Visiting Kyushu during my winter vacation, I also stopped by at Miyazaki Prefecture. After visiting Aoshima and Udo Shrine along the Nichinan Coast, my last destination of the day was the Sunmesse Nichinan.
It’s not really a typical tourist attraction for foreign tourists, I guess. It’s more like an amusement park.
The reason I wanted to visit were those huge stone statues, also known as MOAI.
The originals can be found on Easter Island.
They are pretty cool and … HUGE!!
So beautiful with the ocean in the background.
Of course there were millions of Japanese who wanted to take photos with them.
Please note that I visited during New Year’s – which is usually a busy travel time in Japan.
You can climb up a little hill. From there the view is really nice as you can see.
Apart from the stone figures everywhere there is not that much to do.
There were also a few horses and cows.
Actually when I was taking this photo I noticed that 2 Japanese guys stopped taking photos of the animals and took some of me instead. Really annoying. Am I a zoo animal or what? 
Again something to rant about in the “I’m a German Alien in Japan” – series, huh?
Well, the view is definitely beautiful … as almost everywhere along the Nichinan Coastline!
On the top of the hill there was a restaurant with a small museum.
As I was done for the day, I took a break and ate this yummy matcha cake.
The museum featured some “interesting” exhibits.
There were also a few nice viewing platforms.
And that was my 2nd day in Miyazaki.
In the evening I took a bus to Kagoshima from where I started my journey to Yakushima!
You can probably tell that I really liked Miyazaki.
So much that I went back there in December 2017 to discover even more spots there!
An interesting look into tourist-y Japan! That macha cake looks so good!
Yeah, very ‘touristy’ indeed! *g*
It was good. I’m a big fan of macha products! :luvit:
Anything matcha is good to me!!
Looking forward to your view of Yakushima….I enjoyed reading mchao’s blog that provided great info about what to expect…I lauged til I cried reading his adventures.
Oh, sounds interesting!
Could you give me the link to the mentioned blog post? I wanna laugh, too! :hihi:
The pictures tell the story and it looks absolutely beautiful there. I am going to Google more info and try to take a trip there.
Let me know if you need any further help.
Also check out the link provided towards the end of this post. It’s in Japanese, but it gives you great access information and more! :thumbup:
Such wonderful photos! :D The view is simply spectacular on sunny days at Sunmesse~ Did you get to try the swings on the top of the hill? :hihi:
I spent a year in Miyazaki as an exchange student and reading about your adventures there (and Kyushu in general) and looking at photos brings back so many wonderful memories :fan:
Hello Porosuke! :D
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos! ^___^
*LOL* No, I didn’t try the swings. There were a lot of kids that day anyways. I didn’t want to be the mean, strange foreigner that steals the swings away from the kids. ;)
Wow, you were lucky! Miyazaki is beautiful indeed and Kyushu has so many interesting spots to visit. Did you get to travel around a bit while you were there?
Awesome! That will be my next destination!At least no need to make it to Easter Island!
Glad you decided to go. I hope you’ll also get a chance to visit the other sights along the Nichinan Coastline! ^__^
Wow, these statues really look like Moai… like newly carved Moai.
They were quite impressive, but I have yet to see the real ones! :)