Japan’s Local Trains on the Way to Sasebo, Nagasaki

Japan’s Local Trains on the Way to Sasebo, Nagasaki

Japan has extensive train networks, but going from countryside city to city can be difficult sometimes. Today I’m in Kushu Island going from Karatu in Saga Prefecture to Sashibbo in Narasak Prefecture. Taking four different local trains. The first one is a train to Imari. This train only lands every 2 to 4 hours. So I couldn’t miss this train.
It’s a nice train.
The distance from Karat to Sashbo is 40 kilometers only which is 24 miles away. But going through the famous pottery town IA, it takes 3 hours. But that is also a fun part of the train travel. Instead of just passing by, I had to take a look at those towns too. But time is limited. So this time I set up a small mission for myself to enjoy the relaxed speed of the local trains, explore near the stations of Imar and it during transfer and st of SBO even if only briefly and film the coastal view of the Kukushima island somehow because this is so beautiful. I wanted to show you even though the weather forecast was saying rapid returning but I the Imali station cuz I was so sleepy and it was about 50 minutes light of the train. It was very nice car. I became famous in the 17th century because it was the main port where high coded porcelain from nearby it was shipped to Europe making old Imari one of Japan’s first luxury export. I station that is a station I station of Matsura railway from here you can actually take Matsura railway too that are going directly to SABO but it takes 2 and 1/2 hours and there’s no restroom in the car and no stop for the restroom so I thought probably it’s difficult for me I thought I would check the train just in case 2 hours and 30 minutes to SEO and this one goes to SBO station. So, it say looks like a really nice train. The seat looks to warn but very nice. Looks comfortable. If you’re going to Hi or somewhere on the way and you have time to get off on the middle station, it’s definitely a great choice. So, this is Imali city. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to explore the city, but great thing is there was a museum of the old Imari on the station. The admission is free and you can get a glimpse of the Imar’s posting. Let’s going to SEO directory. It takes 2 hours and 30 minutes. And this is the long way to Adita. The first is not safe. Local train journeys can take times and not the most comfortable one. But there’s a strange sense of freedom and nostalgia that come with them. Limited express trains are full of business travelers and tourists. But on local trains, every time the door opens, it brings in the air of the region. I can catch glimpse of the stations I’ll probably never get off in my life. And the lives of people who live in those places come into view even just for a second. There are still many local train lines in Japan have never been on. Some of them are at risk of being shut down sooner than we think. In fact, over the past 30 years, it is said about 1,200 kilometers, 750 mi of railway have disappeared from Japan’s map. Most of the time, it’s because of natural disasters, but now with declining population in rural areas, there’s not enough population and fund to restore them. So for me this journey from car to s by rail was more meaningful than it might seem. So again this paper after use IC card so you can leave the station. It’s I know it’s end May 20th but feel like July really confiding stations boys now it’s 2:00 so 2:29 local or 54 midori express this Arita station but there’s another town famous for potari I have 29 minutes so and platform is this number one so let’s just walk around the town of Arita welcome to Adita it says where Japanese ceramic Japanese pot was Oh, very nice little town. Very quiet. It’s nice. Most of the town there’s no transport near the station. So, it’s nice if they have a little kind of plan like you can go this way. You can either walk or you can just take a bus. There’s a bus tour for that to be very nice. Welcome to Arita. Okay, it’s a little too hot, so I’d like to go back to the station. Let me try this kalatu burger that I got at Koka airport. Wow, it’s really a burger. And today I don’t have time to eat eat lunch, so I’d like to eat this. Nice train. Kiss. Now I arrive in Sashbo city. It’s so humid. Sashbo station the west east exit. We came to the city. So from here I’d like to take a shuttle bus to the hotel I have tonight. So let’s check the SH bus time.
Before heading there though, I want to explore the town of Sas.
3:40 and 4:40 is a bus time. Right outside the station is a fort. I had been here three times myself, but I had only driven past the center of the city. So this time I really wanted to check what kind of place it was. Near Sassbo station, I saw business hotels along the hillside and shopping center along the waterfront. But for a city with such a long history, I felt like is this it? There should be more. And sure enough, after walking a bit, I found it. A cab shopping arcade larger than I had imagined. Yongo. So this street is called And I found out that this is one of the longest arcade shopping street in Japan. Let’s see if there’s a hamburger shop here. Oh, it is there right there. Sbo burgers. There are several burger shops around. Today I chose this one. Oh, long street. Wow. See, I ate this banga up. That’s very good. Long arcade street. Long street with roof. I can see the end actually. Wow.
I walked through the shopping arcade after it was wide and stretched so far that I couldn’t see the end. Used to be a maybe
though I had a visit sash three times. I had only visit house tempos which is a theme park. I had never actually walked
and the street continue. You don’t have many of this street with roof in Tokyo, but it’s actually really nice. It’s in the rainy season especially. So I walked for a while and coming closer suction of the Matula railway that we took earlier from Imari to Arita and well we don’t see a toy store like this anymore. Mocha po is a big chain now really it’s contin endlessly it says central to station this way the the train I didn’t take from I should arrive soon to this station ah this is Su station. Where is the toas? It’s underground. Maybe it’s elevated. Uh so the material passed by this above here.
Unlike many shopping arcades around Japan that are fading. This was one library and bright street.
Unlike shopping malls, here you can find individual stores and just around the corners even local bars.
So I cannot see the train from here. Sashbo seemed to have a solid economic foundation. I saw someone staring at me, so I bowed and touched myself. Actually, little restaurant. Wow, look at the stair there. I actually see the hotel I stayed tonight above the hill. Mihar. Oh, this is SBO station and I walked this way. I ate hamburger here and this is a long street continuing and actually the hotel I’m staying should be around here tonight. So, it’s actually I’m coming pretty close. The shuttle bus is from the Sasho station. I left the luggage there. So, I had to go back to SAO station. I came very far from a station and now I see Starbucks here. This is sbo tamaya department store. So they have a department store tamaya here. The train take train back to Sant station by railway. restaurant. Well, back to SABO station. The shuttle bus of the Yhai Noa Hotel. The road to the hotel turned out to be much longer than I expect. Thinking earlier that I could have walked up the hotel was a serious miscalculation. At one point I even consider taking a taxi which would have been a costly mistake in Japan. As we climbed higher and higher, the building around the station dropped further into the distance between the hillside homes. I could see glints of the harbor of Sepo. Seeing houses built on the steep slopes, I couldn’t help but wonder why chose to build house here. But then again, maybe it’s because it’s their hometown. It has nice view and that sense of the belonging can’t easily be replaced. The hotel I’m staying tonight is called Yumihari Noa. It said to offer sweeping view of the Kukushima Island, but unfortunately a thick mist was covering the area. Oh, nice room. Very clean. It’s a twin room. I think this hotel only has twin room. And unfortunately, so foggy and I don’t see anything. I’m supposed to be very beautiful post scenery. And uh see A disposable three pot green and unit to bath. But they have a public bath here. I see Sel city a little bit. So I might see night to view here. I was glad I changed it and came a day earlier from Kawatu. Tomorrow would be heavy rain, but at least I’ll be in Nagasak city. So I’d have more option for taking a shelter. Even though I had dodged the worst of the rain, it looked like I don’t be seeing the island today. A cold wind began to blow. It felt like I was standing at the edge of the storm cloud. Unfortunately, it to be won’t be a great weather tomorrow. So maybe it’s the last chance. But I’m glad I could see. Looks like the observatory there. See if I can go up to the observatory. But do I have to go here? Looks like I had to go in here. Look so dark. Entrance is over there. So this is called Lat Point. Let me see this one first. Ah, beautiful flowers. Nice smell. Again, hog is coming back. Yeah, again hog is coming back. Oh, foggy again. But very nice. That’s a hotel I’m staying. SABO is home to one of the two major US Naval base in Japan along with Yokoska Tokyo. The harbor is surrounded by a maze of corpses. Looking from the observatory, I even wondered if there was actually any outwards to the open ocean. Part of the coastline belong to Ku Kushima Island chain. Ku means 99, but actually there are more than 200 islands. On sunny days, sad scene cruises are going through the islands, which I went on with my mother a few years ago. Smoked salmon, roast beef, and lots of sashimi. again. And this is actually really fresh. And this Italian fair now and they had lotto. They have some spaghetti and pizza. I had a dinner at the hotel’s buffet and went back to the room. And that night I went back to the loom and I saw a view of Sasso appeared just for a moment. However, it was only a few minutes before thick cloud once again covered the mountain. I was a little terrified that such a bright light I could just see now disappeared completely and I could no longer see anything. The mountain isn’t that high though. It felt like balcony was leaning towards the forest and I would be pulled into the mist. So I quickly closed the door and shut the curtains. Time to go to bed. The next morning, just as expected, the weather had worsened. warm breeze auto kind of wet forest. So now we have to check out the room and head back to Sasoko station bus and head to Nagasaki city. I’m actually surprised this bus can come up to here. But maybe there’s other bigger loads. Not like the street we came from. Such a bus. I said to head to Nagasak city ali from here to Nagasak city is about 80 kilometers which is about 50 miles. So next train 111 seaside line to Nagasaki. So, let’s see the bus. Actually, despite connecting two of Nasaki Prefecture’s biggest cities, there’s no limited express train on this line. Taking the same local train as yesterday for two hours uh didn’t sound much fun for me. So, I said to take a bus. The bus is cheaper and faster and more convenient. There’s a bus terminal. So, let’s see if we can take the bus. So bus leaves 10 minutes earlier and also arrives earlier. So uh so it’s called si bus tan the bus is 150 yen. So much cheaper than taking. So looks like this is in the super nontop. Clearly. Fore speech. That was another step. But taking a local trains, stepping off the unfamiliar stations, and slowly learning about the new towns have its own kind of joy of travel. The rain had grown strong enough to soak me through. But next, I’d be heading out to explore Nagasak City. The Nagasaki station. So this is the Nagasaki station with the Nagasak Shinkansen and lots of hotels and shopping centers. They have a GL Kushu hotel, Marot Kon all in this station complex. But for my hotel, I have to take a to a little bit. In the next travel video, I’d like to visit this travel highlight, Nagasak City. Thank you for watching. Have a good trip to Japan. Have a good week until the next video.

This video is about 4 trains I took on the way to Sasebo and the city stoll in the city. I took Chikuhi line from Karatsu to Imari, Matsuura Railway from Imari to Arita, JR Sasebo line from Arita to Haiki, and to Sasebo. You can enjoy the local view of norhtern Kyushu along the rail. After arriving Sasebo, I enjoyed strolling the arcade street of Sasebo which is one of the longest in Japan. I’ve never seen sucn a wide arcade streets and it was pleasant to walk through the area with local shops. Despite the downfall weather, I could overlook the view of Kujukushima island’s coastal beauty. Thank you for watching. 🙂

JR Kushu Pass: https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/railpass/railpass.html
* Cannot be used for Matsuura Railway

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