宮崎県 · Kyushu Region

Miyazaki Hidden Gems

Miyazaki records more sunshine hours than almost anywhere in Japan and its coast is lined with palms, which made it the national honeymoon destination in the 1960s and 70s before cheap flights to Hawaii took that away — the resort infrastructure from that period is still visible along the Nichinan road. The other Miyazaki is inland and much older. Takachiho, in the northern mountains, is where the sun goddess is said to have hidden in a cave, and the village has performed the yokagura dances retelling that story through winter nights for centuries; the gorge below it is a column-jointed lava canyon that you row through in a rented boat. On the coast, Udo Shrine is built into a cave in a sea cliff and Aoshima is ringed by a wave-cut rock shelf that locals call the devil's washboard. Surf breaks run most of the coastline, and Miyazaki has produced a disproportionate number of Japan's competitive surfers because of it.

3 spots

Climate & Best Season

Warm, sunny and typhoon-exposed, with the most sunshine hours in Japan and very mild winters. Good year-round.

Famous For (Food)

Chicken nanban
Miyazaki beef
Hiyajiru
Mango

Signature Sights

Takachiho Gorge
Udo Shrine
Aoshima's 'devil's washboard'
Nichinan coast

When to Go

Winters here are the mildest on Kyushu's main island, with January highs near 13°C and heavy sunshine, which makes January and February genuinely good months to visit. Summers are hot and humid above 32°C, and this coast takes typhoons directly from August into September — more of them than most of Japan. June brings sustained rain to the Takachiho uplands. Takachiho's all-night kagura performances run in village halls from November to February, while the shrine's nightly abridged version runs year-round. Mango season is May and June. Surf is biggest with autumn swells.

Getting Around

Flying is the sensible option: Miyazaki Airport is about an hour and three quarters from Haneda and ten minutes from the city by train. There is no shinkansen, and reaching Miyazaki overland from Hakata means either a limited express down the east coast of Kyushu of over five hours or the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kagoshima and a bus across. The JR Nichinan line runs south along the coast to Aoshima and Obi. Takachiho is the hard one — its railway closed years ago, so it is a bus of around three hours from Miyazaki or two from Kumamoto, or a drive. A car makes the Nichinan coast much better.

Local Food

Chicken nanban is fried chicken dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartare sauce, invented in Nobeoka in the 1950s and now eaten across the country. Miyazaki beef has won the national wagyu championship repeatedly. Hiyajiru is a cold soup of grilled fish, miso and cucumber poured over rice, a summer field-worker's meal. Jidori, charcoal-grilled free-range chicken served blackened in an iron pan, is the standard izakaya order. Mangoes ripen in May and June and the top-graded fruit is sold individually at prices that surprise people.