21 Days in Japan 🇯🇵 Himeji to Fukuoka | Ultimate Japan Travel Guide

Kinosaki Onsen is the quintessential Japanese hot spring town with seven public bathhouses lining the streets. While I saved my bathing for the ryokan, you can easily stroll along the Kinosaki Canal, spot Oriental white storks, and enjoy the foot baths found around town for free. Just remember to treat the baths with respect! If you stay in town, you can enjoy all seven public baths.

We tried Mizutaki, a chicken soup broth hot pot, at a famous local restaurant. The first ritual is to try the soup broth, which is incredibly flavorful, salty, and rich from all the different cuts of chicken boiling inside. Staff will help roll chicken meat into balls and plop them into the hot pot. Once cooked, the chicken is very good, juicy, and flavorful. It's a fine meal, even if we couldn't get a seat at the yatai stands.

Take a 25-minute train ride out into the mountains to Kido Nanzoin Mae station to visit Nanzoin Temple. The temple is built into the side of a mountain with forested paths, captivating statues, shrines, and streams, creating an enchanting atmosphere. You can even travel through a small, dimly lit cave. After a short climb up stone steps, you reach the main attraction: the magnificent reclining Buddha. It's one of the largest reclining bronze Buddha statues on the planet, 41 meters long and 300 tons. Touching the Buddha's feet is considered good luck.

We found a top ramen shop downtown, Shin-Shin Ramen, which is one of the most famous branches in the city. There's usually a 15-20 minute queue, but it's worth it. I love tonkotsu ramen because the broth takes a long time to make, boiling pork bones to create a thick, flavorful soup. The soup smells and tastes so damn good, like a gravy sauce. The three key parts are the soup, the thin noodles, and the chashu. Also try the Hakata-style gyoza, which are literally one-mouthful, one-bite size.