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Kirishima and Miyazaki, Fukuoka – April, 2025

Another trip to Japan meant another trip to visit friends in Nichinan, Miyazaki. The southern end of Kyushu is always amazing to visit. This time was a little different and started in Kirishima thanks to a stay at the Hoshino Resort in the hills. Whilst in the area, I had to check out one or two Limited Express Kirishima services passing through:

I was even lucky to see a Tanuki in broad-daylight crossing (successfully) the tracks! Anyway, the real trip started from Kagoshima Station, where I fluked a passing of the 7-Stars.

Being the end of the freight line from Hakata, the yard is always full of silver EF510s.

My Kirishima arrived on-time and we were off to Miyazaki.

Miyazaki Station

The usual offenders were to be found...

Odotsu - Nango Castle Ruins

And then it got interesting from here. My friend asked me to get off a few stations early and that he'd pick me up. We then bolted ahead down the highway towards Nichinan, but took a right turn in Odotsu. After travelling nearly-vertically up the mountain tracks, we ended up at the remains of Nango Castle, with an amazing vantage port of Odotsu. I can't say Odotsu Port as the "tsu" in Odotsu literally means port. So... Odo Port?

Beautiful! Hilarious to be taking photos of the train that brought me from Miyazaki.

The Old Line To Kanoya

There used to be a railway connecting MiyakonoJo south to Shibushi and then west to Kanoya via Kimotsuki and Aira. The remnants and railway parks are all there and you'll, at least, find a DMU or an SL loitering around. I'm sure the elderly residents are the only ones keeping these parks alive and that the rolling stock will eventually just become too hazardous to leave in open to the public.

First up was Shibushi's Railway Memorial Park, just west of the station on the old alignment. Both a C58 and a KIHA52 were well-kept and looking great!

Next up was Aira Railway Memorial Park with another KIHA52, unfortunately in a slightly worse state. At least you could see that they caretakers were trying to keep the unit in one piece...

The last stop on the memorial tour was the Kanoya Station precinct and its railway museum!

The caretaker was amazing and dealt with my terrible Japanese. He told me all about the previous operations and how freight was key. The passenger services disappeared not long after the freight service stopped.

On the way home, after a recycle shop or two, we passed a love hotel that has seen better days...

Not much love to go around anymore... not even for a beautiful old CRT... instead, love was found at a bridge on the way back to Nichinan...

There it is. Dismal weather, but a great view.

Nichinan

Back to the usual loitering on the pedestrian crossing in front of the temple!...

I love that, since the pedestrian crossing is unmanned with no gates, you instead get a timetable to review. Should you cross? Check your watch. Fortunately the DMU drivers love the horn.

Back to Miyazaki

After a few good nights, it was time to return home, but a surprise for lunch was in-store! Before this though, we stopped at a few spots I'd determined thanks to google maps.

Based on my calculations, the train was around 5 minutes late when it chose to pass... and we nearly left! Next up was a stuffed-and-mounted SL at the baseball park near the airport.

And a final snap of the Umisachi Yamasachi as it was heading south.

But then, the surprise! Curry lunch at a train-themed cafe in north Miyazaki city called Railway Cafe Rokuro (鉄道喫茶 ろくろ).

Delicious food with a great display of authentic memorabilia. The cafe was run by an elderly couple and the husband was an ex-driver. A freight train driver came in for lunch at the same time and told me all about how freight only comes down to Nobeoka. Heh.

From there I was off to Sendai (Satsuma-Sendai, not Tohoku-Sendai) for a long-winded trip back to Shin-Osaka as the apartment was busy with other guests.