After check out, we headed to Yufuin station, in the rain.
From here we go towards Oita station by train. Before getting on the local train to Oita station, we take a picture of the express Yufuin-no-morigo.

Because it was the tourist express, after arriving at Yufuin station a lot of tourists were getting off.

Beginning with Yufuin-no-morigou there is a lot of tourist express trains in service, and would recommend riding them. There are a lot of excellently designed trains.

Here, instead of heading towards straight to Hakata from Yufuin, there was a reason we headed towards Oita.
The architectural display room by Isozaki Arata that created Yufuin station is in Oita city, and we wanted to go visit this place.

From Yufuin station to Oita station is an hour by train. Collective rain continued, and a lot of trains had to move while covered in fog.

Isozaki Arata’s architectural display room is in the center of Oita city, located in the art plaza. Based on the creation of the prefectural liverary created by Isozaki in 1996, was newly moved, and recreated into the “Art Plaxa” for citizens to communicate cultural information. The 1st and 2nd floor have a citizen’s gallery compounded, and on the 3rd floor is Isozaki’s architectural work and replicates and materials from all over the world and is established permanently.

At the moment “The Isozaki Arata Built and Unbuilt expedition” is being held, introducing the different creations needed for participating in buildings and competitions, and the work (unbuilt) that was never built in real life.

The building with the concrete cube being the unique opening part.

In reality, we wanted to observe more of Isozaki’s works in Oita and other centers, however due to the worsening weather we decided to head towards Fukuoka.

From Oita we get on the express sonic-gou. The unique face was impressive.

From Oita to Hakata is about 2 hours. Because getting on the train, we bought the Oita specialty ekiben “Jyakomeshi” (680 yen) before boarding.

After arriving at Hakata, because we still had a little bit of time before our plane to Tokyo, we decided to go around Nakasu.

Because the sun had partly set, there were people beginning to enter the food stands of Fukuoka’s specialties. We wanted to take pictures of the prosperous atmosphere however due to our flight schedule we decided not to.

1 night and 2 days, was a hard going schedule to fully enjoy Fukuoka, Yufuin, and Oita, it was a very popular camp; being able to enjoy the relaxing time at Murata, and refresh myself. Next time I would like to fully enjoy Yufuin by staying overnight there.

■Related Post
*Fukuoka/Yufuin/Oita Travel Guide Part1
*Fukuoka/Yufuin/Oita Travel Guide Part2