been required to set our alarm at round 4:30AM to a minimum of carry out our morning routine earlier than having breakfast by 5 at any of the three free inclusive eating places.
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| SUNRISE AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STAR NAVIGATOR |
Nicely, that was too early for me, so I did my morning routines the evening earlier than, so I simply must get up by 5, eat, clean up for a couple of minutes, and be on the Zodiac Theater by six.
For right this moment’s breakfast, I made a decision to have it on the Pavilion Restaurant for a Western buffet. Ditching my standard morning fare at The Lido restaurant. So, crispy bacon, eggs, sausages, and croissants it was.
EN ROUTE
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| PASSING BY JAPANESE RICEFIELDS EN ROUTE TO KUMAMOTO CITY |
Boarding a bus, we proceeded to our first cease. The experience took about 45 minutes, and I used to be making an attempt laborious to maintain awake, not eager to miss out on seeing the Kumamoto countryside zoom previous us.
SUIZENJI GARDEN
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| A TORII PATH LEADING TO A SHRINE INSIDE THE SUIZENJI GARDEN |
A distinguished and historic park in Kumamoto, the Suizen-ji Jōju-en, extra popularly known as Suizenji Backyard, was the primary cease of the tour. Inbuilt 1636—throughout Japan’s Edo Interval—it’s a sprawling 7.3-hectare park with Zen gardens, ponds, and conventional Japanese constructions like tea homes, torii paths, and shrines.
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| SUIZENJI GARDEN’S ICONIC CONICAL HILL |
Considered one of its most well-known spots is a conical man-made hill that was mentioned to be customary after Mt. Fuji. What it jogs my memory of although, is our very personal Mayon Volcano duplicate on the now defunct Nayong Pilipino. The park itself additionally form of echoes the Hida No Sato people village in Takayama.
➤ SEE: MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA REVIEW
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| ONE OF THE MANY INTERESTING STRUCTURES INSIDE THE GARDEN |
Suizenji Backyard could be very picturesque, and an hour round it—and circle it, we did—offers however a cursory look at what it has to supply. However alas, an hour is barely what we now have, and we have been quickly shifting to our subsequent cease.
➤ BOOK SUIZENJI PARK ON A KIMONO HERE!
KUMAMOTO CASTLE
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| VISITING THE MAJESTIC KUMAMOTO CASTLE |
The spotlight of The Essence of Kumamoto Tour was town’s fortress, which is taken into account one of many three main castles in Japan.
➤ SEE: ODAWARA CASTLE
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| VISITORS ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE CASTLE, FREE OF CHARGE |
The unique Kumamoto Citadel was in-built 1467 and was reconstructed in concrete in 1960. After winding via the elevated pathways resulting in the fortress, we have been capable of enter it and discover all its six ranges.
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| A VIEW OF KUMAMOTO CITY FROM THE TOPMOST FLOOR OF THE CASTLE |
The interiors at the moment are transformed into a contemporary museum, with the topmost ground giving a panoramic view of the Chuo-ku ward of Kumamoto Metropolis.
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| SAMURAI SHOW AT THE KUMAMOTO CASTLE GROUNDS |
The doorway of the fortress complicated options meals stalls and memento outlets surrounding an open space reserved for conventional and trendy performances. On my approach out, I used to be capable of watch a Japanese samurai present, the rendition of which is considerably a mixture of conventional Japanese swordsmanship and trendy dance.
➤ GET KUMAMOTO CASTLE TICKETS HERE!
KUMAMOTO WALK
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| WALKING ALONG KUMAMOTO CITY |
Having separated from our group, I walked in the direction of the close by Shimatori Procuring Arcade. The unique plan was to eat on the meals corridor of the Kumamoto Metropolis Corridor, which was en path to the arcade and which our information instructed us was open to the general public. It might’ve been a pleasant expertise, eating with native salarymen. The one downside was, they solely settle for money. And I used to be fairly quick on yen, relying solely on my bank card for Star Cruises’ shore excursions.
SHIMATORI SHOPPING ARCADE
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| THE SHIMATORI SHOPPING ARCADE |
So, on to the buying district I proceeded. The Shimatori Procuring Arcade is much like every other buying arcade round Japan—outlets on each side of a roofed pedestrian-only road. I checked out a few 100-yen outlets earlier than continuing to a neighborhood ramen joint.
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| SERIA, OUR FAVORITE 100-YEN SHOP, INSIDE THE SHOPPING ARCADE |
I don’t actually store a lot at most shops in Japan, discovering them on the costly facet. The place I do love buying in Japan is at Japanese second-hand outlets, 100-yen shops, and groceries—which have actually reasonably priced gadgets. Be that as it could, that will entail loads of time, a commodity we don’t have a lot of throughout shore excursions.
➤ HIRE KUMAMOTO PRIVATE CAR DAY TOUR HERE!
KOKUTEI KUMAMOTO RAMEN
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| KOKUTEI HONTEN RESTAURANT, SHIMATORI BRANCH |
En path to town, we googled for a ramen place that serves genuine Kumamoto Ramen.
The day before today, we sampled Nagasaki’s champon ramen, and we needed to copy that with our go to to Kumamoto. Kokutei Honten restaurant match our invoice completely; they serve native tonkotsu ramen, and it’s proper contained in the Shimatori Procuring Arcade too.
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| TAMAGO-IRI RAMEN, A VARIANT OF THE TRADITIONAL KUMAMOTO RAMEN |
There was a line exterior the restaurant, a very good indicator of how good the place is, however I used to be capable of skip it since my companion was already inside. We each ordered their tamago-iri ramen, or ramen with eggs.
Kumamoto Ramen distinguishes itself with its darkish, garlicky soup and is topped with extra garlic. Kokutei ups the garlic recreation by utilizing blackened garlic oil on its pork bone broth. It’s then topped with bean sprouts, chashu, inexperienced onions, seaweed, wooden ear mushrooms, medium-thick noodles, and two uncooked egg yolks—which you then combine with the soup for a richer and silkier texture.
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| REALLY GARLICKY RAMEN! YUMMM! |
Having a powerful garlicky and savory taste, I positively dig this greater than the champon we had at Nagasaki. It virtually jogged my memory of the Hakata ramen we so love in Fukuoka. It was the right exclamation level for the top of our Kumamoto tour.
➤ GET A FUJIWARA WAGYU STEAK FOOD VOUCHER HERE!
BACK ON THE STAR NAVIGATOR
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| WAITING FOR THE SUNSET AT THE TOP DECK OF STAR NAVIGATOR |
Not like the day prior to this, we actually didn’t have any further free time to roam round on our personal. And even when we did, the cruise port was approach out of town, and there was nothing a lot to see and do within the space.
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| SUNSET ALONG THE YATSUSHIRO SEA ABOARD THE STAR NAVIGATOR |
So, we merely headed out to the highest deck of the Star Navigator and loved the view of the Yatsushiro Sea as our ship parted its calm waters en path to our subsequent Japanese vacation spot, Naha.
