the JR Beetle to Busan

You're right, I could have flown. Just hopped a plane out of Fukuoka Airport and zipped straight to Seoul. But you know me better than that. You know how much I hate commercial airlines. And you know I love the scenic route. That's why I'm all about small planes, trains, and...

...boats.

Yes, I said boats. Like this one, the Boeing 929 Jetfoil:

'Course, the one I rode on from Fukuoka to Busan didn't look like this. Mine was red and white and had the legend "JR BEETLE" emblazoned on its sides. But let's not quibble. I wanted a unique and leisurely (and less expensive) way to get back to Korea, and I'd never ridden on (a) an international ferry or (b) a hydrofoil before. This seemed like a great way to kill three birds with one stone: get home and knock a couple items off the bucket list.

'Sides, it's not everyone who can say they've ridden on a boat built by Boeing, right?

So I got up at a ridiculously early hour in Kumamoto on the morning of August 8th. I checked out of the APA Hotel, rode the clanking, creaking tram to the Shinkansen station and caught the next available train for Hakata, on the northern coast of Kyushu. (Like I said, that JR Rail Pass really paid for itself.)

I arrived at the station, got out, asked at the information desk for the best bus to take to the Hakata Pier, and was told that No. 88 would do the trick. At least, that's what I was told. When the 88 dumped me off about ten blocks away, I was somewhat perplexed. But thanks to a helpful tip from the driver, I waited around at the stop and caught the next one, the No. 89, and that turned out all right.

Now, here was my dilemma: I had arrived at Fukuoka Station at something like 10:00 a.m. It had only taken about an hour to get from Kumamoto to Hakata on the Shinkansen and maybe 20 minutes on the bus. But the ticket I had reserved with the Miraejet Ferry Company said that their earliest boat didn't depart until 3:00 p.m.

Was I content to twiddle my thumbs for seven hours? Hell's donkeys, no! I went up to the JR Beetle counter and asked if they had any seats available. They did. I made a reservation. Check-ins would begin at 11:00, and the boat itself would leave at 12:30. Or something.

Now, the process for actually paying for an international ferry ticket from Japan to Korea is a bit involved, so I'll break it down for you:

• I had to pay ¥14,000 ($140), I believe, for the actual ticket.
• There was an "oil surcharge" of ¥3,000 ($30) tacked on to that.
• ...as well as a ¥500 ($5) "terminal use fee."

Jumpin' Jiminy.

The ticket fare and oil surcharge were paid for at the counter, but the terminal use fee was paid by pumping a 500-yen coin into a machine. It then spat out a ticket which you had to show the gate agent before boarding.

After this rigamarole had been dealt with, I walked upstairs to the waiting room and examined the "New Rabbit" convenience store, which was an eclectic mixture of Korean and Japanese products.

After a while it was time to board. Or, not. As soon as we'd passed the main entrance, we were in another waiting room. Then we were sorted into two lines, depending on whether we were leaving on the JR Beetle or the larger, slower Camellia line, departing thirty minutes earlier. There was also a duty-free shop with assorted liquors (but not Suntory whisky, unfortunately).

We Beetle-people went downstairs to yet another waiting room and sat around for another 30 minutes before boarding finally began.

When the white-gloved agents opened that final set of glass doors, you better believe yours truly was the first through them.

Yes, this is a crappy photo. Not only because of the angle (I was at the head of the pack and determined to keep my place...and I did, I was first aboard!) but because my god-rotted camera lens fogged up again.

That's my seat, right there by the window. Aah, what a life.

 

That there's the Camellia thingy, departing ahead of us. It had dwindled to a tiny dot by the time we ourselves departed.

 

Couldn't resist.

And finally, the blue-green waters churning beneath us, we backed away from the pier. I believe that's the harbor control tower in the background.

My final glimpse of Japan.

The trip was largely as I had expected. The captain hit the juice as soon as we were in the middle of the bay, and I felt the ship's hull begin to rise out of the water. There was a momentary cacophony as the vessel picked up speed and the grasping wave-tops clawed at her keel...but then it fell away and died, and there was nothing. (Nothing but for the roar of the engines.) It felt like we were coasting on air. And we were going like the clappers. Though I was sad to leave Japan, I was happy that I'd be back in Korea in such a short time. Sometimes I do like my conveyances on the zippy side.

We blazed along for a couple of hours. The sun was warm and soporific. The only worthwhile sights were Tsushima Island, which appeared off the port side about an hour into the trip, and the 2003 Korean film Tube, which was shown on the big screens in the cabin (with Japanese subtitles).

And then the pine-clad, mist-shrouded hills of Korea hove into view off the port side.

The refueling launch.

I felt a tad gleeful as I stepped off the boat and back to the land of my residence and employ. Ever since I'd first taken a ferry to Busan (in 2008, from Geoje Island) and noticed that the international ferries docked there, I'd promised myself that I'd be on one someday. And lookie here! I'd gone and done it.

Customs and immigration were a breeze. I handed over my passport, ran my luggage through the X-ray machine, and caught the bus to Busan Station. Within the hour I was on the KTX to Seoul. A 45-minute subway ride from Seoul Station brought me to Gwangnaru, where I entered the apartment that Miss H and I share. I hadn't seen her or the apartment for over a month. Our reunion was joyous and luminous, and the remainder of my summer vacation idyllic and diverting.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my vacation to Japan.