Higashimatsuura-gun (東松浦郡)
Hamatama (浜玉町)
Immediately north of Karatsu, on the border with Fukuoka-ken, Hamatama is as much a suburb as Karatsu can muster. Its biggest claim to fame is the northern half of Niji-no-matsubara and the accompanying beach (and love hotels). The beach here is actually nicer and less crowded than the Karatsu half, and fairly easily accessible from the Hamasaki train station. Still, expect a good crowd in the hot summer months. Once a year, this area is also famous for the Hamatama Gion festival.
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Nanayama (七山村)
Perched in the mountains high above Karatsu to the northwest along Route 323, Nanayama is best known for the spectacular Kannon Waterfall which runs through town. This is an excellent place for hiking, picnicking and cooling off in the summer. Far less crowded than the nearby beaches in Karatsu and Hamatama, the many pools in the quieter parts of the river’s course simply beg a refreshing dip. At the end of August, this is the sight of the annual Nanayama Waterfall Climb (kokusai taki no keiryuu, 国際滝の渓流), wherein teams of foreigners from all over compete in a race to the top. The jarheads from Sasebo always win, but the whole day is a lot of fun, both for spectators and competitors.
Further up the same road and well-marked in English, the Hashibara Marshland is pretty and serene, if you happen to like swamps. Wildlife abounds; one of our sources even claims he saw monkeys near here while driving back from Saga one night. Of course, it was pretty late. During the summer, it’s substantially cooler here than down in town.
Entertainment options are predominantly outdoor-oriented, but there are two onsens here as well, if the weather disagrees: the Nanayama Onsen and the Mamushi Onsen. Top the night off with a pint at Funny Nanayama. A huge record collection (mostly jazz and rock ‘n’ roll) and Bass Pale Ale on tap make this place one of the hidden treasures of Saga-ken. The owner speaks decent English and will offer an English menu on request. The drinks are cheap, and the atmosphere is classic British Pub House. Open from noon to midnight every day except Thursday.
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Kyuragi (厳木町)
The first thing you’re bound to notice about Kyuragi is the huge statue of Sayohime that lurks over Route 203, the road dissecting the town. Sayohime was a semi-legendary princess in the area about 1400 years ago. To make a long story short, the emperor made her lover go to Korea to fight, and the poor girl got so lonely she turned into a rock. You can read the whole story on a sign on top of Kagami-yama in Karatsu. The statue, holding the scarf she waved to her departing prince, allegedly revolves once an hour, although informed sources maintain that she actually trucks along a little faster than that.
Among Kyushu’s lesser attractions, the intrepid visitor may be interested to find a bakery of some repute and the largest temple on Kyushu. The bakery, called Garagubo, is the stuff of legend. People come from all over to get their fill of hand-made, stone-oven-baked breads and other yummies. Until recently, though, the precise location was a deep mystery. Now, it’s located conveniently on Route 203. Open Friday to Sunday only. The large, modern Shishiosan Myohouji Temple is back from this street on the left, in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Once you see it from the street (you really can’t miss it), just follow your nose until you get there. The helpful, friendly staff is quite foreigner-friendly and anxious to practice whatever English they know. For the more adventurous, there is also an “onsen” in town.
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Ouchi (相知町)
The most compelling reason to visit Ouchi is the lovely Mikaeri Waterfall (見返りの滝) and the surrounding park. The waterfall is beautiful any time of year, but the park reaches a sparkling climax when the 35,000-plus hydrangea (ajisai) explode into a wash of pink and blue in late June and early July. There is an annual festival in honor of the blossoms around this time. During the hot summer months, the pools below the waterfall make an attractive spot for cooling off. The signs say you’re not allowed to swim, but after the sun goes down, no one is likely to make much of a fuss. The nearby dam, which allows the waterfall to exist, also makes for attractive hiking. Follow the signs from Route 203.
Ouchi’s other main attraction is the collection of Stone Buddhas at Udono (udono sekibutsu, 鵜殿の石仏). During the Heian Era (circa 800 AD) the famous monk Kukai made a visit to China. On his way home to Kyoto, he stopped off at Ouchi to see the sights, and carved a couple of the Buddha images here. He went on to invent the kana syllabary, found the Shingon sect of Buddhism, and receive posthumous accolades as the father of Japanese culture, but most local scholars agree that his career peaked during the stay at Udono. Now there are hundreds of Buddhas scattered around this park. Even if you don’t care about the religious/historic significance of the place, the grounds make a great place to get away and go for a walk in total isolation.
Ouchi also two onsens. One of the best in the area is Sari Onsen. Take the road toward the stone Buddhas, and keep going for another couple hundred meters, or take the train to Sari Eki on the Imari train line. Just recently, the eponymous Ouchi Onsen opened, offering a bathing alternative for the same price. Our sources say it’s fine, but a little sterile.
Ouchi’s annual meager-but-spirited Kunchi festival takes place October 19 – 20.
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Kitahata (北波多村)
Kitahata’s main claim to fame (and it’s best kept secret) is that Karatsu-yaki actually originated here. In the early 1600’s, proto-hegemon Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea with mixed success. When his forces returned, licking their wounds and trumpeting their successes, they carried a contingent of Korean pottery masters with them. Some of the potters were settled at the foot of Mt. Kishidake in Kitahata, and the first-ever Karatsu-yaki kiln stands there to this day. It’s not much to see, unless you’re a serious aficionado, but there are still seven active kilns in town, making this tiny village the second largest producer of Karatsu pottery in the area (after the big city itself).
The ruins of Kishidake Castle (kishidake jo, 岸岳城) are also worth a look, if only for the excellent hiking surrounding it. The castle, the headquarters of the once-powerful Hata family, was sacked by Hideyoshi in response to the Hata’s opposition of the Korean campaign. There’s not much there now, but the few remaining walls and the deep overgrowth give the area an eerie feel. A hiking trail connects the castle with Hoan Temple (hoan ji, 保安時). The temple itself is nothing special, but the grounds house thousand of Buddha images, including a very rare 30-foot-long sleeping Buddha carved into the side of a cliff.
Possibly in return for Karatsu-yaki originating in Kitahata, the village’s only onsen is named Karatsu Onsen.
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Hizen (肥前町)
Hizen is located on the northwestern shores of Saga prefecture. There are quite a few attractions in this seaside town, with the most notable being an island so small it doesn’t even appear on our map, Irohajima Island. Irohajima is a great place for ocean swimming and also is home to Peter Pan’s Magical Island of Flowers and Adventure. Off Route 204 towards Kitahata, Green Hill and Peony Park is a pleasant place for a stroll. From Hizen’s Hoshika Port, you can catch an (hourly) ferry to Takashima Island (actually part of Nagasaki-ken), where you will find an unlikely theme park dedicated to Mongolian culture (mongoru mura, モンゴル村). Hearty souls can spend the night in an authentic Mongolian ger, or hut, for about what one might pay at a love hotel. If these attractions don’t interest you, then the scenery itself might. This area offers some beautiful terraced rice paddies with a backdrop of islands scattered across the horizon great for taking a Sunday drive to.
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Genkai (玄海町)
The first thing most people think of when they think of Genkai is the nuclear power plant located in town. And with good reason: The facility at Genkai is capable of providing enough energy to fuel most of Kyushu’s energy needs. You can learn all about it at the nearby Energy Park. One side of the museum is dedicated to teaching about nuclear power (”Our friend the atom…”), and the other has a bunch of exhibits about Kyushu culture. It is clearly destined to be a major attraction for school field trips. There are also picnic facilities, tennis courts and greenhouses heated with reused cooling water from the power plant. Genkai’s spectacular coastline is part of the Genkai Quasi-national Park, which extends all along the Higashimatsuura peninsula. There aren’t any facilities in the park area, but the land is protected from development by the prefectural government. One nice place for hiking is Mikima Park in the middle of nowhere, beside Route 204. There is also a small onsen in the welfare centre (fukushi senta, 福祉センター) by Mishima.
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Chinzei (鎮西町)
Just north of Genkai, Chinzei is home to the nationally famous Nagoya Castle Ruins. Constructed in 1591, the site now offers splendid views of the area and ocean. It also has a fairly modern museum that offers a headset guide service in English. If seeing a museum doesn’t interest you, Chinzei offers turquoise blue waters worth seeing for a nice break from the bland rice paddies of rural Saga or the barren concrete of the capital. At the furthest end of the peninsula, you can find the Hadomisaki Underwater Observatory and Park as a lovely place to visit when the weather is good. Across the street from the park, the ken research center is frequently used for ALT conferences.
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Yobuko (呼子町)
If you are Japanese, the very mention of this town instantly conjures one thought in your mind: squid. And no matter who you are, there are plenty of places in this town to satisfy your craving for the “squishy fish.” Tour groups come from all over the place to eat here and buy squid souvenirs. Being heathen outsiders, we must confess that we can’t really taste any difference between real Yobuko squid and the stuff that we get at the grocery store when we go squid shopping. But then again, what do we know.
Yobuko’s next biggest claim to fame is the Yobuku Daibashi (呼子大橋, literally “big bridge”), which connects Kabushima Island to the mainland. It’s big. It’s a bridge. We guess it’s pretty. Cars drive across it. The people in Yobuko are very proud of it. We think that’s nice. Crossing the bridge, once might find yet another statue of the irrepressible Sayohime at the top of a big hill. Supposedly, the distraught princess came out here after her beloved took off. The statue is pretty ugly, and the climb to the top is tough, but no serious Sayohime fan should miss it. This would be an ideal place to take a date on a picnic if the grass had been cut in recent memory. At Kaze no Mieru Hill Park, an unlikely windmill turns very slowly, producing just one kilowatt of electricity, and keeping the local omiyage industry afloat. The place affords a nice a view of the bay and bridge and frequented at night by young couples in search of a little privacy.
Many Karatsu-area locals come to Yobuko for the daily fish market. If you’re looking for seriously fresh seafood and garden produce, this is probably the place to get it. There is also a huge tug-of-war contest that takes places in early June that attracts a large crowd.
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Imari (伊万里市)
At just about 60,000 souls, Imari has the third largest population of any town in Saga-ken, but you wouldn’t believe it from driving through. The city center itself is fairly small (pop. 25,000), but the city limits sprawl all the way from the Karatsu border from the north, to Nagasaki-ken in the south. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Imari made a name for itself in the west as the port of departure for world-renowned Arita porcelain. The seaport is still there, but it’s considerably quieter than it used to be.