Pottery, Bamboo & Textiles in Northern Kyushu
The highlights of this tour include castle towns, festivals, hotsprings, a farm visit, pottery towns, kasuri textiles, bamboo crafts and local cuisine.
This tour is a perfect choice for those who love arts and crafts. We will visit the pottery towns of Onda, Karatsu, Arita and Imari. We will also visit a bamboo museum and craft shop in Beppu. In a family-owned Kasuri dyework factory, we will try our hands at tye-dying.
This tour is also geared to nature lovers. We will visit organic farming communities in Oyama and small fishing villages in Yobuko. Everywhere we go, we will meet and mingle with local people and glimpse their everyday life. Kyushu is known for its culinary delights. We will enjoy a variety of local delicacies, including fresh seafood, tofu cooked in hot-spring water, hand-made noodles, Kaiseki cuisine, manju sweets and more.
Tour Date: May 18-30, 2009 (Wailist Only) (The tour starts in Tokyo and ends in Fukuoka.)
Group size: 10 - 12 people
Tour Price: $3,050 per person
Included: Accommodations based on double occupancy, 22 meals (12 Breakfasts, 6 Lunches, 4 Dinners), Guided tour, Surface transportation, Admissions, Bi-lingual/bi-cultural tour escort
Not Included: International and domestic airfare, Excess baggage fees, Items of a personal nature such as optional tours, beverages, laundry, phone calls, souvenirs, etc.
Single Supplement: Add $150. (Single rooms are not available in Japanese inn on Day 6, where the room should be shared with other same-gender participants.)
Group size: 10 - 12 people
Kyushu Tour Flights Information
Terms & Conditions
Sample Tour Itinerary
(The following schedule is subject to change in accordance with the circumstances of our lodgings, transportation, local events and hosts. We will send participants the finalized itinerary one month in advance of the departure date.)
(B) Breakfast (L) Lunch (D) Dinner
Day 1. Arrive in Tokyo (Narita) Airport.
Participants flying on our designated Japan Air Lines flights will be greeted upon arrival by tour representative and transferred to a Hotel in Narita Airport. ( If you plan to take other flights or arrive on other dates, let us know; we will inform you of times and places to join the group.)
Day 2. Narita - Haneda Airport - Oita Airport – Kitsuki
Transfer to Haneda Domestic Airport . Fly to Oita . Our destination is Kitsuki, a small quiet castle town that beautifully preserves many rows of samurai houses with well-maintained gardens. After checking into our hotel, we'll stroll up a gentle slope to see a street of old samurai residences. We will stop by Miso (soybean paste) factory and tea shop: a few hundred year old establishments of this castle town. Our dinner will be served in an old Japanese domestic architecture that was remodeled into a cozy family-owned restaurant. (B)(D)
Day 3. Kitsuki
In the morning, local good-will guides will show us around the town, leisurely walking through the stone-laid sloping streets and alleys. We will visit Samurai houses and a historic museum on the hillside. In the afternoon, you may explore the town on your own. (B)(L)
Day 4. Kitsuki - Beppu - Hita
We depart in the morning for Hita. Along the way we will stop in Beppu and visit the Traditional Bamboo Craft Museum and a Bamboo specialty store. We will arrive in Hita in the late afternoon. (B)(L)
Day 5. Hita
We will take a Half-day walking tour of Hita in the morning. Our first stop will be Koto-Kan Gallery, which exhibits old pottery and Kasuri (Ikat) weaving used in the daily lives of the common people in the Hita area. Next, we will stroll through Mameta-machi district, which still retains the atmosphere of an old town. For lunch, we will enjoy Shabu Sahbu tofu. In the afternoon, we'll visit Onda, a quiet pottery hamlet nestled deep in the mountains. For generations the craftsmen of Onda have relied solely on the abundance of local natural resources to produce honest and simple pottery. The traditional techniques and unpretentious beauty of Onda potteries were celebrated by the artist-craftsmen of the Mingei (Folk Craft) movement. (B)(L)
Day 6. Hita - Oyama – Tsuetate
We will take a bus to visit Oyama, a small peaceful farming community known for cooperative agricultural community. Here we will take a tour of organic farms. For lunch, we are invited to a home-made lunch with the farmers. In the afternoon, we will board a bus for Tsuetate hotspring town. We will stay at a beautiful Japanese inn with outdoor, private baths overlooking the river and lush mountains. Our dinner will be an authentic full-course Japanese dinner. At night, we will slip between the sheets of a soft futon, totally immersed in the Japanese lifestyle. (B)(L)(D)
Day 7. Tsuetate – Hita
Return to Hita in the early afternoon. We will enjoy the River Opening Festival, one of the most anticipated local events of the year. You will find many food booths and vendors on the streets. At night, we will enjoy elaborate fireworks along the riverside. (B)
Day 8. Hita - Hirokawa-cho – Karatsu
In the morning, we'll visit Hirokawa-cho, Japan's foremost producer of kasuri textiles. There, we'll be guided through a family-run factory to see the techniques of indigo dyeing, hand-weaving, and modern mechanized weaving. Our lunch is Kurume Ramen and pot-stickers, local specialties. Late in the afternoon, we will arrive in Karatsu, a charming town by the Sea of Genkai. (B)(L)
Day 9. Karatsu
In the morning, we will visit a museum of elaborate parade floats museum, a historic shrine, and a pottery museum with local volunteer guides. Free in the afternoon. (B)
Day 10. Karatsu - Okawachi-yama - Karatsu
We will visit Okawachiyama, a little village surrounded by soaring mountains and rocks. This is the place where Arita and Imari wares have been produced for over three centuries. You can browse, shop or observe the work of artisans. You can also take a walk along the river and hillside, and visit a cemetery of many unknown Korean artisans who were brought from Korea to produce fine ceramics in the late 16th century. We will come back to Karatsu in the late afternoon. (B)(L)
Day 11. Karatsu – Yobuko
We will visit Kawashima tofu maker early in the moning for special tofu breakfast. Their Zaru-dofu (Tofu in basket) was once featured in the New Yorker. We will savour a full course of hand-made tofu by Japan’s best tofu makers, the Kawashimas of Karatsu. Today, we will visit Yobuko, a quiet fishing village. We will stop by ruins of historic Nagoya Castle. In late 1500, Lord Toyotomi had an enormous castle built here to assemble his troops to invade Korea. Our accommodations overlook the Sea of Genkai. Enjoy natural hotsprings in the hotel and stroll the many nearby trails. (B)(D)
Day 12. Yobuko – Karatsu
In the morning, we will visit a morning market for fish and produce. We will return to Karatsu in the afternoon. In the evening, we'll have our final group meal. (B)(D)
Day 13. Karatsu - Fukuoka airport - Haneda - Narita – USA
Transfer service is available for participants taking our designated Japan Airlines flights. Transfer by bus to Fukuoka Airport. The tour will disband at Fukuoka Airport. Participants flying to the U.S.A. should take an airport limousine bus from Haneda Airport to Narita Airport (bus fare: 3,000 yen per person) and transfer to your international flight at Narita Airport. Crossing the international dateline, you will arrive in the U.S.A. on the same day. (B)
