TTT2019: Day 7--Hiroshima to Miyazaki

Miyajima is that island with the orange torii close by Hiroshima.  Scroll down to my visit there yesterday.

Miyazaki is often mistaken for Miyajima, but is about as different as can be.  Miyazaki is both a prefecture and city located in the southwest corner of Kyushu.

I had half a chicken and musubi for lunch, with beer and sake:

We took an alternate way to Miyazaki from Hiroshima, transferring in Kokura, then Oita.  The first two hours of our ride from Oita to Miyazaki was the most beautiful sakura trip I've ever experienced.  Add up all the cherry blossoms I've seen throughout my life, and this two-hour period exceeded that number by at least a factor of ten, if not 100.  There are mountains and mountains and mountains full of fully bloomed Sakura.  Tourists don't travel this route, and this was my first experience at this.  Unfortunately, the setting on my camera was on "P," which badly distorted the actual scenes:

Interestingly enough, even though we were traveling south, there were only a few cherry trees in blossom from hour 2 to 3 because, I would guess, the cold ocean currents cool this region of Kyushu.  On the return to Fukuoka tomorrow we are taking the traditional path of Miyazaki to Kagoshima-Chuo, where we catch the shinkansen to Hakata, or Fukuoka.  

The Miyazaki Sheraton Grande Ocean Resort opened in 1994, which is the first time I came here.  I know of no one from Hawaii or Japan who has ever stayed in Miyazaki overnight.  I made this out-of-the-way journey because I wanted to maximize my Japan Rail Pass miles, and stayed here, and also the Sheraton in Sapporo.  That hotel is no more.  In 1994 I had no idea that Miyazaki was world-famous for Japanese Wagyu Beef.  Both the sturgeon farms for caviar and the highly-prized mangoes came a decade and more later in this 21st century.  Amazingly enough, there is no tour to any of these facilities.  If they now find a way to grow truffles, they will have a monopoly in Japan of the finest cuisine.

We again got a nice corner room with a terrific view.  However, the camera setting was still on P.

Brunch was at the Pine Terrace.  First time I ever had five soups and noodles in one meal:

The Executive Lounge opens at 5PM for free food and drinks.

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