Kyūshū (九州) is the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. The climate is slightly warmer and more tropical than Honshu, and the southern and eastern coasts are regularly battered by typhoons each year. The terrain is generally mountainous with very fertile valleys much like the rest of Japan, except for the wide plain area at the top of the island - the location of the largest cities of Fukuoka and Kitakyushu.

Regions

There are 7 prefectures on Kyushu, plus nearby Okinawa:

• Fukuoka - home of the cities of Fukuoka and Kitakyushu
• Saga - small and rustic, famous for pottery and pre-historic village ruins
• Nagasaki - best known for the eponymous city of Nagasaki, a hilly city with more than its fair share of history - major "foreigners port" during the closed-Japan period, and victim of the 2nd US atomic weapon attack during World War II
• Oita - rural area well known for abundant onsen hot springs, especially Beppu, the Las Vegas of Japan
• Kumamoto - center of the isle of Kyushu, location of the Aso caldera, largest in the world, and the beautiful Amakusa chain of islands
• Miyazaki - the surfers' destination of Japan - big beaches, big waves
• Kagoshima - dominated by the Sakurajima volcano, hot enough to grow sugarcane - get buried on hot-sand beaches, or visit the two famous islands of Yakushima and Tanegashima

The islands of Okinawa, leading southwest of Japan to Taiwan, are sometimes considered a part of Kyushu, although administratively they form a separate prefecture and the culture has little in common.

Cities

• Fukuoka
• Kitakyushu - not just an industrial city, much more than this
• Nagasaki
• Sasebo
• Kumamoto

Other destinations

Talk

Get in

Get around

The Kyushu Rail Pass offers unlimited travel on JR Kyushu's lines, including the Kyushu Shinkansen but not the San'yo Shinkansen to Hakata. As of 2005, the pass costs ¥16,000 for five days; you'll have to travel quite a lot to make this pay off and most visitors, especially those not flying in directly to Kyushu, will find the ordinary Japan Rail Pass a better deal.

Eat

Drink

Stay safe