Ultimately Hitoyoshi wasn't a bad place overall, boring yes and as one would say it "rustic". Would it be somewhere that I would seek out given the chance and choice on choosing it over somewhere else? Probably not. It was a okay place with an okay ryokan. One's enjoyment is subjective and as such I will not force myself to lie and say I love the town because that would not be the truth. Did I hate the place? No. Was I miserable there? Kinda but it wasn't because the place but due to other factors.So the town was fine, the ryokan was fine, the food was fine, the staff was actually pretty nice. And it is okay to be super picky about food, if very wasteful. Overall it was okay just a tad boring.
Now onto the update with our adventure so far. Following our night at the Hitoyoshi Ryokan and a dinner of some of the local delicacies (including horse meat), we came to learn that the rails leading out of the town was completely blocked off by a rockslide that occurred while we were sleeping. All trains going in and out of the town were cancelled as result. The guys went to the station to try and figure out if there was an alternative on getting out of the city.
Many of the other visitors in the town were of like mind and a queue had built up at the station. Many were changing tickets and rebooking for later trains in hopes that the blockage would be cleared by then. With our schedule, we did not have the option for that and instead opted to find out if there was a bus route of the city. Which to our relief there was, while it was not covered by our rail passes it was still better than nothing.
With the figured out we returned and reassembled at the ryokan to check out. the staff there was kind enough to drive all of us and our luggage to the bus terminal. We caught our bus, got to the bullet train and then we were off to Hakata Station in Fukuoka.The new lodging we are in was one I had searched for during the planning phase when we were running out of options that provided enough beds, it is not one I voted for but it suited to our needs. It is...well, it's okay? It's definitely not as nice as the last two airbnbs the gang stayed out, and its not even as nice as the one I stayed at with my siblings. But it has enough rooms with enough beds, the place is a bit small for 7 and the bath isn't the cleanest but it'll work for a few nights.
Since we arrived after 4pm we had the time but didn't really have anythings to do. So we settled into the apartment and milled about for a bit before we headed out to dinner. Leaving the veggies eaters behind, the remaining members decided to go to the ramen place we had found on our last trip by chance. That would be Ichiran Ramen, aka Japan's fastfood ramen franchise that caters to the businessman who has no time for conversation. Now if you were keeping track of my journal entries, you would know that I had already eaten at one of the franchise's locations with my siblings in Shibuya. At the time it tasted alright but it wasn't as good as I remember. I chalked it up as me being really sick at the time and that my rosey nostalgia was making me feel like it was better than it was. Well the latter reason was wrong, it is as good as I remembered. So perhaps its a location thing? Cuz the Fukuoka one (aka the very first one I ever tried) still tasted as good as I remembered and is as satisfying as I remembered.
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