Kansai WIDE Area Pass trip Day 1 - Wakayama Castle and Fusion Museum

After visiting Matsushima in Sendai and doing the boat tour back in May 2023, my parents were determined to get to all 3 of the Nihon Sankei (Japan's three most scenic places). They ended up being very efficient and caught their remaining two on a additional trip without us the same year in October 2023. I have already been to Miyajima in Hiroshima to see the giant torii gate twice, but Amanohashidate had not even remotely been on my radar before my dad mentioned it. 

Looking into regional JR rail passes available to foreign residents, I noticed that we would be able to use the 3-day Kansai WIDE Area Pass that includes the train to Amanohashidate and started planning our own trip around that. 

We started our trip on a Friday morning, arriving at Haneda Airport reasonably early in the morning. I booked our flight to KIX with a travel portal which listed ANA via StarFlyer, so we went to Terminal 1. Please be aware that if you're flying with Star Flyer, you can only go through Security Gate A. We patiently waited probably around 20-30 very slow minutes at Gate C only to be told that we couldn't pass through bc of the airline and stood in that line for nothing. Gate A had a very short line so it really was stupid for us lol.

I had booked our flights using a credit card travel portal couldn't figure out how to reserve our seats ahead of time enough to get seats together, so my husband and I sat separately but in sequential rows. Awkward selfie as I read a book on my iPad between two businessmen lol. This flight ended up being delayed about 30-40 minutes after we had all boarded.

Getting a slightly later start than we had initially planned for, we headed over to the Kansai Airport Tourist Information Center. There was a HUGE line for exchanging vouchers for passes, but seemingly a different one for payment (like we wanted to do). The staff almost turned me away to the JR station for this, but I had confirmed via FB Messenger with this specific location about getting the pass, so I asked her to check again. A different staff member understood what we wanted and helped out. We were able to get our 3-day Kansai WIDE Area Passes starting for this day reasonably quickly after that and headed to the station.

First stop, Wakayama. It involved a transfer and a pretty small local train, but not too difficult to navigate and it was also pretty empty.

We stashed our bags in a locker, went to the midorinomadoguchi for some train reservations for the rest of the trip, and then headed out for lunch. I had bookmarked Ide Shoten 井出商店 so we could try Wakayama ramen from this renowned shop. There was a line of locals waiting outside when we arrived.

The staff will take your order while you wait, so once you're inside, the food arrives quickly. We both got the standard ramen but my husband also got 1 each of the sushi rolls. 

We walked back to Wakayama station and then caught a bus to get to the Forte Wajima and the Fusion Museum. The bus stop is right outside, so it's very convenient.

The Fusion Museum had just one slot left for the day, so we signed up. Since the staff estimated a 90 minute wait, we decided to walk over to check out Wakayama Castle in the interim.

It's straight shot to the castle, about a 15 minute easy walk.

A few ume blossom trees had flowers!

Purchased our admission tickets and went to check out the inner grounds and interior.

Inside the castle, there were a few exhibits, some of which you couldn't take photos of, but probably the best thing from inside (despite being outside lol) is the view from the upper floor. 

You can walk all the way around, see the details on the roof, and there's a nice view of the city. 

This was a very good pit stop for us while we waited for our turn at the Fusion Museum. It wasn't crowded at all (although we just narrowly missed an elementary school field trip) and didn't feel like we needed to rush to get through everything. We didn't walk the expanse of the park surrounding the castle, but it also wasn't the best season for it. 

On our way back to Forte Wajima, we stopped to check out this newly opened drink and sweets shop that we had spotted on the way out 天空の雫. My husband got a hojicha drink with warabimochi. 

When we returned, the staff was able to accommodate us right then. We selected which item we wanted to knit (scarf, coaster or cushion cover) and the color (blue, red or brown).

Then, they showed us how to create our design. The tutorial was all in English and easy to understand. There are some "stamps" that you can use or you can completely freehand the design. We had about 15 minutes to do this (but we were last for the day so no one else needed to use the computer after us). 

Once you're happy with your design, it's time to cycle knit! There's one machine per type of item (so just one for the cushion covers that we both chose) and I went first because I finalized my design sooner. It seems quite fast to set up and just start pedaling! Cushion cover takes approximately 25 minutes of continuous pedaling but they also have an option for it to knit automatically if you prefer. The screen on the machine shows you your progess and you can see the item in front of your as well. 

While my husband was cycling, I was able to check out more of the museum itself. It's quite extensive for being on the third floor of a mall and with free admission. I definitely recommend checking it out if you'll be in the area, even if you don't have time for the knitting. 

We personalized our cushion covers a bit, so I don't want to show all the details, but it came out super cute! I made mine using only the provided stamps (there's a lot to choose from) and my husband free-handed his drawings while referencing a cross stitch design he was looking at on his phone. We opted to get the cushion stuffing and closure as well which was an additional 500yen each. The cover by itself would have been 600yen - super cheap and a unique experience!

We had reserved train tickets for a JR Kuroshio train from Wakayama to Osaka (required for this type of train and included as part of our rail pass) and then transferred to a rapid for a short ride to Kyoto station.

It's been such a long time since I've been in Kyoto! I didn't even really recognize the station since we usually only transit through when we do visit. After getting off the train, we headed straight to our hotel. I booked us 1 night at Henn na Hotel Kyoto Hachijoguchi which is close to Kyoto station and has robots operating at the reception desk lol. 

Even for this visit, we're only really using Kyoto station as a transit point to get to Amanohashidate but just staying overnight! Made sure to end the previous day here for an easier start when we had an early morning the next day. 

Was feeling a bit flexible with dinner, and luckily so because our first choice was completely booked. We walked a bit further and chose this yakitori restaurant やきとり一番. There were two seats available, so no wait necessary. 

A slow end to a mostly slow day. We spent a decent chunk of time on transit. Train from our house to the airport. Waiting at the airport. Waiting during the delay on the airplane. Slow local train to Wakayama. A little over an hour and a half to Kyoto. But happy to be exploring! Wakayama is quite close to KIX but I had never considered going before. It's a quieter city but has its own character and we LOVE our knitted cushions that we cycled hard for lol. Definitely going to be one of our favorite souvenirs from all of our trips and it was so cheap too!

💛 Kansai WIDE Area Pass trip

Day 1 - Wakayama Castle and Fusion Museum 

Day 2 - Amanohashidate and Kobe beef

Day 3 - Himeji Castle and Okayama Castle