9 November 2024
After spending more than half a day exploring the sights on Sakurajima and around Kagoshima Bay, we continued on our road trip northwards towards Kumamoto where we would stay for a night.
We stopped by Sogi Falls, also known as Sogi no Taki, as it is one of the largest and most beautiful waterfalls in Japan and it is also one of the most popular tourist spots in the northern part of Kagoshima Prefecture.
Although it is geographically located between Kagoshima and Kumamoto, it is a bit out of the way. We had to take a “detour” off the expressway E3 linking the 2 cities and travel through the slower country roads and residential areas to get to it.
It was about 3.30 PM when we arrived at the large car park next to Sogi Falls Park (Google Maps location here). The park has an observation deck, shops, restaurants, a rest area and public toilets.
We went to nearest viewing platform that is elevated to get an overview of the falls. Although the autumn leaves had been delayed this year, the view of the waterfall was still spectacular.
There are well designed viewing platforms along the walking path next to the waterfall so we could get good close up views of the falls. We could hear and feel its power.
This waterfall is sometimes called the "Niagara of the Orient" for the overwhelming volume of water cascading down, and also because of the width. It has a width of 210 meters. To me who has seen the actual Niagara Falls, this waterfall did looked a little like Niagara but on a much smaller scale. But still very impressive and beautiful.
Sogi Falls Park is a nice place for relaxation but we did not much time to linger. We still have more than 2 hours drive to Kumamoto and the sun sets early in November.
I had chosen to stay in the outskirt of Kumamoto instead of central Kumamoto. Our hotel for the night was the Hotel New Gaea Nishkumamoto Ekimae, located next to the Nishi-Kumamoto JR Station. Since we had no plans to see the sights in central Kumamoto the next day and hotels are generally expensive in the city center, this hotel was a good choice for us.
It was dark when we arrived at Nishi-Kumamoto. There are several restaurants located near the JR station and hotel. We had beef yakiniku for dinner at the Yakinikuchikurin Nishikumamototen.
The young staff at the restaurant could not speak English but we could see that they were trying their best to communicate with us. The young man who served us knows a few words of basic English and we managed to order our dinner through him. To make things easier for everyone, we ordered the set instead of ala carte. Overall, a nice dinner before we checked into our hotel.
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