Seven Stars Train & Hakata

Sunday, October 13, 2024
Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, Japan
On this trip we are flying Singapore Airlines to Hakata via a four hour stopover in Singapore and then six hour flight to Fukuoka. We will be in Singapore from 2100 to 0100hrs so I wonder if we can get any sleep in the Singapore lounge.

Here is a map of where we went
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1Zh1Y0ZC9GaW9x-XEhhlL5sEBJZxy4SY&usp=sharing
Zoom into Japan first and then Singapore.

On the plane  I caught up with the film 'Thelma & Louise' which I don't think I have ever seen. Not quite as good as 'Bonnie & Clyde'.
Dinner was served 4:30pm and then I dozed till about 11:0pm (Sydney time) when we arrived at Singapore.
Tried to sleep in the lounge but with little success since a number of people nearby seemed to talk loudly!
Finally got on the plane to Fukuoka and I think managed to get about 3 hrs sleep.
We arrived into Fukuoka about 9:30am (Japanese time). It was a sunny and hot day, and a short taxi ride to the hotel (Miyako, right by the station). We had taken the trouble to pay for the night before  so we could go straight to the room and unpack.
We then walked across to the station to find the Kanpachi Ichiroku which is a tourist train between Hakata and Beppu. This was an addon activity organised by the Seven Stars people. It took us a little time to find where we had meet as we were at the ground level and the Seven Stars lounge is on the other side of the station and on level three.
We finally made it to the lounge where we met a number of the other passengers.
Suddenly I heard a voice 'Hello David' it turned out be Ian Chivers, travelling with Di, who we knew in Sydney. What a surprise. They had come up from Naoshima that morning - we go there after the Seven Stars trip - what a coincidence.
We were given a welcome drink & nibbles, then a short walk to the platform to board the train.
More details of this train can be found here. (We were allocated a cabin in Car 1)


We had a lovely 
2-storey bento box lunchbox (see photo) for the five hour trip to Beppu, this  included two 15 minute stops. I think there were other Japanese on the train apart from the Seven Stars lot.

On arrival we had a short wait - not even time to explore the station - before boarding a normal train (Sonic Express) back to Hakata.
On the way back we stopped at the township of USA. I wonder whether this was built just after WWII or was it built in the 60's so that the Japanese could say goods were made in the USA.
We were accompanied back to the hotel which was very necessary since we knew how easy it was to get lost in Hakata station.
Late drink and bar food in the hotel lounge on the top floor, so we had a great view of nearby streets and buildings.
Tuesday sunny with Brisbane humidity
Today we join the actual Seven Stars train for our four day adventure.
We were collected from the hotel by a Seven Stars staff member at 9:30am  and walked to their lounge for a welcome drink and nibble before walking down to the same platform that we had walked the day before.

The Seven Stars train is very exclusive, since it only has a maximum of 20 passengers, There are only three cabins in a carriage, the last carriage has only two cabins!
I had asked for a cabin close to the dining car which meant we only had one carriage to walk through - Gallery, Shop and bar - before getting lounge and dining cars .

The train left at 11:00am with much waving of flags and people on the platform taking photos.

Lunch was 8-course Japanese style in the dining car which was at the end of the train.  
There was a large plate glass window at the end giving us a view of the rails and the  receding countryside .

Our first stop was an hour at Yufuin, We have been here may times before on SJR trips, we only did a walk around the station. 

Dinner was 'Western-style' only 6-courses. The Dining car (correct name Blue Moon) was very spacious since there were only 12 tables for two people each


After dinner we had been persuaded to go into the 'bar' which was a space for six people where we had a whisky tasting six whisky's with some superior nibbles.
 We were further entertained by a magician who did a cute 'pea n thimble' trick.
After this we returned to our cabin to find the two side by side beds had been made up.
Wednesday
Spent the morning on the train as we proceeded to Kumamoto where we detrained and were taken by a beautifully decorated Seven Stars Bus to lunch at a private temple.
After lunch the bus took us to the ferry to Shimabara where another Seven Stars bus took us to a number ryokans in the 
Unzen-Amakusa National Park. 
Ours was the Miyaksaki ryokan a 30 minute drive from the ferry point.
This turned out to be very luxurious. We had a very large room with double bed, the bathroom had its own onzen. The view was across a valley where there were a number of fumaroles (steam vents) coming up through the vegetation. Watching these was very soothing.
Managed to have a short time in our private onsen before dressing for dinner using the supplied yukata.
Dinner turned out to be  a 10 course meal.
Thursday, hot and cloudy
Breakfast was served at 7:30am and was only 7-course meal, not so elaborate dishes this time.
We had about two and half hours to walk around the area. While I wrote up by notes   and meditated on the many shapes that steam can make as it rises into the air, Leith went with 3 others and a local guide further into the park.
We were picked up and bussed back to Shimabara where we had chosen to have lunch at the Pesceco Restaurant.
Six of us (all from the train) were sat at counter, much like in a teppanyaki restaurant. This allowed us to see the chef prepare each dish, probably about 8 dishes  could be more since it took two and half hours. 
Fascinating to see the chef at work
We then were taxied to Omisaki to catch a local train to Isahaya where we joined the Seven Stars train.
The local train passed by many rice paddies taking about 70 minutes.
Joined our train to go straight into a private matcha tea ceremony in the Gallery carriage. Leith and I were seated on one side of a small table where we were shown the tea being prepared with much ceremony and then finally drinking it. One way of passing the time.
Dinner at 6:30pm Another meal with many dishes
Friday
7:00am breakfast
We stopped for awhile at USA, this time we could get out and take photos of the station sign.
Spent the day on the train on our last day back to Hakata, in the morning we had a lesson in raffia making as well as assembling a wooden puzzle.
12:45pm lunch this time in a lovely bento box.
In the afternoon we had a visual presentation of the photos taken during the previous three days, all passengers were featured and we will be sent the photos to our home address in a week or two -which we have now received.
We finally arrived back at Hakata station at about 6:00pm the finish of a fabulous tour made special by the wonderful staff as well of course, as the train itself, scenery and food.
Dinner at the hotel with Ian & Di with much reminiscing of the trip.
It turns out that one of our passengers was a serious Youtube man, his Youtube of our trip can be found here. If you look carefully Leith and I appear in the background occasionally.
Saturday/Sunday
Two days  in Hakata before going to Naoshima.
The first day we spent activating the JR pass  and reserving seats on the Shinkansen's to Naoshima  and then onto Osaka. I found the Japanese equivalent of Trip Planner which allowed one to enter the 'From' and 'To' stations and I then could see what times the trains went. See world.jorudan.co.jp if you want.
So now with a JR pass and having done our bookings we chose a local train to go somewhere.
This turned out to be Fukuma about an hour north of Hakata. Spent a little time at the station then caught the train back!
On our return we booked seats on the shinkensen for tomorrow's trip to Kagoshima.
It turns out that one could book seats - providing you had a activated JR Pass- on the mobile phone, but you still had to go to the counter to pickup the seat ticket. Alternatively this could be done through a machine but we never managed to work out how to use it.
Next day we got ourselves back to the station to catch the 1038 train to Kagoshima-chuo.
( I never found out what 'chuo' meant I know that if you add the word Shin (eg Shin-Osaka)   means a 'new' station) 
Only a 90 minute ride which was mostly through tunnel, however we had a to wait at the station before catching the return train. Nice and cool in the station and we had time for a light lunch. Leith explored the surrounds.
Got back about 4:00pm still very hot and humid. Leith enjoyed an onsen to relax.
We had our last dinner at the hotel before checking out tomorrow for our trip to Naoshima The Art island.
See next blog

Comments

Yiu Lam
2024-11-10

It's really lovely reading your blog David - so informative. Makes me want to go there. The trains and the cabins look superb - and the food they serve on the train! You are indeed amongst a privileged few to travel in such luxury! thanks for sharing

Judith
2024-11-11

An interesting trip David. I hope the myriad courses you were fed were small, or you would have been putting on weight fast! It is a very small world indeed - fancy meeting Ian Chivers in Japan so soon after your party.

Stephanie Lee
2024-11-13

Good work and lovely photos David. I was also wishing I could do the same trip.

2025-02-09

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