Actually, our trip yesterday was supposed to take us to the seaside resort of Beppu and to Kumamoto, but the region got hit by a massive earthquake a few weeks ago, which badly damaged Kumamoto Castle and the infrastructure too.

As a backup, we went to Shimabara-jō Castle today instead. We were welcomed there by folklore dancers and checked out the museum inside the castle.

After that, we headed into the town of Shimabara. Between 1990 and 1995, the nearby Unzen volcano erupted. Pyroclastic flows ended up pouring over the town and burying the houses under a thick layer of ash. The locals managed to evacuate in time, but it was too late for 43 scientists and reporters, as well as for the houses. Today, the Unzen Disaster Museum is here, where you can see a few former houses that look like they’ve sunk into the ground right up to the roof.

We took the cable car up to a viewing platform afterwards, where you can still see Mount Unzen steaming away. They sell eggs here too, though unlike at Ōwakudani, they’re just steam-cooked, so they’ve got white shells instead of black ones.