I’ve done a good deal of writing about my experiences in Nagasaki and the tramway which runs through it, but I haven’t focused at all on how I got to and from there in the first place. In this post, I will focus on transport in-and-out of Nagasaki and the various developments that are soon coming. I’ll also throw in a few random images and audio recordings for good measure. Lets begin!

How did I get to Nagasaki? By Plane …

This holiday was planned mid-2019, when I decided I would use my annual leave to visit my friend’s wedding in Japan while simultaneously taking a holiday. Originally planned to visit Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, it was a trip I greatly anticipated. As 2020 rolled by and the COVID-19 outbreak became headline news, the holiday plans began to look a little shaky.

When South Korea had an escalation of cases, one of my flights to South Korea was forcibly rescheduled with an option for free cancellation. Weighing my options, I decided to take the cancellation – but it turned out to be a scam of sorts. The cancellation was not possible to achieve online and instead, the system asked you to call the carrier. After calling internationally at my own cost and being on hold for half an hour, the system hung up on me. Ultimately, I had to accept the change to another flight (thus using up my “one free alteration”), then cancel my tickets, resulting in a financial hit. The other leg out of South Korea was cancelled with a 20% financial penalty, as a voluntary cancellation policy was offered by the other carrier. I instead decided to replan the holiday such that I would be spending the extra time in Japan – visiting Saga and Kitakyushu since I was “in the area”, while rebooking a new flight to take me from Japan to Malaysia so I could reconnect with my original itinerary.

A week out from the departure date, I checked with my friend who confirmed that the event would still be going ahead regardless. The COVID-19 situation at the time looked rather stable and similar in Japan and Australia, so I decided to go anyway since the leave booking was irreversible and neither were most of the tickets.

The first leg of my trip was to go from Sydney to Fukuoka – the nearest major airport to Nagasaki which I could book on a single carrier at a decent price. The carrier of choice was China Airlines (of Taiwan) and the flight involved transit at Taipei Taoyuan Airport. Around this time I was contacted by the airline who informed me that I was rescheduled to the flight one day earlier, although they did not automatically reschedule my connecting flight. I called them up the next day and managed to get them to change my connecting flight so it lined up. The accommodation was also rebooked to match. At this stage, it was perhaps more hassle than I was used to and this was perhaps to foreshadow the fate of my holiday.

You join me from inside CI52 from Sydney to Taipei. Being a decent human being, I tried my best to reduce risk to myself and others – whenever I’m out, I’ve got my mask on. But lets just say, I’ve never experienced travel this smooth – departing on a Sunday evening with only a short queue for the check-in counter, security and immigration was a breeze. Even visiting the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) counter was a zero-wait situation. With plenty of time to relax, I was super-delighted to find that I had the three central seats to myself, so I could even grab a bit of a rest. That’s never happened before – in part because I always choose the best value option which also means not choosing my seats. Jackpot! In all, I would guess the flight to be about 40% loaded, a rare situation indeed.

It’s been so long since I flew a full-service airline that I’ve forgotten what having a meal on a plane is like. In fact, had I remembered this fact, I would not have gorged myself on the low-cost meal option at Maccas at the terminal before boarding! The food looked fairly average, but that’s what you’d expect!

After a slightly turbulent but comfortable flight without a single crying baby, I awoke to a nice breakfast. More of the same stuff, but hey, food is food and the noodles weren’t bad.

One thing I found hilarious was the onboard entertainment screen’s depiction of the aircraft. That should really come with a not to scale marking somewhere …

It’s about 5am at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. Having passed through transit security checks, I’m headed to the gate … and it’s as quiet as can be. Only the occasional security staff to be seen, the terminal was practically empty. There were a few travellers, but they didn’t turn up until much later. As far as I could tell, most of the shops weren’t trading either.

It’s no wonder – a quick glance at the departures screens showed about half the flights scheduled were cancelled. I didn’t realise the airlines had taken such a big hit – it only dawned on me just how lucky I was to have made it to my destination with the minimum of changes.

As the time rolled around, I boarded my second flight – CI 110 bound for Fukuoka. The plane was a little late to get airborne, partly because the cargo was still being loaded on. These boxed products (maybe produce?) were packed in such a way that they had to be taken off the pallet and restacked. The crew obviously didn’t pay much attention to the styrofoam panels that were packed in – the wind blew them around and I was inside thinking “well they better clean that FOD up or I’m going to tell someone!”



The flight was quite smooth and I had a seat empty next to me. The aisle seat was occupied by a Fukuoka-native returning to her home after working overseas in the USA for Thomas Cook, the since failed travel company. It was interesting company to have on the flight. This time, I even got the window, so I can’t complain at all. This is perhaps the most enjoyable set of flights I’ve been on. The above video shows the final part of the approach into Fukuoka Airport (FUK)’s international terminal.

Arrival was smooth, uncomplicated and free of queueing. At customs, the officers demanded to check my luggage, of which I obliged. They complimented me on the neatness of my bag and the check was quickly completed with no offending items found. Taking money from an ATM, I was cashed up and ready to go. I was out of the terminal in record time, in fact, even quicker than my “seat-mate” who expressed surprise to see me already in the queue for the shuttle bus. From there, I decided to take the shuttle bus to the domestic terminal, so I could catch the subway into the city. Here are some of the announcements from the bus:

• 20200316-FUK-ShuttleBus-JP1


• 20200316-FUK-ShuttleBus-RouteBus-JPENKR


• 20200316-FUK-ShuttleBus-TDomestic-JPENKRCN

In fact, listening to the second announcement, there is a bus service that could take me directly to Hakata station from the airport which would (arguably) be more convenient, but I decided to continue since I was on the shuttle bus already.

… and by Train

The next step was to take the Fukuoka Subway from Fukuokakuko station to Hakata, where I could change for JR to Nagasaki. After getting to the co