Whilst I was at my hostel in Tokyo, someone asked me why I had returned to Japan so many times. I was bumbling around trying to explain myself, when I hit upon it – whilst I love traveling (particularly Asia), Japan is different. To me, coming back to Japan feels just like coming home.

And so this past week I’ve been kicking back, living it up in Kurume.  My first day was spent tripping around – we managed to pass through 4 prefectures, stopping in Tara for a delicious kani chanpon (crab noodles) lunch. Our final destination was Unzen Dake, the volcano overlooking Shimabara. To return home, we took the car ferry back to… . But it was the car trip back to Kurume when everything got interesting…

A car ran up the back of us. No need to get freaked – it was only a minor accident, we were stopped at the time, the car behind us thought that the light had changed. The result was a dinged up (brand new) car, a 3 hour police investigation and a hospital visit! The procedure was interesting – for just a small accident, the police outlined the road with chalk and all of our details were taken (and by all, I mean all, including the name of the university I graduated from!). After the investigation, we were sent to the hospital, where we were xrayed, cleared and sent home. Wheww, what a day!

The rest of my week was spent catching up with friends, and eating. Kurume ramen, udon, nabe, yakitori and more – yum! I managed to catch up with nearly everyone, including my new Japanese niece!

Before my flight out to Taipei, I crashed in Osaka for the night, at the First Cabin Hotel. Highly recommended – a hostel/capsule hotel/business hotel – see my separate review for more info.