Golden Week (Part 9): Miyazaki Prefecture

Sunday, May 4
We checked out of our lovely no-Internet hotel, but made one final stop before leaving Kagoshima City.

We paid our respects at the site of Saigo Takamori's suicide, a fitting end to a Saigo-filled Kagoshima tour.

We next headed for Miyazaki Prefecture, traveling through Sakurajima by ferry.

Views of Sakurajima (a volcano) from the ferry.
A little boy shouted to his brother, "Umi ga mieru!" ("You can see the ocean!") Maybe he lives somewhere landlocked.

We stopped at a 道の駅 shortly after disembarking from the ferry, and I bought ko-mikan (tangerine) soft cream, one of the best flavors I've eaten!

Driving through Sakurajima, the view was gorgeous, but failing to capture any of that with my camera, I simply sat back and enjoyed.

We stopped for gas along the way. As you can see, Chris was pretty upset. Prices had temporarily dropped in Japan, which brought some comfort in the first leg of our road trip, but the government recently approved a return to high gas taxes (money supposedly used to repair roads, etc.) effective May 1st.

We stopped at another 道の駅 for lunch. My sushi was wasabi-filled. Yuck. Very clear sinuses though.

From that point on, things got bad.

Throughout our Golden Week excursions, we encountered little traffic. We had been spoiled by the clear roads of the previous week, and were unprepared for the frustrations of Miyazaki traffic. The 日南海岸 (Nichinan Coast), which runs along southeastern Miyazaki, is covered by Route 220, a two lane road that carries travelers through tropical sights such as ocean shrines and giant replicas of Easter Island moai. Chris and I had planned a stop at San Messe, the moai spot, where I was determined to buy a moai-shaped box from whose nostrils you can pull tissues. Sadly, ten minutes away from our destination, we ran into a lengthy block up. Our car took over an hour to pass a distance I could've walked in no time. In front of San Messe, we discovered the source of the backup: attendants were doing a poor job of organizing the cars pouring into the full parking lot, with only two or three cars from either side of the road allowed to pass in turns. I told Chris that I would buy my tissue box another time, and we moved on, sad as it would've looked great in my house.

By the time we reached Michi no Eki Phoenix, a Miyazaki coastal spot oft-mentioned in the tourist manuals, we were grouchy.

Thankfully, Phoenix is known for its assortment of unusual soft cream flavors.
1. Vanilla. If you order this flavor here, you're either dumb or boring.
2. Mango and Passion
3. Some kind of plant.
4. Shrimp

Chris ordered the mango passion flavor, fruity and scrumptious.

I, being a culinary adventurer, had to try the shrimp flavored soft cream. I'd spent the entire day bragging about sampling it. Yet as we approached the counter, I felt uneasy seeing the scrunched noses and skeptical expressions of those tasting the deceptive pink treat. I reasoned with myself: I like shrimp. I like soft cream. Why not? And where else could I sample something like this?

In the end, let me say, it was not bad, but not delicious. Very shrimp.

Miyazaki is known as a tropical retreat. Palm trees lined the road into the city.

The prefectural offices. The governor of Miyazaki was once a popular comedian, and tourists flock to this location in hopes of meeting him. The governor's face adorns all souvenirs.

For dinner we ate chicken namban, a specialty of Miyazaki's that we've wanted to eat since watching the television drama Kiken na Aneki, in which the Miyazaki-born characters eat the dish often. This restaurant is named "Aka Zukin," or "Red Riding Hood."

Chicken namban translates as "barbarian chicken" and was obviously created thanks to some foreign influence. The chicken is battered and fried, then dipped in a vinegar sauce. The meat is topped with tartar sauce, and recipes can vary widely. We've most frequently seen chicken namban with a white sauce that looks akin to what one would dip fish sticks in. The version at 赤ずきん was orange in color, with a very sweet flavor.

We ended the evening with snacks from a nearby convenience store. This hotel room was enormous and included Internet, but rather than update my blog, I settled under the covers with a book. I love vacation!