Every Place in the Catalogue
1,610 spots
Hirado Dutch Trading Post (Hirado Oranda Shokan)
Little knownBefore Dejima, the Dutch East India Company maintained its Japan headquarters in Hirado from 1609 to 1641. The reconstru…
Fukue Island Beaches
Little knownFukue Island, the largest of the Goto Islands, has 20+ named beaches with water clarity and sand quality that rival Okin…
Huis Ten Bosch
Little knownHuis Ten Bosch is a 152-hectare recreation of a Dutch town, built in 1992 at a cost of ¥225 billion as a resort destinat…
Hirado Xavier Memorial Church & Temple Next Door
Little knownHirado Xavier Memorial Church (1931) stands on the exact spot where Francis Xavier preached in 1550 during his first mis…
Iki Island
Little knownIki Island (138 km²) in the Genkai Sea produces 50% of Japan's barley shochu (mugi-jochu) — the island's volcanic soil a…
Hasami Porcelain
Little knownHasami Town, adjacent to Arita but in Nagasaki Prefecture, has produced porcelain for 400 years using the same clay sour…
Sasebo Burger
Little knownSasebo, home to a major US naval base since 1945, is where American-style hamburgers entered Japanese food culture. In t…
Hirado Castle
Little knownHirado Castle occupies a forested peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Hirado Strait, commanding views of both the…
Kujukushima (99 Islands)
Little knownKujukushima ('99 islands,' though actually 208) is a scattering of forested islets across Omura Bay north of Sasebo — a…
Sefuri-san Mountain
Little knownSefurisan (1,077m), on the border between Saga and Fukuoka prefectures, is the highest peak in northern Kyushu and carri…
Hikiyama Exhibition Hall
Little knownThe Hikiyama Exhibition Hall stores all 14 Karatsu Kunchi festival floats in climate-controlled cases when not in use du…
Mifuneyama Autumn Maple Forest Walk
Little knownThe maple forest on the slopes below Mifuneyama's granite cliff face contains 4,000 Japanese maple trees (momiji) that t…
Kiyomizu Shrine
Little knownKiyomizu-jinja in Saga City hosts the Saga Lantern Festival (Saga-no-Nishi) in mid-August — a tradition where paper lant…
Arita Porcelain Fair
Little knownThe Arita Ceramic Fair, held every year from April 29 to May 5 (Golden Week), is the largest porcelain sale event in Jap…
Saga Hot Air Balloon Museum
Little knownThe Saga Balloon Festival Museum documents the 45-year history of the international event and contains the most comprehe…
Karatsu Bay Sunset Fishing
Little knownFrom June to October, the fishing boats of Karatsu Bay go out at sunset using bright lights to attract squid to the surf…
Ogi-Juku Post Town
Little knownOgi was a major rest stop on the Nagasaki Kaido highway — the road connecting Nagasaki to Edo used by Dutch traders maki…
Ureshino Onsen Ryokan Night Walk
Little knownUreshino's 30 ryokan are concentrated within 800 meters of riverside corridor — close enough that walking the onsen town…
Nijinomatsubara Seaside Cycling
Little knownThe Niji-no-Matsubara pine grove fronts a 5km bicycle lane alongside the beach, rated by Cycling magazine as one of Japa…
Saga Riverine Plain
Little knownThe Saga Plain, particularly the rice paddy areas south and west of Saga City, hosts one of the largest concentrations o…
Illustration — not a photographNabeshima Domain Ceramics Research Center
Little knownWalk into the Saga Ceramics Research Center on a Thursday morning and you might find three white-haired men bent over a…
Hiratani Valley
Little knownHiratani Valley, in the mountains between Ureshino and Nagasaki, follows the upper Hiratani River through a narrow gorge…
Genkainada Sea Route
Little knownIki Island, accessible by ferry from Karatsu or Hakata, is a 138-square-km island in the Genkai Sea with exceptional arc…
Kase River Firefly Festival
Little knownThe Kase River and its tributaries in the southern Saga mountains host one of Kyushu's most concentrated firefly populat…
Estimated from distance to the nearest airport or shinkansen station. Confirm actual journey times before you travel.