Just where praytell has Daniel gone this time?!? Welcome to the latest installment of my Internet journal! My recent travels took me for a five day journey around Kyuushuu Island in south-western Japan. The stories contained in the Kyuushuu Chronicles will be much less compendious than those found on my EuroTour 2000 pages, namely because a) the EuroTour pages turned out to a virtual novel! and b) I'm currently in the middle of studying for my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification course and I don't have much extra time to sit down and compose. But I did take a couple of pictures while I was in Kyuushuu and I thought I would share them with you now. So, let's begin!

24 March 2000, Friday As stated above I am currently in the process of going through an English teaching certification process in order to educate my brain as well as to improve my post-Japan job prospects when I begin job hunting at the end of the month. As part of this certification process, I have a series of books to read in addition to 30 essays I need to write on their content, so I figured the best way to get these books read was to go some place far far away from my internet and satellite TV equiped apartment. I had wanted to go to Kyuushuu ever since moving to Japan but I never really had the time or the money, but as coincidence would have it the Japanese school year ends on/around March 23rd (and the new school year begins on/arounnd April 7th) and since spring vacation was just around the corner, I figured now would be as good a time as any to head out of Dodge and see something new in Japan. Also, as luck would have it, my school hadn't spent all their allotted annual budget so they offered to give me $500 to go on the trip and I could take "byoh-kyuu" or "business work vacation leave" and would hence not be required to take paid vacation leave - i.e., my school would send me on a free trip! Now, I know a good thing when I see it! So I took their cash and headed out on the next ferry - as pictured above.

The reasons for taking the ferry instead of the train or a plane were many: it's cheaper, it's cheaper, and it's cheaper. Taking the Bullet Train would have bled me dry rountrip from Waki-machi to Kyuushuu and an airplane would have also been a bit pricy. Besides, since I had all these books to read, I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to focus on my required reading. And since the ferry trip would be 15 hours long, what better place to sit and get some reading done than in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Also, since the cost of the round trip transport from Tokushima to Kyuushuu Island was only 13,000 yen ($125) it was an *absolute* steal in Japanese terms. On the image here you can see the route taken by the ferry to Kyuushuu. The ferry departed Tokushima City at 4 p.m. on Friday and arrived in Kitakyuushuu City ("North Nine Lands" City) at 7 a.m. the next morning. The return trip departed Kitakyuushuu City at 7 p.m. Tuesday the 28th and arrived in Tokushima around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and went not down south around Shikoku Island, but rather up north around the island and through the Seto Inland Sea between the main island of Japan - Honshuu - and Shikoku. The entire trip was very comfortable, the seas were stable, and I had a very nice time. Also, on my way to Kyuushuu I got my own little overnight bunkbed so I was feeling well pampered! And just where is Kyuushuu Island anways? Well, it's directly to the west of my island, Shikoku. The places I went to in Kyuushuu were Kitakyuushuu/Kokura Cities near Uwajima, Nagasaki, Sakurajima Volcano next to Kagoshima and Aso-zan volcano in the middle of the island.