Scaredy Cat Travels

Kyoto to Fukuoka (and maybe Nara)

Transportation: Back on the bullet train 

Hotel: Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk 

Plans: I need to double check train schedules but I think we have enough time to do a quick (but early) visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine and hop a train to Nara to see the deer.

When most people picture a torii gate, they think of the famous gate at the Itsukushima Shrine seemingly floating in the water in Miyajima (or Epcot). In the Shinto religion, torii gates represent the border between the secular world and the sacred world so they are usually placed at the entrance to Shinto shrines.

At Fushimi Inari there are thousands of gates. They do not signify the entry to the shrine itself but cover a path up the sacred mountain behind it. Each one has been donated by a family or company, and their names are written on the back of their gate. The hike to the end of the trail takes almost three hours but most visitors turn around at a lookout point halfway. It is a peaceful experience if you go early before the throngs descend.

Nara, less than an hour from Kyoto by train, is home to the Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden building in the world. Inside is a 50-foot bronze statue of Buddha. While this is impressive, most people visit Nara for the deer. In the Shinto religion, deer are considered messengers of the gods so are sacred.

Nara Park in the center of the city is home to almost 1200 deer that roam freely among the visitors. The deer are tame and have learned to bow their heads to encourage tourists to feed them crackers sold by local vendors.

Fun Fact – Deer attacks in the park have increased dramatically as TikTok hopefuls video themselves teasing the deer – offering food then taking it away until the deer becomes aggressive – all so they can get clicks. People suck.

While all of that sounds great (except the Fun Fact), the most vital part of our day will be making it to Fukuoka to queue up for our ferry to South Korea the next day. There are some good yatai (food stalls) in Fukuoka so we may venture out to try those. But I suspect at this point in the trip, we’ll all want a night of nothingness.

Scaredy Cat rating: Three paws – only because if I screw up getting to Fukuoka then we could miss our transportation to Korea and that could be a) a real mess or b) super expensive. 

I little added fear because I am not sure how many foreigners visit Fukuoka so English-speaking may be limited. Once we get to the port the signs are in English and Korean so I think we’ll be able to muddle through.

The $$$ – Total Hotel Cost for Two Rooms for one night = $197 + 44000 Hilton points. The Inari Torii gates are free and the park in Nara is free except for the cost of deer crackers. I don’t really know how much the trains cost yet.

Many tourists buy a Japan Rail Pass which is about $225 for seven days. If you are pondering going to Japan, you should note that the price of this pass is set to almost double in the fall. The pass allows unlimited travel on train lines operated by the JR company. The train system in Japan is very complicated but JR manages a lot of the key lines and includes many of the Shinkansen. I decided not to purchase the pass because it seemed like it would be cheaper for us to purchase individual tickets based on our itinerary.

Hotel #7 Extended

Hilton Sea Hawk Hotel – other than Disney this was by far the easiest choice. We are only going to Fukuoka to queue for the Busan ferry departure the following morning. When you look up the location of the port, there is one giant hotel that stands out on the shoreline – this Hilton – so that was that. 

Plus I had (to my surprise) enough Hilton points to book one room using points and will pay cash for the other. Unfortunately the only rooms here that would fit all three of us are $500+ per night so one room wasn’t really an option. 

The hotel looks nice but gives me “going to some trade show for work” vibes so doesn’t make me feel especially like I’m on vacation. If we were going to Fukuoka to really visit that city, I would be looking for something else. That being said, the hotel is well-appointed. It overlooks the Fukuoka baseball stadium, has a nice lobby bar, a lounge I won’t be able to access, an onsen on an upper floor overlooking the ocean and a couple of pools. It also has a suite with Rowan’s dream bathtub (pictured below).