At the tip of the Uto Peninsula in Kumamoto, where the land narrows towards the islands of Amakusa, there is a small Meiji-era harbour that looks almost unchanged since it was finished in 1887. Misumi West Port was designed by the Dutch engineer Rouwenhorst Mulder as part of Japan's rapid modernisation after it opened to the West, and its long stone quays, drainage channels and carefully fitted granite blocks were built by Japanese stonemasons using their traditional skills. For a while it was a busy export port for coal from the Miike mines across the bay, but when the railway reached another harbour its importance faded, which is precisely why it survived. It is now part of the World Heritage site of Japan's Meiji industrial revolution.
The port is a quiet place, with a few restored buildings from the period, including an old customs and an inn, and the view across the narrow strait to the green hills of Amakusa. The water is calm, the light soft, and on a warm day you hear little but gulls and the creak of moored boats. Unzen, the volcano on the Shimabara Peninsula, stands across the water to the west, and it was near Shimabara, at Hara Castle, that Christian peasants rose in rebellion in 1637 and were crushed by the shogunate, a story that runs through the whole region.
For riders, this is the gateway to one of the best coastal routes in Kyushu. From Misumi, the Amakusa Five Bridges hop from island to island across the sea, and beyond them, roads wind along the coast of the Amakusa islands past fishing villages, terraced fields and small churches that recall the hidden Christians who kept their faith in secret for centuries. The roads along the Uto Peninsula itself and on towards Kumamoto are easy, scenic and well surfaced. Remember Japan drives on the left, and speed limits are low and enforced.
There are small shops and a station at Misumi, and fuel is available along the main roads on the peninsula, with larger towns like Uki and Kumamoto city further inland. Seafood is the obvious meal here: fresh sashimi, octopus and sea bream in the little restaurants around the port and on Amakusa.