Our stay at Minshuku Asogen in Mount Aso and viewing the One Piece Statue of Usopp

5 and 6 November 2024

I told my family that we would be staying overnight in a hotel inside a volcano’s caldera. Their first reaction was “Huh, is it safe?”

Yes but…. anything could happen. Volcanoes are unpredictable.

Aso Caldera was formed 90,000 years ago in a massive volcanic eruption. The super eruption released so much magma and with such force that the land beneath caved in, creating a giant basin or crater in the land.

The size of the caldera measures 25 kilometers north to south and 18 kilometers east to west, almost half the size of Singapore. Aso City is located on the flat plain on the northern part of the caldera, together with 5 other volcanic mountain peaks in the center. One of them, Mount Nakadake, is still active today.

We chose to stay one night at a hotel within the Aso caldera so that we could explore the area around Mount Nakadake the next morning.

We had seen Aso City from above at Daikanbo, a popular lookout point on the northern edge of the caldera. From there, we drove down the mountain road to Aso City center.

One Piece Statue of Usopp in Aso City

We made a stop at the Aso JR Station. Our aim was to view the One Piece Statue located outside the Aso train station.

On April 14, 2016, Eiichiro Oda, a manga artist and creator of the series One Piece, donated ¥800,000,000 to help reconstruct his home city of Kumamoto after it was struck by two earthquakes. He also wrote supportive messages, and drew art for local products. In 2018, Kumamoto Prefecture awarded Mr. Oda the People’s Honor Award. After rebuilding Kumamoto, the governor Ikuo Kabashima announced that they would build statues of the Straw Hat Pirates to thank Eiichiro Oda for his help.

The Luffy Statue was installed at the Kumamoto Prefectural Promenade to symbolize Kumamoto’s post-disaster recovery. Subsequently, additional statues of the One Piece Pirates were installed all over Kumamoto Prefecture, including Usopp in front of Aso Station.

One Piece Statue of Usopp at Aso City.

Having some fun with Usopp.

At the site of each statue, there are collectable figures for sale. These are sold on a first come first serve basis. Most of the statues of popular characters were already sold out but we managed to buy the statue of Usopp at the Michi-no-eki Aso Information Service Center. 

Information on the Kumamoto Revival Project and locations of the statues.

The information center also serves as a grocery and souvenir store. I checked with the staff about the conditions at Mount Nakadake for the next day. If the conditions are right, visitors could drive up a toll road to view the crater of the still active volcano. I received not so good news that it would likely be closed since the wind was forecasted to be blowing from the West.

The lady also provided information about the One Piece Revival project and locations of all the other One Piece Statues in Kumamoto, where to buy the figurines, and the opening hours of the stores.

We bought the Usopp One Piece figurine at the Aso Information Service Center.

Did a brief stop at the JY station to watch this train rolled in.

From there, we topped up the petrol tank in our car before checking into Minshuku Asogen. 

Minshuku Asogen

Minshuku Asogen.  Photo from hotel’s website.

Minshuku Asogen is a two-storey guesthouse located on the outskirt of Aso City. There are ample parking spaces in front. The only downside of the car park is that the ground is unpaved and had small pebbles. So we had to lift our suitcases a short distance to the front door which was not a big problem for us. The lobby is spacious and decked in wood provides a warm and homey feel. 

We were assigned a spacious and clean Japanese style room on the second floor. The friendly woman staff that checked us in was quite strong and helped carry one of the suitcases to our room.

The room has a tea set, refrigerator, small flat screen TV, air conditioning and heating. There is a toilet with basin in our room but no baths. We went to shower and bath at the private bath house located in a separate building across the main accommodation building. 

There are 4 private family baths that are free to use between 16:00-22:30 at night and 6:30-9:00 in the morning. Just go to the reception to retrieve the keys and then lock the bathroom when we used it. The layout and fitting inside are all the same.

The water in the hot tub is not natural spring water. Instead Asogen uses normal water with added baking soda electrolytic cleaning solution. The artificial sodium bicarbonate springs is supposed to soften the surface of the skin and turns oils and secretions on the skin into an emulsion, washing them away, leaving skin feeling clean and smooth.

One of the 4 private baths in Asogen.

Compared to a ryokan, a minshuku is cheaper but more basic in terms of comfort and service provided. I had booked a stay with dinner and breakfast as I read that the multi-course dinner at Asogen is quite generous and good. Meals are made using ingredients grown in the rich natural environment of Aso.

Dinner was served in a private room on the ground floor. Drinks were not included. We ordered some soft drinks to go with our dinner.

Dinner at a private room.

Sliced pork belly and vegetables for shabu shabu.

Cooking our pork and vegetable Shabu shabu on a table top stove.

High quality fatty tuna sashimi.

Vegetable dish. Grilled eggplant and yam in delicious sauce.

Chawanmushi dish. A savory Japanese egg custard dish steamed in a cup.

We had the chance to taste the horse meat sashimi again. Horse meat sashimi is a specialty of Kumamoto and is typically served in Aso’s guesthouses and restaurants. The high quality meat served at Asogen had a good balance of lean meat and marbled meat.

Horse sashimi served at Asogen with garlic and dipping.

The main course is a yakiniku course with Kumamoto Prefecture's world-renowned premium Wao branded A5 grade wagyu beef and Higo beef. The beef came from cattle bred with pure water and air and has a melt-in-the-mouth texture. The portion of wagyu beef for our yakinuku was so generous considering the fine marbling and high quality of the meat. The dipping sauce for the yakiniku is Asogen's own special secret sauce.

Generous serving of wagyu beef for our yakinuku. Look at the marbling on these beef!

Grilling our beef on the charcoal fire. Less than 30 seconds on each side to get a melt-in-your mouth grilled beef.

Rice dish with miso soup, vegetable tempura and pickles are homemade by the proprietress.

Unlike a ryokan where the beddings were prepared for us by the staff, we had to retrieve the futons and beddings from a cupboard inside our room and lay them out on the tatami mats ourselves. The task was not difficult.

There was a small flat screen TV with HDMI port that I hooked up my Android TV box to. The Wi-Fi was fast enough for me to stream live football at 5 AM in the morning.

Watching my favourite team play.

We had booked our breakfast time during check-in. At the appointed time, we showed up at the private dining room and our Japanese style breakfast was all laid out for us. It was a typical Japanese style breakfast with freshly cooked white rice made with sun-dried rice, miso soup and side dishes. The side dishes included the yucky, sticky natto that I did not touch, grilled mackerel, egg mayo with tomato and various types of pickles.

Japanese style breakfast at Asogen.

We were provided with a raw egg from free ranging chickens that we could cook ourselves on a table-top stove with bacon and sausage in it.Having fun cooking our egg.

Overall, it was an excellent, value for money stay in Minshuku Asogen. For the price we paid, we got a decent room, good service and a really nice multi-course dinner with generous portions of high grade wagyu beef for our yakiniku.

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On the edge of a caldera – Northern Mountain Restaurant and Daikanbo Lookout

5 November 2024

Driving along the Aso Skyline Highway is a “must do” on a road trip in Kyushu. It is a 45 kilometer route that winds along the mountain ridge of the Aso Outer Mountain Ring. Renowned for its stunning panoramic views, this scenic route provides many opportunities to experience the natural beauty of the region. The road is actually on the northern edge of the Aso Caldera.

A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses. In the case of Aso Caldera, this massive eruption occurred 90,000 years ago and formed the many unique natural features and landscape in Kyushu. We had seen them at Nabegataki Falls and also Kikuchi Gorge in the morning.

Aso's caldera stretches 25 kilometers north to south and 18 kilometers east to west which is almost the world’s largest caldera. In the center of the caldera, there are five volcanic peaks where they are referred to collectively as Mount Aso (阿蘇山). One of them, Mount Nakadake, is still spewing volcanic gases but yet accessible to visitors.  

Diagram of the Aso Caldera showing the perimeter and the 5 volcanic peaks within.

We drove on the Aso Skyline Road (Highway 45) from Kikuchi Gorge towards Aso city where we planned to stay for the night. There are many breathtaking vistas of the Aso caldera and the majestic mountains that define the landscape.

There were a number of observation spots along the way. We stopped at the Nishiyunoura Scenic Overlook where we planned to have lunch in the Kitayama or North Mountain Restaurant located there.

Nishiyunoura Scenic Overlook

We arrived at the Nishiyunoura Scenic Overlook and went to the North Mountain Restaurant located there. It was already past lunch time at 2 PM and even then, there were people waiting for seats. This restaurant is popular with bikers. We saw many of them in their smart leather outfits waiting for seats as well. We wrote our names on the waitlist and went to enjoy the views from the lookout point.

North Mountain Restaurant offers lunch with a view.

We could see the checkerboard patterns of the fields and Aso City below. In the horizon, we saw the 5 mountain peaks that formed a silhouette of a person lying down. A signboard showed the names of the five peaks.

Farmlands in the Aso caldera.

View of Aso City and the 5 mountain peaks within the center of the caldera.

Signboard at Nishiyunoura observatory.

Lunch at the North Mountain Restaurant

After 30 minutes of enjoying the views and braving the strong winds at the caldera’s edge, we were seated inside.

Menu in Japanese that we used Google Translate to decipher.

The North Mountain Restaurant serves the Akaushi beef from the rare Japanese brown cattle breed that is raised solely in the Aso region. The menu outside the restaurant was in Japanese. A friendly solo woman traveller who understood Japanese saw us using Google Translate on our phone and helped us with the menu. The menu includes pork cutlet with curry rice, horse sashimi, beef steak and hamburgers.

The restaurant’s famous Akaushi rice bowls came in three sizes S, M and L. The only difference is the amount of rice. My wife ordered the small beef rice bowl that came with soup, tofu, pickles and salad.

Small beef rice bowl.

A highly recommended and popular item is the double red beef bowl called Super Baikuudon (bike bowl) for 2800 yen. This is probably targeted at bikers who have a big appetite. I ordered the Baikuudon, planning to share some of the beef with my wife.

Double red beef bowl for the meat lover.

Look at the red and juicy slices of beef.

Although it is slightly tougher than the typical wagyu beef, the Akaushi beef with the special sauce was delicious.

After lunch, we continued along the Aso Skyline eastwards. This road is also nicknamed as the Milk Road. This road was serving as a route for transporting milk from the dairy farms in the Aso valley. We saw many farms along the scenic drive.

Although there are numerous scenic places to stop, we went directly to Daikanbo since it offered the best views and is Aso's most famous lookout point.

On the road again to Daikanbo.

A red tractor on a farm along Aso’s Milk Road.

Daikanbo Lookout Point

Daikanbo (大観峰) is a natural observatory located on the highest peak on the northern rim of Mount Aso’s caldera. Daikanbo, which means large observatory, is named for its panoramic views of the Aso caldera, the five central peaks of Mount Aso, Oita’s Kuju Mountain range and the rolling grasslands inside the caldera. Entry to the lookout point is free and the best views were only a short walk from the free car park.      

Information board explaining how Aso Caldera was formed.

Stone marker at Daikanbo (大観峰) Lookout. 

At Daikanbo, which is 936 meters above sea level, we could see the best views of ‘Nehanzo’, the sleeping Buddha silhouette formed by the five Aso central mountains of Mt. Neko, Mt. Takadake, Mt. Nakadake, Mt. Eboshi, and Mt. Kishima. We could see clouds of gas emitting from the active Mount Nakadake.

The silhouette of the lying Buddha in the distance.

View of the farmlands and Aso city below and the head and chest of the lying Buddha in the back.

The sun rays through the clouds on this day was truly beautiful.

Autumn grass blowing in the wind.

The wind at the edge of the caldera was quite strong and Daikanbo is a good spot for paragliding.

Windsock showing the direction and strength of the wind at Daikanbo.

It was nice to watch the paraglider sailing over us.

The setting sun would paint the autumn grasslands orange but we could not stay to watch the sunset.

Daikanbo is also a good place to watch the sunset. We did not stay for the sunset as we had to arrive at our hotel before 6 PM, in time for dinner.

From Daikanbo, we headed down the mountain road into the caldera towards Aso City. We would be staying at Minshuku Asogen for one night before heading up to see the 5 volcanoes within Mount Aso up close.

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Hiking at Kikuchi Gorge in autumn

5 November 2024

Kikuchi Gorge (also known as Kikuchi Keikoku) is a 4 km long gorge located in the north-eastern part of Aso Kuju National Park. The fresh water in the Kikuchi River that meanders through the forest forms powerful rapids, deep blue pools, and plunging waterfalls. This gorge is perfect for nature lovers, photographers and hikers. It is blessed with scenic views of waterfall, blue pools, cool temperature and easy hiking paths. It is also a good spot to view the autumn foliage in Kyushu. Kikuchi Gorge is especially beautiful during the fall foliage season, when the area is covered in a carpet of colorful leaves.   

Getting to the Kikuchi Gorge is difficult by public transport. By car, it took us about 40 minutes to get to the gorge from Nabegataki Falls which was another outstanding place for nature lovers, fans of waterfalls and photographers.

Our plan for the day was to see Nabegataki Falls, hike at Kikuchi Gorge and then take the scenic Kikuchi Aso Skyline (Highway 45) up to the northern rim of the Aso caldera for the dramatic views from Daikanbo before descending into the caldera itself. Our accommodation for the night would be in Aso city.

We actually drove part of the Kikuchi Aso Skyine highway to get to Kikuchi Gorge from Nabegataki Falls but we did not make any stops since we knew we would be driving back up this way.

We parked at the car park (location here) about 200 metres away past the entrance to the gorge. The car park fee was 200 yen for our small car. There is a newly built washroom facilities. From the car park, it was a slight uphill walk along the sidewalk back to the entrance. Entrance fee to the gorge was 100 yen per person. It will be used for maintenance of the trail.

We went to Kikuchi Valley Visitor Center for coffee and ate our Snickers bar for the energy needed to do the morning hike. There are very clean and well maintained toilets at the visitor center as well.

Map of Kikuchi Gorge showing the routes and highlights to look out for.      

There are two routes to follow: a 30 minute and a 60 minute loop along the river bank and back down the other side. Both routes start after we crossed the red bridge.

Hydroelectric power weir and the red bridge we had to cross to start our hike.

We chose to do the longer 2 km route to fully experience Kikuchi Gorge. The trail is not difficult, going up slightly as we moved upriver. In autumn, the weather was nice and cool and felt like natural air-conditioning. 

First part of the trail. The rest of the trail going upriver is quite similar.

The first part of the trail passes through Shin Shikoku or Hill of 88 Stone Buddhas. We spotted only one of the stone Buddhas.

Stone Buddha covered in moss.

The trail followed the river closely. There were many photo opportunities since the  flowing rapids over moss covered boulders was so pretty. I took some long exposure shots of the rapids from the side of the trail.

Kikuchi Gorge offered many photo opportunities.

One of the many rapids on the river.

Long exposure shot of the water flowing over the moss covered boulders.

Further up, we came across a pool with some of the clearest and bluest water I had seen. We could hear the sound of the first waterfall which is Reimei Falls.

Pool with some of the clearest and bluest water.

"reimei," means dawn. Reimei Falls gets its name from the spray from the falls which resembles the mist at dawn. We came too late to see any mist in the gorge.

Information board explaining the name of Reimei Falls. There were many such boards along the trail.

Reimei Falls on the top. It further cascade down into the blue pool below.          

It is possible to walk quite close to the edge of the cliff to feel the roar of the water.

Slightly past the top of Reimei Falls is a place called Momiji-gase. The place is named after the many maple trees that grow on both sides of the river. There are footpaths from the main trails on both sides of the river that lead down to the water’s edge.

This is an ideal place to experience the autumn leaves in the gorge from late October to mid-November. Unfortunately, the weather in Kyushu (and the whole world in fact!) had been warmer than usual. As a result, the timing for the peak autumn foliage had been delayed by a few weeks. I read that even the first snowfall on top of Mount Fuji had been delayed this year. Mount Fuji usually has a cap of snow by early October. But this year, the first snowfall was on November 6, making this year's snowcap the latest to form since 1894 when records started.

Momijigase would have been stunning with red and yellow autumn leaves.

Long exposure shot of the boulders and water flowing.

The next waterfall we saw was the Tengu Falls. The 8 meters high Tengu Falls is one of the largest and loudest waterfalls in Kikuchi Gorge with water crashing on boulders before collecting in the Ryugabuchi Pool below.  

View of Tengu Falls and Ryugabuchi pool from the bridge.

A bridge over the pool offers an unobstructed view of the falls. This is also the bridge for hikers on the shorter route to cross the river and return to the entrance.

View from the bridge of the river flowing down the valley. So green and tranquil.

Long exposure photo of the flowing water.

Since we were taking the longer route, we did not cross this bridge but continued our hike upriver to the Yonjusanman (“Four hundred and thirty thousand”) Falls.  

Yonjusanman Falls

A signboard indicated that the average amount of water flowing through this waterfall in a single day is 430,000 koku (equivalent to 78,000 tons), hence the name.

Further uphill from Yonjusanman Falls, we saw the towering Hogan Keyaki, a zelkova (keyaki) tree that grows on top of a massive boulder. The roots of the tree hugged the boulder like tentacles. Apparently, the boulder used to be underground. Erosion has washed away the soil around it to reveal the roots of the tree and the bare boulder.

Hogan Keyaki, a zelkova (keyaki) tree that grows on top of a massive boulder.

We came to a large clearing with flat rocks and a wide section of the river where the water is shallow and flows relatively slowly. This area is known as Hirokawara was a good place to take a rest. It was also a good place to feel the river water which was icy cold.

Resting on the rocks by the river.

View at Hirokawara.

A bridge leads over the river to the trail that will return to the entrance of the gorge.

The second bridge is the furthest we would go on the longer route.

View from the second bridge.

The return path has rock cliffs on our left and the river on our right. There were signs warning of risk of falling rocks so we did a brisk walk. The return path towards the entrance was gently sloping downwards, making it much faster to return to the entrance.

On the return path to the entrance of Kikuchi Gorge.

Overall, we spent about 2 hours at the gorge including time for photos and rest. From the gorge, we drove back up the scenic Kikuchi Aso Skyline (Highway 45) up to the northern rim of the Aso caldera. I felt it was worth the detour to do the short easy hike at this beautiful place. My only regret was that we missed seeing the peak autumn leaves at this spot.

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