Miyazaki Coastal Day Trip 2024 (Kyushu Travel Guide)
On of my favorite places in my trip to Japan so far as been Kyushu. It’s generally warmer, I was able to practice and speak basic japanese phrases, the food was delicious, and the landscape was amazing. One place that I believe underrated and gorgeous is the Miyazaki Prefecture. On our day in Miyazaki, we planned for a bus trip down the coast, visiting different shrines and towns. This blog will focus on the route we took on our bus trip along the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture- visiting Aoshima, Udo Shirine, and Obi Castle town. Although there are other stops along the way, these were my top 3 places.
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***Time is by car***
How I Got Around
There are a few ways to get around the coast of the Miyazaki Prefecture. Train, bus, or car are the most common. For us, we decided to use bus and purchased the ALL DAY Miyazaki Tourist pass. At the time of writing this post, it cost $2,000 yen per person for a 1 day pass. We liked this method because we could choose to get on and off the bus as we would like. We also used the timetable to know how long we could stay in each area and pick our stops personally.
Another popular method is by using a rapid or local JR train on the Nichinan Line. If you are traveling with the JR rail pass, the route from Miyazaki Station to Aoshima and Aoshima to Obi are both covered from what I can tell. However, Udo Shrine is not along the JR rail line. To get to Udo Shrine, you need to take a bus.
Aoshima
From Miyazaki Station, it takes about an hour to get to Aoshima by bus. The bus drops you off right at the entrance to the Botanical Gardens which you could walk through to get to Aoshima Island. It is a gorgeous park and we learned that it is a sister garden to the Singapore Botanical Gardens which we visited earlier this year! What a coincidence!
Once you make it through the garden, you can see the ocean and shrine from afar. Make your way across the bridge to the Shrine.
Aoshima Shrine
This may be one of my favorite shrines that I have visited since being in Japan. It is located on Aoshima Island that is connected by bridge. Aoshima Shrine is known for answering prayers of marriage. Many couples and women visit Aoshima Shrine, so it was perfect for Dylan and I, LOL!
The center of the island has a shrine where you can pray for good luck by throwing a dish in a centerpiece area. Overall, very fun experience that I really recommend.
Obi Castle Town
The next stop for us was Obi Castle Town. We had 3 hours here, per our bus timetable. Obi town is a town that has well-preserved Samurai houses and the vibe here was so relaxed and quaint. We spent most of our time at Obi Castle and the grounds were gorgeous.
Obi Castle is the only place on this trip that costs. For 6 paid sites under the common ticket (at time of writing this post) the cost was 800 yen per person. The sites included former houses and museums and in my opinion is a good value.
In our time there, we visited the home of the Itoh family who had captured the castle for many years, as well as some historical museums and forests. Very beautiful place that I recommend visiting. In fact, Obi is said to be the “Kyoto of Kyushu”.
If you are looking for lunch at this point, there is a small restaurant next to the Castle that had amazing cold soba noodles!
If you are looking for lunch at this point, there is a small restaurant next to the Castle that had amazing cold soba noodles!
After walking the Castle grounds, we made our way back to the station to head to our next stop!
Udo Shrine (Udo Jingu)
Last stop on the day long adventure along the Miyazaki Prefecture is Udo Shrine. What makes this Shrine unique is that it is nestled along a cliff side, right along the coast. Truly stunning. Once we hopped back on the bus, we worked our way back up the coast to this last stop. We happened to be there right before dusk and it was a gorgeous sunny day, so we were very lucky on weather.
Udo Shrine is a famous shrine among couples and newlyweds. It is said that if a woman drinks the water that drips from the cliff walls, it is beneficial for pregnancy, childbirth, or those hoping to have a child.
The walk to the main shrine is steep and there are many stairs to get down there. However, once you enter, you are rewarded with stunning views and a beautiful shrine nestled into the cliff side.
In this photo above, you can see many people below throwing undama’s (or lucky balls) into the target area that is marked by rope. If you make it into the target, it is said you will receive good luck.
Once finished with Udo Shrine, you can hop back on the last bus (like we did!) and make your way back to Miyazaki station. This whole trip by bus took us the whole day from 8AM - 6PM.
Overall, a very fun day trip to see more of the Miyazaki prefecture. These sites are areas that tend to be less visited than other popular parts of Japan, but in my opinion very much worth your time.