[Kyushu holiday] A day trip to Kokura (Kitakyushu)
Prior to our departure, Baby and I purchased the 5-Day Kyushu Shinkansen passes from JTB, and each pass cost us around SGD250. The pass covered the entire North and South of Kyushu Prefecture. We decided to visit Kokura (Kitakyushu), Nagasaki, Beppu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima from our base point of Fukuoka. With the passes, we were allowed to travel on an unlimited number of rides to all areas on all the local JR train service lines. These included all 'Special Rapid Train' services too! After having brekkie, we headed down to Hakata JR Station to exchange our JR passes for the actual train passes. The travelling time from Hakata to Kokura took us only 45 minutes. A disclaimer, if you are using the JR pass to head to Kyushu, note that the pass only works on the Shinkansen train TOWARDS Kokura. You cannot use the JR pass for the Shinkansen to head back to Hakata from Kokura, for reasons I have no idea. This should not stop you from visiting Kokur...