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Last updated on May 16th, 2026

It’s worth a try to go to a place like Yossou Nagasaki for a true Japanese dining experience. This place specializes in chawanmushi for over 150 years. Highly recommended by the locals.

Dating back to 1866, Yossou (吉宗) is one of the best and oldest traditional restaurants in Nagasaki with a long history. It is famous and popular with locals and tourists alike for its local food. The highlight of their food is the chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard), alongside other iconic dishes such as tri-color sushi, tempura, and sashimi. It was known as one of Japan’s first restaurants to sell Chawanmushi.

Check out our dining experience in Yossou, one of the great places for Nagasaki’s best food.

How To Get to Yossou

During our visit to Nagasaki, we went to Yossou to try the best chawanmushi for lunch. Yossou is located just off the main shopping arcade of Hamanomachidori. The nearest tram stop is Kankadori Station. Once get off from the tram, enter the Kankodori Shopping Arcade and continue walking straight for a few minutes. Yossou will be on the right.

You can easily spot its historical exterior, with a row of big lanterns and food display so you won’t miss it!

Further Read: Nagasaki Itinerary: A Travel Guide Blog

Note that there is also one Yossou shop at Kankodori Shopping Arcade but this is only for takeout option.

Yossou, Nagasaki (吉宗)
Address; 8-9 Hamamachi, Nagasaki 850-0853, Nagasaki Prefecture
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 14:30 and 17:00 to 20:00. Closed on Monday and Tuesday
Website: yossou.co.jp

Our food Visit to Yossou Nagasaki

Inside Yossou - Traditional Japanase Building

We came to Yossou for lunch during our visit to Nagasaki. It was around 13:30 and we were seated immediately without waiting. You might need to wait for a while if coming during peak lunch hours.

Once entered, we had to remove our footwear before proceeding to the upstair dining area. A staff would give you a wooden block to get your footwear back when you leave after the meal.

Yossou is quite huge with two cozy floors in a traditional Japanese building.

The first floor has Western seating and counter seating for solo travelers. You will not need to take off your shoes if seated here.

While the second floor is bigger. You can either enjoy your meal at a Western-style seating or experience the traditional local culture by dining on the tatami floor on the second floor.

We were seated at the section with a dining table and chairs on the second floor.

What to Order

Ordering was smooth and easy with an electronic device attached to your table.

Just switch to English and it will list out all the menu and pictures. The Chawanmushi and tri-color sushi rice bowl are the must-eat for Yossou.

We decided to go with the Chawanmushi set meal, which contained several dishes the restaurant is famous for, including their steamed egg custard, tri-color sushi rice bowl, as well as a few other small vegetable side dishes.

While another set is Ohitorimae which comes with only Chawanmushi and a tri-color sushi rice bowl.

Tri-color Sushi Rice Bowl

The tri-color sushi rice bowl was also very delicious. It consists of shredded dried shrimp floss (pink), egg shreds (yellow), and minced pork or vegetables (brown), all on a bed of steamed rice.

The portion was generous and the quality of the ingredients was so fresh. This was an interesting dish and very Japanese. It is good and comforting but not so much to our taste. Probably very Japanese. Still, a great dining experience!

Smoothest Chawanmushi

Our set comes with the Chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し), which is the highlight of the meal. The canwanmushi is really good, probably the best I’ve ever had. The texture was very silky smooth and it just slid down your throat. The size is also very big and is twice larger than any other places we had.

Yossou are very generous with the other ingredients, which include fish, chicken, mushroom, bamboo, ginko, and eel. It was by far one of the most “packed” Chawanmushi I had when it came to the ingredients.

Absolutely delicious!

Overall: Yossou Food Review

All in all, Yossou is a great place to try authentic Japanese cuisine. It is not exactly the usual food we get to eat in other parts of Japan. But it’s worth a try when visiting Nagasaki. Excellent place to eat local cuisine in Nagasaki.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful time exploring Nagasaki!

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Visiting Kyushu and looking for some inspiration for what to do in Kyushu then be sure to read our Kyushu travel blog here: How To Plan Your Kyushu Itinerary: Ultimate Guide

Last updated on May 16th, 2026

Make a half-day trip with our Nazoin Temple itinerary, showing you the highlights of the historical temple in Sasaguri, Fukuoka.

Nanzoin Temple (南蔵院) is a Shingon Buddhist temple located in Sasaguri, Fukuoka. There’s no shining gold temple waiting for you here. Instead, it’s just an old historical temple calm and serene, surrounded by lush green. It is said to have the world’s biggest bronze statue, a gorgeous 41-meter, 11-meter high reclining Buddha tucked away in the mountaintop. This is what makes the temple so special and why we recommend you to visit it.

We made a trip to Nanzoin temple to see the famously large bronze. The visit to Nanzoin Temple is one of the highlights of our trip to Fukuoka. If you want to see this Fukuoka hidden’s gem, please read this Nazoin Temple Travel Guide Blog.

From Fukuoka to Nanzoin Temple

A short local train ride on the JR Sasaguri Line from bustling Hakata station to Kidonanzoin-mae station will get you to a different world.

The boarding platform at Hakata Station on the platform#8.

The train journey takes about 25 minutes and costs ¥380. Trains are frequent and cheap. If you have a Japan Rail Pass or JR Kyushu Pass, you can take these trains for free.

Driving to the Nanzoin Temple is also simple. Parking can be found right beside the JR station or at the base of the entrance stairs. If you are planning to self-driving, we recommended check your rental car price from RentalCars.com for various companies for best price.

Nanzoin Travel Guide: Note that the Nanzoin Temple is a place of worship. So please be mindful of the temple etiquette which is to keep quiet, dress modestly, cover tattoos, and be respectful.

Visit Nanzoin Temple

Nanzoin Temple is located in a relatively small-sized town and you can easily explore the area on foot.

Once we left the station, we started walking in the direction of the temple. We were here in the early afternoon and can say that it’s a pretty good time to visit Nanzoin Temple.

Walk across a quirky Melody Bridge where you can borrow a little mallet from the little shelf to play the music. A fun play!

Continue walking across the main road and then walk for a few minutes to the entrance.

Nanzoin Temple is pretty huge and many areas to explore.

There are several options on how to explore the Nanzoin. We decided to visit the Buddha first and then devote our time to the temple grounds.

Uphill walkway Leading to the Nanzoin Temple

To get to the Reclining Buddha at Nanzoin Temple, you can follow the clear sights to guide you along the walking journey to the Recling Buddla.

Firstly, walk and climb up a ramp to the hillside. There’s a lush view of the mountainside all around.

Following the sign, we walked through a tunnel decorated with temple offerings, plenty of little shrines, ponds, walking paths, and lastly to the statue’s platform.

The journey is a bit high hill not particularly easily accessible for wheelchairs or those with walking disabilities.

Fukuoka Reclining Buddha

The Reclining Buddha in Nanzoin Temple is truly impressive. Beautifully smooth and with its color contrasted against a backdrop of the forest and skies!

It’s amazingly huge! The actual dimensions of the Statue are 41 meters long by 11 meters in height and it weighs 300 tons. It’s definitely worth making the trip to see!

In Japan, the most common pose for Buddha statues is sitting, which represents Buddha meditating. The reclining pose, however, represents Buddha about to enter Nirvana.

Don’t miss appreciating Buddha’s intricately designed feet.

The site is very relaxing and serene.

Take a moment to sit down and enjoy the views. We also bought a matcha ice cream (around ¥250) from the small kiosk.

Temple Ground

Next, we then made our way to explore a few other temple grounds that we’d seen along the way. The whole site is free to explore. Entrance is free to see the Buddha as well as to the temple.

The grounds are absolutely packed with sub-temples, little shrines, monuments, and a couple of souvenir shops. So there’s plenty of other things to see and do.

Expect to spend 1 to 2 hours to stroll around this area.

Note that even though you’re able to take photos of the reclining Buddha, there are quite a few things in the surrounding areas where photos are not permitted.

Overall: A Trip to Nanzoin Temple

All in all, Nanzoin Temple is a lovely place to visit and highly recommended. This lesser-known attraction is easily do a half-day trip from Fukuoka. We enjoyed exploring this sacred and spiritual place.

Overall, we spent around 2 hours in Nanzoin Temple before we hopped on the train back to Fukuoka and continued our trip to Lalaport Fukuoka. This makes for an awesome day trip.

Related Fukuoka Travel blog:

Planning on the Kyushu itinerary? Check out Kyushu Itinerary: Ultimate Travel Guide For Kyushu Trip.

Yossou Nagasaki: Best place for Chawanmushi