The next day we had to be up early and check out of our Airbnb. So far this had been the best one so far. I would certainly suggest it to anyone heading to Kyoto with a few people (or a family). We made it to the train station and caught our first train down south. We were heading to a town called Kushimoto. It is town that is the furthest south on the main island of Japan. It is at the bottom of the central peninsula of the island. It was about 5 hours of train travel and 3 trains. We decided to make a stop at the hotel we were staying at the following night to drop most of our luggage so we wouldn’t have to deal with it on our one night further south. This was a great plan and worked out very well for us. Once we got down south it was raining a little, and we had to walk almost 2km up a hill to our hotel/resort. We got checked in and found a very nice room for us. “B” had found this place and it was a resort and included a fancy dinner and breakfast buffet. So, we headed to dinner, and it ended up being a very fancy 5 (maybe 6) course Japanese dinner for “B” and I, and the girls had a very nice spread as well designed for the girls. “A” was coming down with a cold so she wasn’t really into it too much and she felt bad about that since she thought the food looked great. The food was really good. We had sashimi, tempura, soup, pickled veggies, sliced pork, and more, and then there was a dessert sampler that was tasty as well. It was delicious. Then we went back up to our room, and got ready for our “naked soaking time”. Yes, this resort had soaking areas for men and women. So, we convinced the girls to give it a try, and we all put on our robs and headed down to the soaking tubs. I headed into the men’s room and got naked. In the past this would have bothered me a lot. I had issues with nakedness, but not anymore. I was surrounded by other naked men and had no issue with it. So, what! I really don’t care who sees me naked now. I went into the first area and got clean, and then headed outside to the soaking area there. I sat there for a while, it even started raining. I eventually decided I was done. I was there for about 15-20 minutes outside, and on my way back in I saw a sign that said one should limit themselves to no more than 7-10 minutes outside. Oh well. I did start to feel a little lightheaded by the time I got out. Then it was back up to the room, and the girls showed up a bit later. They said it was weird, but not as bad as they thought it was going to be.
Our last full day in Japan had finally come. We had decided to head to a waterfall called Nachi Falls. There was also a big shrine in the area as well. We got up early at the resort and had a great buffet breakfast. There was loads of great food – fish, breads, rice, veggies, and more. We had to take a train to the town of Nachi and then a bus up to the waterfall area. It was raining, but we were ready for it. Then we went to the falls. It was amazing to see. We then started to walk up to the shrine and we saw the 3 story pagoda, and then the fog rolled in. So we kept walking and hoped the fog would leave but it never did. So, we were very happy that we got to see the waterfall before fog got there. We then got some ice cream at the top of the mountain. The owners were very rude to us, and I think they overcharged us for the ice cream. They wouldn’t let us have spoon since the ice cream was in cones (we wanted to share with each other). They yelled at me when I went to take a pair of cheap chopsticks they had sitting in a cup for patrons on a table. Saying they weren’t for me. And the ice cream I got “brown sugar” wasn’t even that good (little to no taste). It was a big disappointment for me at least. The girls seemed to like theirs, but the people put us into a bit of a sour mood. After a full day of walking around there we caught a bus down the mountain and caught a train to our hotel by the Osaka Hotel (4+ hours). We had a room on the 41st floor, and the views were amazing. The next morning we had breakfast on the 54th floor and the views were even better there. The breakfast buffet was awesome. I can strongly suggest the Stargate hotel in Osaka as a fine place to stay, and it was pretty cheap. IT was based on a per person rate for us, and even with breakfast it was a fair price.
Overall Japan was a lot of fun. I got to drive there. We ate some great food. We saw some amazing things. I am glad we went. I am glad that the girls got to experience Japan. I can see them going back someday (and me too possibly). Here are a few apps that I would strongly encourage anyone to get when going to Japan: JapanOfficialTravelApp – This was great for trains, buses, subway transportation. It gave schedules and times or arrival and departure. It was a must have while traveling around Japan. Google maps did OK, most of the time, but not always. The other app I used was Japan Wi-Fi auto-connect. It helped some with connecting to free local wi-fi options. It didn’t always work, and sometimes didn’t find ones that were available, but I would say it worked more often than it didn’t work.