Kyushu

I'm currently at a family-run B&B-esque (ペンション - "pension" in Japanese - no idea why though) accommodation at Aso-san (阿蘇山), an active volcano in Kumamoto prefecture.

I haven't had internet access so far, until now, but this crappy internet in the middle of nowhere is not free, except for Google-owned websites (e.g. Gmail, Blogger...). Odd.

This is what I've done so far in Kyushu -

04/08 Met up with my Mum in Fukuoka; had a late dinner at a 屋台

05/08 Went to 有田 ('cause my Mum wanted to see the

apparently famous pottery);

佐世保, where we took pictures of 九十九島 (where they shot the opening scene of The Last Samurai); lunch (soba and udon)

長崎 - the Confucius temple,

Peace Memorial Park (where things have been set up in preparation for the 65th anniversary of the 2nd atomic bomb attack on 9th August, 1945), 眼鏡橋, 大浦天主堂 (the oldest Gothic cathedral in Japan, built in 1864), the former Nagasaki branch of HSBC; sushi for dinner

06/08 長崎原爆資料館 (Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum);

drove to 島原 to catch the ferry to 熊本

delicious 豚骨ラーメン for lunch

熊本城

and now we're at 阿蘇山

Tomorrow we're going to drive around the volcano before heading to the hot springs of 由布院.

The weather has been superb, just like the past few weeks in Osaka, but it's been very very hot. I manage to get a little bit tanned, which is nice 'cause I know once I get back to Britain it'll be rain rain rain all day long...

As much fun as I'm having with my Mum in Kyushu - I've started to miss people in Handai already!