Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan, she fascinated me straight from the beginning. When the ferry arrived in Kagoshima I saw how the Sakurajima volcano spit out big clouds of ash. I never saw an active volcano before and was excited about it. When I left the ferry and tried to find my way out of Kagoshima I got a lot of ash in my eyes. At first I wanted to escape from the volcano but then I considered elsewhere and went directly to Sakurajima. Around the volcano everything was covered with black ashes.

The next day I got picked up from the road. A man stopped in his car next to me. He told me he runs a guesthouse and I can stay for free. At first I was wary maybe he will charge me. But when I arrived at his home it was clear that I can stay for free, I had my own room and his wife cooked for me. My host name is Masuda, he was a geography teacher and his retired now. He spent most of his time traveling around the world, he has visited more than 60 countries. The next morning I had breakfast with the other guests, all teachers from Japan. They had rice and fish to eat. I was thinking how can they eat lunch for breakfast. I’ve got western style breaky with toast and scrambled eggs. When I left, my host gave me a rain poncho as a gift. It was a very useful gift because it was rain season now.

The rain didn’t bothered me much, it was light rain and I was happy that it wasn’t hot, good weather for me to cycle. I did 80 km and reached almost Miayzaki when I stopped at a rest area. Here I got the idea to ask some people if I can stay at their home. Yes, I tried to invite myself. I had luck and met a few people who spoke English very well and even a Japanese girl who spoke fluent German. One guy knew a place where I could stay, it’s a cafe with an hall that can be rented for events. He drove me there with his car and I left my bike at the rest area, I was joking that he going to kidnapp me. At the cafe I’ve met the owner, her name is Kumiko and she allowed me to stay, there was plenty of space. The guy drove me back to my bicycle and I cycled to the cafe. The next day was thunderstorm and I stayed in the cafe and could eat for free. I’ve met the staff and other people who are living nearby. There was an architect his name is Teturou, he lives in a house build with earth bags. He showed me around and enthused me to help him on his project to build a traditional japanese house. He showed me how to split bamboo and how to bend it over a stove. It was very interesting but I helped only a couple of hours. Teturou said I can stay here as long as I like and we work on the house together. But I felt like to cycle further, it was still the beginning of my Japan trip and I didn’t want to stay longer at one place for now, also the forecast for the next day was good. However I was very happy to meet those lovely people and hope to see them again.

From Miyazaki I went till Hyuga. In the evening I rest next to a convenience store where I met a Japanese touring cyclist. His name was Takahsi, he cycled 13.000 km in Japan only, he was on the road for 8 months already. We went to the beach and found a good spot to camp. On the next day he went to Miyazaki and I went to see the interesting coastline of Hyuga. Then I went into the mountains via Taketa and Hita. I really enjoyed the mountains on Kyushu. The countryside is so beautiful with a lot of forests, small villages and rice fields. I found good camp spots easily and met friendly locals. I spent 10 days on Kyushu and cycled 600 km. Cycling was very safe because I use most of the time the footpath, the speed limit is 40 or 50 km/h on country roads. I even found a 50 km long cycle path by accident. I would like to come back one day to explore more of this island.