Fukuoka Regions Guide - excursions

Dazaifu
In the northern part of Kyushu Island in south-western Japan lie the ruins of Dazaifu, a city that during the 1st century was the seat of Government for the island and first line of defence against threat from the East Asian countries. The walled city once stood in open fields, but now the ruins on the southern slopes of Mount Ono are surrounded by modern Dazaifu, and the valued historic site has been turned into a park. Apart from the interesting ruins, Dazaifu also boasts one of Japan's most important shrines. The Dazaifu-tenmangu Shrine is dedicated to a great scholar named Sugawara Michizane, who died in the year 903 and subsequently became revered as a deity because of his wisdom. The shrine is now a place of pilgrimage for students from all over the country, especially when examination season comes around. The approach to the shrine is lined with teahouses specialising in a local rice cake delicacy, which is believed to keep illness at bay.

Mount Aso
The composite active volcano of Mt Aso lies almost in the centre of Kyushu Island and boasts the world's largest caldera, stretching 11 miles (18km) from east to west and 15 miles (24km) from north to south. Inside the caldera are five volcanic peaks, with one of them, Naka-dake, still being active and regularly emitting smoke and ash. The rest of the landscape inside the caldera is green and grassy, grazed by cows and horses and inhabited by about 50,000 people in several towns and villages, seemingly unphased by living inside a volcanic crater. In the town of Aso there is a museum dedicated to the volcano. Visitors can watch large screen presentations about Aso and the associated geology, in addition to viewing a live image from a camera positioned at the active crater site.

Nagasaki
The beautifully situated port city of Nagasaki lies at the southern end of Kyushu Island, 95 miles (152km) southwest of Fukuoka. Nagasaki was open to the world for centuries between 1639 and 1859 while the rest of Japan was secluded from foreign contact by governmental decree. The exposure to foreign cultures has left the city with a sophisticated and liberal air that makes it popular for tourists, enhanced by the many attractions in the city itself and surrounding prefecture. Feudal castles, samurai houses, smoking volcanoes, hot spring baths, rugged offshore islands, beautiful beaches and friendly people are all here to be enjoyed. The most important site in the city is the Peace Park (Heiwa Koen), commemorating Nagasaki's darkest hour on 9 August 1945, when a nuclear bomb intended to be dropped on the Mitsubishi Shipyards exploded instead over the Urakami district, killing 150,000 people. A black stone column marks the blast's epicentre, alongside the Atomic Bomb Museum.