We climbed up a volcano. Well, we thought we did.

Something that’s proving a little difficult lately is actually exploring the hidden gems of both Kumamoto city and Kumamoto prefecture. Whenever I seem to have a free weekend, or take any nenkyuu (holidays), I always overlook my new home as a place to discover.

Thanks to impromptu plans with Sheridan and her friend Willem, who’s over from Australia, I recently got to finally visit Mount Aso and some other sights along the way.

True to form when you’ve made plans, the weather was absolutely shocking. Kudos to Sheridan to actually getting us there and back in one piece, since the mist was so bad up the mountains you could barely see… more on that later.

First we stopped at Yasemegane Bridge, but sadly couldn’t really see much since the earthquake damage in the area was so bad. It’s an ongoing theme in Kumamoto, with most areas at least having some areas closed off due to collapsed bridges and landslides. We then headed to Tsuujun Bridge, which will be a lot more spectacular in better weather, but we were treated to some random sculptures on the riverbank.

Sheridan played a blinder yet again with a fabulous little restaurant in Aso. The ceiling was covered with hundreds of knickknacks hanging down, dumplings, and “I don’t know what this is but its bloody good” dishes filling us to the gunnels. Anyone who visits me and wants to go to Aso, heads up, we’re eating lunch there.

Since the eruption of Mount Aso a few months ago, it’s a little bit more difficult to get close to the crater. We made it, despite roads being half cordoned off from landslides, to what we thought was the way to the view point.
After trekking up a hill and convincing ourselves we were almost definitely walking up the volcano, turns out the actual crater was in the completely opposite direction and we just couldn’t see it because of the fog. Pretty much sums up that dynamic you get when you put Sheridan, Willem and I in a car together and hope for the best.

Earlier on in the day we’d joked that the scenery resembled a Spirited Away plotline and we’d end up in a magical land in the mountains. Honestly, we all thought we had when we stumbled across a little German café in the middle of nowhere. Very Hansel and Gretel-esque, and I’m still not quite sure why it’s even there.

Either way, it was a laughter filled day despite us being cold, wet and stressed when every road we drove down to leave Aso was closed and we thought we’d be stuck there forever.
Let’s hope next time I go, I actually have better luck seeing the sights we’ve drove all the way for!