Day 13 – Kumamoto to Aso

I was in a shopping centre today and happened upon probably the greatest toilet I have ever used, Oak-panelled walls, an iPad like screen to control every aspect of your visit (seat temperature, room temperature, angle of bidet jet, etc), enough room to swing a cat in each out-stretched hand, a flip down desk (yes, you read that correctly) and enough paper cranes to keep the armchair origami ornithologist happy for days. 

The only previous time I had seen a bird in a toilet was an unfortunate dead pigeon who had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the open-sewers of Glastonbury Festival. Still it was death by stench or watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers so I understand the bird's dilemma.

Aso town is set in the middle of the world's largest caldera (126km in circumference), the town itself is very, very small but it is the main base for getting into the volcanic Aso-San Highlands, which conveniently you do by catching a bus from directly outside the main train station, buses leave at regular intervals throughout the day – this country is so easy to travel in!

The main volcanic crater has all of the conditions you would want and expect from a highly dangerous natural wonder – billowing smoke, toxic gas emissions and deathly barren landscapes – only failing to deliver on an actual eruption itself. Had an eruption happened, we would simply have moved to the  emergency shelters that somebody (of course) had had the foresight to build on the mountain side, I imagine the shelters would have had a bar, a swimming pool, a couple of TVs and a representative of Aso Volcano (apologising profusely for the trouble) inside them too.

Red Romance – no not a hilarious Moscow-based Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy but possibly the worst beer I have ever tasted, try taking a particularly weak beer, add 50% water and a bit of red colouring and you will be close to the taste.