Sometimes, I took a train south from Tenjin Station late at night. An express that whipped past my stop in that smoothly efficient way that Japanese Trains have. I’d press my forehead against the cool glass as I watched the buildings whip by. I fell asleep more than a few times, waking up refreshed, and maybe a few kilometers further than I intended.
It was some of the most fun I’ve had in my entire life.
If you happen to ride the express all the way to the end of the line as I did, you’ll find one of Japan’s hidden gems: the sleepy coal mining town of Omuta and its sister, right across the river in Kumamoto Prefecture, Arao.
Omuta hasn’t been a coal town in years, but they’re still proud of their heritage in that gentle but stalwart way. They have tours of the old coal mines; coal towers and old train carts still stand as a silent witness of a time gone by. These people have lived here for more generations than one can count.
It’s a beautiful town, marrying the natural beauty of Japan with that small town feeling that you can’t find anywhere else, filled with people who are happy to share it with you.
‘This is us,’ they say. ‘This is who we were and who we are. Please come and see.’
The coal is dried up in Arao too, but not before that little village grew up into a sleepy Omuta suburb, like that uncle who always comes to family reunions with a dreamy look in his eyes and stories of places far away and long ago. You know the one.
The people there are lovely, kind. When I went to visit for a weekend, I stayed with some friends of my family that I first met a decade ago. We had lunch at the Omuta garden hotel and one of the servers, a woman with a mother’s smile and regal streaks of grew in her hair, asked where I was from. We talked. She complemented my Japanese.
They love new people in Arao and Omuta, they love to show people their town, proud of the buildings that their families have built and owned and worked in for decades. I only wish I could have stayed longer.
Sometimes you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Fukuoka is lovely, and there are hundreds of streets and shops to explore, no doubt. But don’t forget that the rest of the country out there is just as beautiful. Do what I did: fall asleep on a train, switch lines, get lost, make friends.
And no matter what, keep going until you find a place where the train tracks end.
