Hello~!
Any cat lovers here? If you are, then you are in the right place because today I want to share with you about my experience going to a cat island which is located in Fukuoka. Of all places, you might be wondering why Fukuoka but my reason is simple. It’s because the island is the nearest to the place that I’m living right now. So, in this blog I’m gonna tell you what I did there, how I actually got there and whether I recommend people to go there or not.
You guys probably know based on my previous post that I’m a big fan of public transport despite the fact that the public transport in Kyushu is not as efficient as in Tokyo. Thus, I’m gonna guide you how to go there by public transport! Yeay..? But honestly, if you can drive a car in Japan, I highly recommend you to ride a car when you are having a vacation in Kyushu because it saves a lot of time and the traffic is not as congested as in Tokyo.
Summarization of my blog
1. How I actually got there aka Ainoshima
2. Things that you can basically do there
3. Things that you can’t do!!
4. Activities that I did and what I like the most about the island
5. About the toilet
6. About Praying
7. Going back from the island
8. Conclusion, links and recommendation
Let's begin!
1. How I actually got there aka Ainoshima
I rode trains, bus and ship!
So my starting point is of course shin-iizuka station because I lived somewhere there but for all of you, I guess your starting point would be Hakata station. Hakata station is like a centre point in Kyushu because from there, you can literally go to anywhere in Japan that you wish to go.
So this is the summarization of the journey to Ainoshima. I’m gonna explain the detail later so stay tune!
Useful word:
駅->eki->station
Summarization of the journey
Hakata station(博多駅) -> Fukko-Daimae Station（福工大前駅）-> JR Fukko-Daimae station/Fukuoka Community Bus(JR福工大前駅/コミュニティバス) -> Ainoshima Ferry Terminal(相島渡船場/福岡コミュニティバス) -> Shingu(新宮)->Ainoshima(相島 aka cat Island)
Details of the journey
1. 1. Hakata station -> Fukko-Daimae Station
From Hakata station to Fukko-Daimae station, you will ride a train and it will take approximately 20 minutes if you ride a local train. If you ride a rapid train, you can arrive there in 15 minutes but yeah the travelling time from Hakata station to Fukko-Daimae station is somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.
2. 2. Fukko-Daimae Station -> JR Fukko-Daimae station/Fukuoka Community Bus
After you arrived at Fukko-Daimae station, you will take a community bus to Ainoshima Ferry Terminal. The bus stop is located in front of the train station and the waiting place is located just in front of the Family Mart and it just take literally one minute or lesser to from the train station by foot. So, if you had already arrived at Fukko-Daimae Station and you don’t know where the bus stop is located, just find where Family Mart is and you will automatically find the bus stop. Even though you had found the bus stop, you still need to be aware of which bus you should take because there are actually two bus stops side by side to each other in front of Fukko-Daimae station and not every bus will take you to Ainoshima Ferry Terminal. The price of the bus ticket is 100Yen so before you ride the bus, please prepare 100Yen beforehand to ease the process. The bus would usually be packed with people because it’s cheap and the bus only operates at designated time. During my time, I arrived at Fukko-Daimae station around 9.50am and I had to wait for 1 hour at the train station because the bus only available at 10.50am. If you are the kind of person who hates waiting, I would highly suggest you to check the Fukuoka Community Bus timetable before you start your journey because at the station, you can literally do nothing beside scrolling down your phone or eating. You might want to consider bringing books along because there would be many waiting times to reach the island!
The community bus
The bus stop
3. 3. JR Fukko-Daimae station/Fukuoka Community Bus -> Ainoshima Ferry Terminal
The bus trip will take about 10 minutes to Ainoshima Ferry Terminal. Usually there are many people that will ride the bus so the chance for you to get a sit is almost impossible unless you line up very quickly which means you have to be at the bus stop probably 20 minutes before the departure time. We decided to wait inside the train station because there are places to sit and as a result, we couldn’t sit in the bus because there were too many people riding the bus!
4. 4. Ainoshima Ferry Terminal-> Shingu
After you had arrived at the ferry terminal, the first thing that you need to do is to buy your ferry ticket. You will have to buy the ferry ticket at a kiosk inside a small office. You will know which office that I mentioned once you arrived there because there is only one office at Ainoshima Ferry Terminal. The kiosk is located at the end of the small office so you might want to be fast once you ride off from the bus because if not, you will have to wait for a very long time because the queue is super long and you might not want to miss the ferry. Oh and not to forget, the ferry is on time by the way! The kiosk only available in Japanese(I guess so!) so if you have a problem reading in Japanese, you might want to ask people behind you to help you buying the ticket. The ticket is only for one-way trip so if you want to go back on the same day, you have to buy other ticket at the island. There is no two-way/return ticket so you have to buy different ticket at two different places. One ticket is at the ferry terminal which is meant to go to the island and one more ticket is when you want to go back to the ferry terminal from the island. Shingu is the departure point of the ship so from the ferry terminal to Shingu you have to walk. Basically, Shingu is where the ship/ferry is.
5. 5. Shingu ->Ainoshima
The cost of the ferry ticket is 480Yen per adult and the travelling time from Shingu to Ainoshima is about 10 minutes. You can sit inside the ship or outside the ship. If you wish to sit inside the ship, I would recommend you to sit on the first floor but if you want to enjoy the sea breeze and enjoy the scenery first hand without the window glass, I would recommend you to sit on the second floor. When I first went to Ainoshima, I sat on the first floor but when I returned back to the ferry terminal, I stood up on the second floor. On the second floor there are still chairs available to sit but they are very limited so you are likely to stand if you choose to be on the second floor.
Shingu->Ainoshima ship ticket
So, at this point you might have arrived at Ainoshima…. Or no! Okay so this is the pamphlet that I found inside the ship. Basically it’s about attraction at Ainoshima, things that you can do and things that you can’t do.
Pamphlet 1
Pamphlet 2
2. Things that you can basically do there
1.Take pics with the cat
2. Take pics of the village
3. Walk around the village by foot
4. Rent a bicycle
5. If you like fishing, you probably can fish too! (I’m not sure about the procedure)
6. Eat local foods and ice cream! (I ate their Gelato if I’m not mistaken. I checked the ingredient and it seems okay for me to eat, so I ate ice cream too over there)
7. Pet the cat
8. Visit cat café
9. Buy local goods and souvenir
10. Visit local shrine
3. Things that you can’t do!!
- Don’t feed the cat
- Don’t give Actinidia(herbs?) to the cat
- Don’t leave your cat here
- Don’t touch the cat inappropriately and try to catch/move it
- Don’t throw your rubbish freely
4. Activities that I did and what I like the most about the island
So what I did was I just walked around the small village, watched people fishing which was surprisingly interesting, took pics of cats, eat ice-cream, bought souvenir and so on. The cats over there are also like Japanese population (Sorry for my brutal honesty but I’m just stating based on what I observed!) because there are more adult cats than the kittens. In fact, the kittens are almost not visible. We could find a kitten but not that really small kitten. Probably a little bit grown kitten. Most of the cats are fully grown and many of them are already old but there are many of them so.. yeah.
What I liked the most about the island is of course the scenery and also the cat but if I had to say which one attracted me the most, it would be the scenery. The scenery was beautiful, the water is clean as you can see the fishes swimming and the place is quiet aka not so many foreign tourists. You can literally relax your mind over there while enjoying the visibility of cats, the fresh air, the smell of the sea and the coldness of winter (I went there during winter!) which was just perfect for human body to handle.
So here are some of pics that I took and some pics that Fana(my friend) took over there.
Enjoying nap on a fishing net
Enjoying past time while observing people
I like the cat's reaction!
Walking around the village
Petting the cat
Me and the sea!
Pics taken while strolling at the village
Credit to Fana for the pic
At the dock
Credit to Fana for the pic
The cat wasn't too thrilled but I was thrilled to take pic together!
The ship
The village
Near the sea
The dock
Credit to Fana for the pic
Credit to Fana for the pic
Cat walk!
The dock
I see you!
Me again!
5. About the toilet
I would say the public toilet is not as clean as you might see at Hakata but I was expecting it actually since it’s a traditional toilet. If you are the kind of person who minds about the cleanliness of the toilet, I would highly suggest you to go to the toilet at your hotel or train station. Even though the train station’s toilet is cleaner, I doubt there is bidet available. Probably they have it but my mind said there is no bidet available because I remembered going to the toilet and not using it.
6. About Praying
I think there are many secluded places for you to pray here. You can pray somewhere beside the road, or behind the bushes. Just remember to have your wudhu before you go and bring your prayer mat. Well, you can actually take wudhu using the sea water but it is freaking cold so I would highly suggest you to have wudhu before you go to the island.
7. Going back from the island
You will buy the ticket at ticket station. The place to buy the ticket is not too far from the ship but it still requires you to walk so let’s say the ship departs at 1.00pm, you better have your ticket bought by 12.40pm. There is only one kiosk to buy the ticket if I’m not mistaken so you might want to buy the ticket early because if you buy the ticket late and if there is a long queue line, chances you are left behind by the ship is pretty high. The ship is available probably every three hours so if you missed the ship trip, you have to wait for another three hour or more. When you plan to go to this island, please plan your return back time in advance as well or else, you might find yourself stranded in an island for another three hours.
Ainoshima ->Shingu ship ticket
Pic of sea water taken from the ship
Going back to Shingu
Leaving Ainoshima
8. Conclusion, links and recommendation
Here's the link that I'm sure it'll be useful to you if you are planning to visit the island for day trip.
So unfortunately, all the links that I provided above are all in Japanese. If you are a person who is planning to go to this island and you can’t speak or read in Japanese, I would highly recommend you to bring along your partner or tour guide who can speak or at least read Japanese for daily life survival.
Ainoshima Island - 8/10
1. Food- 8/10 (I only ate ice-cream so I couldn’t say much about it)
2. Atmosphere and scenery- 10/10
3. Cats- 7/10(I give it a solid 7 because I was hoping I could see many kittens but unfortunately there are more adult and old cats than kittens)
I would recommend you to go but if you are in a short trip, I would suggest you to go else where first because this tourist spot is more like local tourists' spot and place where local people enjoying their weekend.
Thank you for reading~
XOXO
Nurin
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