Photo: ja:User:Sanjo / CC BY-SA 3.0Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
Udo Jingu, the shrine in a sea cave
A vermilion main hall built inside a sea cave at the tip of Cape Udo, with the Pacific breaking on the rocks below. From the terrace you throw clay luck stones at a turtle-shaped rock, men with the left hand and women with the right. Gates 06:00–18:00, grounds free. The road to the two near car parks has collapsed, so allow about 20 minutes on foot from the tourist car park.
14 km north: taxi about 20 min, about ¥5,200 each way (our estimate), then about 20 min on foot from the tourist car park. Miyazaki Kotsu bus from Aburatsu about 25 min, ¥740 (08:10, 10:40, 12:40 weekdays only, 15:05; back 11:07, 12:37, 14:57, 16:47 weekdays only)Full guide: Udo JinguObi castle town
The Ito lords ruled from Obi for 280 years, and the town has been a preserved district since 1977: the rebuilt Otemon gate, mossy stone walls, a cedar grove where the keep stood, and samurai lanes. The grounds are free. Six old houses and museums, 09:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30, closed 29–31 December), cost ¥300 each or ¥800 together; the food-walk ticket at ¥1,600 adds five vouchers for local snacks.
12 km inland: taxi about ¥4,500 each way (our estimate). Or JR Aburatsu → Obi at 08:53 or 10:59, 9 min, ¥270, then 15 min on footFull guide: Obi castle townThe moai of Sun Messe Nichinan
Seven full-size moai stand on a lawn above the Pacific, made with the permission of the Rapa Nui elders after a Japanese team re-erected the fallen moai of Ahu Tongariki in the 1990s. 09:30–17:00, last entry 16:30; adult ¥1,000. Closed on Wednesdays except public holidays, and on a few other days on its calendar.
17 km north, about 4 km past Udo Jingu: taxi about ¥6,200 each way (our estimate)Full guide: Sun Messe NichinanThe Horikawa Canal and its bridges
The Obi domain dug this canal in 1683–86 to float its cedar to the port. A stone arch of 1903, Horikawa Bridge, still crosses it, and the roofed Yumemi Bridge of Obi cedar, built without nails in 2007, stands upstream. The 1922 brick warehouse beside it, Aburatsu Akarenga-kan, is free to look round.
2.4 km from the quay: taxi about ¥1,200 (our estimate); 5 min on foot from the Tourist CenterGoogle MapsKatsuo aburi-ju
Nichinan’s own dish: line-caught bonito marinated two ways, seared at your table over a small charcoal brazier and eaten on rice from a lacquer box. Nine restaurants serve it to a shared standard, ¥1,700 a box; in the low-catch season, winter above all, it may not be served. Bibinya, facing the fishing co-op, opens 11:00–15:00 and closes on Mondays, and on Monday and Tuesday at the end of the month (so on Tuesday 30 March 2027, and on 23 March 2027 after the Monday holiday).
Bibinya in the fishing port: taxi about ¥1,200 from the quay (our estimate), 15 min on foot from JR AburatsuGoogle MapsObi-ten and the food-walk ticket
Obi-ten is the town’s fried fish cake, made with tofu, brown sugar and miso, so it tastes faintly sweet. Obiten Kura by the Otemon gate fries it in front of you and serves set meals. Obiten Kura is open 09:00–17:00 (last order 16:00). The Ayumi-chan food-walk ticket, ¥1,000 or ¥1,600 with the houses, swaps five vouchers for obi-ten, thick sweet omelette and other snacks along the lanes.
In the Obi castle town: taxi about ¥4,500 each way (our estimate) or JR to ObiGoogle MapsAburatsu Station in Carp red
Nichinan has hosted the Hiroshima Carp baseball team’s camp at Tenpuku Stadium since 1963, and the town painted its station in the team’s red. It is a short stop on the way to the canal or the train to Obi: the Aburatsu shopping street and the 1922 brick warehouse are a few minutes away on foot.
3.4 km from the quay: taxi about ¥1,600 (our estimate), or 400 m from the Tourist CenterGoogle MapsChicken nanban
Miyazaki’s own fried chicken: battered, dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartare sauce. Horikawa Restaurant Tomura, a few minutes from the canal, serves a chicken nanban set for ¥1,350 and Miyazaki wagyu at lunch, 11:00–14:00. It closes on Tuesdays, which rules out most 2027 calls; on those days have lunch in Obi instead.
Horikawa Restaurant Tomura, by the canal: taxi about ¥1,300 from the quay (our estimate)Google MapsAoshima and the Devil’s Washboard
A small island of subtropical trees joined to the shore by a causeway, with a shrine in the middle and flat rock ridges, the “Devil’s Washboard”, running out into the sea around it. The coastal train from Aburatsu takes about 55 minutes and runs rarely: it fits a ship in by about 08:00, or by 10:00 on a call that sails at 17:00 or later. The 08:53 out and the 12:32 back give about 2 h 50 min on the island.
JR Aburatsu 08:53 → Aoshima 09:44, back 12:32 → 13:23 (or 10:59 → 11:50, back 14:00 → 15:10); ¥870 each way. By taxi 47 km, about ¥16,900 each way (our estimate)Google MapsThe wild horses of Cape Toi
Misaki horses, a native breed, graze freely on the grassy headland of Cape Toi above the Pacific. It is the long drive of this port and only works by taxi or a ship’s tour on a call of seven hours or more. Entry and parking charges on the cape are not confirmed in our sources; ask the driver.
39 km south in Kushima: taxi about 45–60 min, about ¥13,900 each way (our estimate). No public transport that fits a callGoogle Maps
