Where is Kyushu?
Located in the southwest of the Japanese archipelago, Kyushu consists of the Kyushu mainland and the Southwest Islands.
The Kyushu region includes seven prefectures: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Kagoshima.

How to get there?
- By air
To Fukuoka:
2 hours from Tokyo
1.5 hours from Nagoya
1 hour from Osaka.
There are also direct flights to Fukuoka from major cities in Asia.

- By Shinkansen
To Hakata (Fukuoka)
5.5 hours by Nozomi Shinkansen from Tokyo.
3 hours by Nozomi Shinkansen from Osaka.
4 hours by Nozomi Shinkansen from Nagoya.
A JR Kyushu rail pass is available to get around Kyushu by train.

What to Eat
Kyushu offers a variety of delectable local cuisine for visitors to try but one dish that stands out is Tonokotsu ramen (pork bone based soup noodles). Tonokotsu ramen is one of the most popular dishes in Kyushu with flavors differing from place to place. For example Nagahama, Kurume and Kagoshima all offer different flavors of Tonkotsu ramen.

One of the best places to enjoy is at Fukuoka's open air food stands called ‘yatai’.
Other delicious food choices in Kyushu include Kagoshima Berkshire pork in Kagoshima and charcoal-grilled Miyazaki jidori (Miyazaki chicken).


Kyushu is also the home of Shochu, a distilled spirit made from ingredients such as sweet potatoes, wheat, rice and buckwheat; perfect for washing down tasty local fare.

Culture
Kyushu is the birthplace of Japanese porcelain such as Saga Prefecture's Arita and Imari wares.
It is believed that the first examples of Arita ware dates back to 1616 in the Japanese feudal age.
There are also several lessons on offer in Arita and Imari that give visitors the chance to experience coloring porcelain for themselves!