Last checked: October 22, 2026
Ever wanted to hook your lunch, then fry it? This day trip lets you reel in horse mackerel (aji) from a fishing boat in the morning. By lunchtime you cook aji fry on a small island.
Matsuura, in northern Nagasaki Prefecture, calls itself the “holy land of aji fry.” The city says it lands more aji than anywhere else in Japan. In the afternoon you visit a local shrine. Then you make a dorayaki, stamped with an aji fry mark, at a sweet shop founded in 1943.
We built this guide from the KKday listing, official Matsuura pages, train and bus timetables, and weather data. We flag anything we couldn’t confirm. We haven’t joined this tour ourselves.
KYUSHU REGION
Matsuura City Hotel, Matsuura (Nagasaki)
From Hakata Station: About 3 hours by train (arrive the day before)
From Fukuoka Airport: About 1 hour 45 minutes by car
Prices below are what KKday showed in October 2026 and change with the date and availability.
At a Glance
- Price: adult ticket (ages 12–99) from about US$176, child ticket (ages 6–11) about US$145 (as of October 2026)
- Time: 8:30–17:00 (8 hours 30 minutes), starting and ending at Matsuura City Hotel
- On the water: about 60 minutes of aji fishing from a fishing boat, then aji fry cooking on Aoshima Island
- Included: fishing gear, cooking tools, ingredients other than the fish, taxi rides and consumption tax
- Group size: 2 people or more. Ages 6 and up
- Guide: Japanese, with translation apps
- Free cancellation: up to 3 days before
- Not offered: Wednesdays and December 28–January 8
Prices and available dates vary. Check the booking page before you book.
What This Day Includes
The morning is about fishing, the middle of the day is about cooking, and the afternoon is a short tour of Matsuura town.
- Morning: a fishing boat takes you into Imari Bay, and you fish for horse mackerel.
- Midday: you land on Aoshima, a small island of Matsuura, and cook aji fry with a local island mother.
- Afternoon: a taxi takes you to a shrine and a sweet shop, and you make a dorayaki.
JTB’s Nagasaki branch lists the trip on KKday. The listing is new, and it has no reviews yet. That means we can’t tell you how the day went for other travelers.
For a bit of context, Matsuura City declared itself the “holy land of aji fry” on April 27, 2019. The third Friday of every month is “Aji Fry Day” there. You can read more on the city’s aji fry holy land page.
Is there a guide who speaks English?
No. The guide speaks Japanese, and KKday says support with translation apps is possible. Install a translation app and bring mobile data before you go. Our eSIM guide covers the options.
Who Should Book, and Who Should Skip
✅ Great if you…
- love food and want to cook your own meal. You fillet two aji each and fry them three ways
- are traveling with a child aged 6 or older. KKday sells a child ticket for ages 6–11
- have never fished from a boat. KKday includes the fishing gear, and a guide explains how to fish
- can add one night and one full day to a Fukuoka or Sasebo trip
⚠️ Think twice if you…
- are traveling alone. The plan can be purchased by 2 or more people
- want hours of fishing. The fishing lasts about 60 minutes
- need explanations in English. The guide speaks Japanese
- can’t sleep in Matsuura the night before. A morning train from Hakata arrives at 9:20, after the 8:30 start
- can only travel on a Wednesday. KKday doesn’t offer Wednesdays
When the Trip Is Bookable
📅 When you can book this trip
Open Part of the month Closed
Check the booking page for the dates you can actually book.
Source: KKday listing, checked October 2026.
On October 22, 2026, KKday showed dates from October 30, 2026 to March 9, 2027. Wednesdays weren’t offered, and neither were December 28–January 8.
“Not yet listed” doesn’t mean the trip has ended. KKday’s schedule simply stops at March 9, 2027, and it doesn’t say whether dates will be added. We’d check the booking page again if you’re planning a spring or summer trip.
Neither KKday nor the city says when aji bite best in Imari Bay. So we can’t promise a catch count, and the listing doesn’t either.
The Day, Hour by Hour
The table shows the schedule from the KKday listing. KKday says the flow is a guide, so expect small changes.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | Meet at Matsuura City Hotel. A taxi takes you to the port |
| 9:00 | Meet your fishing teacher at Mikuriya Port (御厨港) and board the boat |
| 9:30 | Arrive at the fishing spot. Hear how to fish, then start |
| 10:30 | Stop fishing and land on Aoshima (青島) |
| 11:00 | Walk to Takara-no-hama and cook aji fry with an island mother |
| 12:30 | Lunch: eat the aji fry you made |
| 13:30 | Leave Aoshima for Mikuriya Port |
| 14:00 | Taxi to Imabuku Shrine (今福神社) |
| 15:00 | Make a dorayaki at a long-established sweet shop |
| 16:00 | Shopping for about 45–60 minutes |
| 17:00 | The day ends at Matsuura City Hotel |
Source: KKday listing, checked October 2026.
Fishing in Imari Bay
You put on a life jacket and board a fishing boat. The ride to the fishing spot takes about 20–30 minutes. A guide explains how to fish and how to handle the gear before you start.
Then you fish for horse mackerel (aji) for about 60 minutes, using chum made of small shrimp. KKday doesn’t describe the rod or rig. Fishing gear is included in the price.
Japan requires the captain of a small boat to have everyone outside the cabin wear a life jacket (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). Sea fishing with a rod needs no license in Japan (Fisheries Agency). Our license guide explains the details.
Horse mackerel (aji)
The target. You fish for about 60 minutes.
Red sea bream (madai)
KKday says you may occasionally catch a large one.
Mackerel (saba)
KKday lists it with the sea bream as an occasional large catch.
KKday says you can eat any fish other than aji as sashimi or in other dishes. Raw aji and mackerel can carry Anisakis, a parasite. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says it can cause severe stomach pain within hours to days of eating raw fish. Heating to 70°C or above (60°C for 1 minute) or freezing at −20°C for 24 hours or more kills it. Vinegar, salt, soy sauce and wasabi don’t. See the ministry’s Anisakis page. Fried aji is cooked, so the caution is about raw fish.
What if I don’t catch anything? Can I still make aji fry?
KKday doesn’t say what happens if you catch nothing. We’d ask KKday through its chat before you book.
Cooking Aji Fry on Aoshima
Aoshima is a small island of Matsuura. The regular ferry from Mikuriya takes about 25 minutes. It costs ¥610 for adults, according to the city’s ferry timetable. On this tour you cross by fishing boat instead.
At the harbor
A warm welcome
An island mother meets you, and you pick the fish for the aji fry from your catch together
To the kitchen
About 10 minutes
You walk from the harbor to the cooking place
Cook for 70 minutes
Fillet, then fry
Each person fillets two aji. You then make three kinds of aji fry, plus fried bone crackers and a miso soup made with the heads
Eat for 40 minutes
Taste and compare
Sit down where you can see the swimming beach. You compare the three kinds of aji fry
Back to port
About 20 minutes by the same boat
KKday names the three kinds “freshly caught,” “non-frozen” and “once-frozen” aji fry, so you get a side-by-side tasting. It doesn’t say where the non-frozen and once-frozen fish come from.
The beach is Takara-no-hama (宝の浜; locally read Hō-no-hama). The tourism association describes about 400 m of white sand with shallow water. It also lists toilets, changing rooms and showers, as a summer swimming beach. We couldn’t confirm what is open in winter or where the tour’s cooking place stands in relation to them.
KKday doesn’t mention food allergies. If you have any, message KKday before you book.
Afternoon in Matsuura Town
Imabuku Shrine (今福神社)
About 30 minutes. A shrine founded in 1084, tied to Hisashi, the ancestor of the Matsuura-tō (松浦党) clan, according to the tourism association. KKday says it has an aji-zuka, a mound dedicated to horse mackerel.
Iwamoto Confectionery (岩元製菓舗)
About 60 minutes. A sweet shop founded in 1943. You fill a dorayaki with sweet bean paste and brand it with the “Matsuura, the Holy Land of Aji Fry” logo, according to KKday. The shop’s website is in Japanese.
Shopping stop
Up to 60 minutes at a roadside station or a supermarket, as you prefer.
The roadside station is Michi-no-Eki Matsuura Umi-no-Furusato-kan (道の駅 松浦海のふるさと館), open 7:00–19:00 every day. The supermarket is Heimart (ハイマート, KKday’s spelling) Matsuura, open 9:30–21:00 Monday to Friday and Sunday, and 9:00–21:00 on Saturday.
Heimart takes credit cards, transit IC cards and PayPay, according to the company. We couldn’t confirm how the roadside station takes payment. If you want to pay by card, we’d pick Heimart. If you choose the roadside station, carry some cash.
Weather and What to Wear
Every bookable date falls between late October and early March. The table shows Matsuura’s average highs and lows for those months.
| Month | Average daily high | Average daily low |
|---|---|---|
| October | 22.5°C | 15.4°C |
| November | 17.8°C | 10.0°C |
| December | 12.0°C | 5.2°C |
| January | 10.3°C | 3.7°C |
| February | 10.9°C | 3.6°C |
| March | 14.8°C | 6.8°C |
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency, Matsuura station, 2011–2020 averages, checked October 2026. See the agency’s data.
Will it be cold on the water in winter?
Yes, plan for it. Matsuura’s January average is a high of 10.3°C and a low of 3.7°C. That’s a reading on land, so it can’t tell you how the boat feels. KKday asks you to bring cold-weather gear.
If the weather or waves look dangerous, KKday says the tour may be canceled before the scheduled day, with no cancellation fee. The listing doesn’t say what happens if it only rains.
What to Bring
🎒 Your packing list
- ☐ Cold-weather gear for the season (KKday)
- ☐ Sunscreen (KKday)
- ☐ Seasickness medicine (KKday)
- ☐ Our suggestions: gloves, a hat, non-slip shoes, a towel and a phone with a translation app. KKday doesn’t mention shoes or rain gear
We’d pack a windproof warm layer even for a November date. The average high is 17.8°C on land, and you spend about 60 minutes on open water.
How to Get to Matsuura
⚠️ You can’t arrive the same morning — From Hakata Station or Fukuoka Airport, the earliest train reaches Matsuura at 9:20. The tour starts at 8:30. From Nagasaki Airport, the earliest arrival is 12:25. Plan to reach Matsuura the day before
Matsuura Station is on the Matsuura Railway (MR) Nishi-Kyushu Line. The meeting hotel is a 7-minute walk from the station.
Plan A: train from Hakata
About 3 hours
Take the Relay Kamome limited express to Takeo-Onsen, then the JR Sasebo Line to Arita, then the Matsuura Railway to Matsuura. The fare is ¥4,660 for the whole trip, with 3 transfers (as of October 2026)
Plan B: rental car
1 hour 45 minutes
Drive from Fukuoka Airport on the Nishi-Kyushu Expressway, which has toll sections. The hotel has 66 free parking spaces, first come, first served
Plan C: from Sasebo
2 hours 15 minutes
A direct MR train leaves Sasebo at 5:48 and reaches Matsuura at 8:03. It costs ¥2,120 and runs on weekdays and Saturdays. On weekdays, a Saihi Bus leaves Sasebo Station at 7:05 and arrives at 8:17 for ¥1,400
Getting home
The 17:18 train
It leaves Matsuura and reaches Hakata at 20:17 for ¥4,660, with 3 transfers. You reach Fukuoka Airport at about 20:45. Sasebo is 18:51 by weekday bus, 18:53 by weekend bus, or 19:36 by MR train
Source: Yahoo! Transit and Google Maps, checked October 2026.
If you’re coming from Fukuoka by train, we’d pick Plan A in the afternoon and spend the night at the meeting hotel. The earliest morning train arrives at 9:20, so a same-day arrival can’t work.
Plan C works on the day only if you’re staying in Sasebo. On weekends the bus leaves at 7:20 and arrives at 8:32, which is too late. Check Sunday MR times in a route app.
For Plan B, open this Google Maps route from the airport to the hotel. The hotel says the Matsuura interchange on the expressway is about 5 minutes away. Plan to arrive the day before too, since the tour starts at 8:30.
The tour ends at the hotel at 17:00 and the station is a 7-minute walk, so the 17:18 train works. There’s not much slack. Nagasaki Airport has no public transport that arrives the same night.
Paying for transport
| Where | How to pay |
|---|---|
| Matsuura Railway | Transit IC cards or cash |
| Saihi Bus | Carry coins and ¥1,000 notes. The bus can’t change ¥2,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000 notes |
| JR Kyushu Rail Pass | Not valid on the Matsuura Railway |
Source: Matsuura Railway, JR Kyushu and Saihi Bus, checked October 2026.
The Matsuura Railway says it works with nationwide transit IC cards. See its IC card page. The JR Kyushu Rail Pass doesn’t cover other companies’ railways. So a pass covers the JR part from Hakata to Arita, and you pay for the Matsuura Railway from Arita to Matsuura. There is no highway bus from Fukuoka to Matsuura.
Where to Stay
The tour meets at the Matsuura City Hotel, and we’d pick it for the night before. You can walk to the meeting point in the morning, so there’s no taxi or early train to worry about.
- It’s about a 7-minute walk from Matsuura Station, according to the hotel. See the hotel’s access page.
- Check-in is from 15:00 to 24:00, and check-out is by 10:00. Klook says the hotel doesn’t offer after-hours check-in. Plan to arrive before midnight.
- Klook lists a paid Japanese breakfast from 6:00 to 9:00.
- The hotel’s phone number is 0956-72-5000 (+81-956-72-5000). We couldn’t confirm whether staff speak English.
KKday says a taxi from Amistad Hotel (アミスタホテル), near Matsuura Station, is also included. The listing doesn’t say how to arrange that pick-up. If you stay there, ask KKday after you book.
KKday can take up to 3 days to confirm a booking. We’d wait for the confirmation before you book the hotel, then check the room’s cancellation terms on Klook.
Booking, Cancellation and Weather
KKday confirms your booking up to 3 days after you order. On October 22, the first date you could pick was October 30, 8 days later. Plan to book at least 8 days ahead.
Cancellation
KKday’s cancellation policy (as of October 2026):
If the weather or wave conditions are dangerous, the tour may be canceled before the scheduled day. In that case no cancellation fee is charged.
What’s Included
Included, according to KKday:
- Experience fees
- Pick-up from your hotel by taxi
- Taxi fare for sightseeing in Matsuura
- Fishing equipment rental
- Cooking tools and ingredients other than the fish
- Consumption tax
Not included:
- Souvenirs
- Other unspecified costs
FAQ
QCan I join alone?
No. The plan can be purchased by 2 or more people.
QIs the guide English-speaking?
No. The guide speaks Japanese, and KKday says support with translation apps is possible. Bring a phone with data.
QCan kids join?
Yes, from age 6. The child ticket (ages 6–11) is about US$145.
QDo I need a fishing license?
No. Sea fishing with a rod needs no license in Japan. See our license guide.
QCan I take my fish home?
KKday doesn’t say. Ask KKday before you book.
QIs the trip running after March 9, 2027?
We don’t know. KKday’s dates stop at March 9, 2027, and it hasn’t said whether more will be added. Check the booking page.
QCan I do this as a day trip from Fukuoka?
No for the outbound trip: the earliest morning arrival is 9:20. You can get back the same night, since the 17:18 train reaches Hakata at 20:17.
Ready to Book?
Want to catch your lunch, fry it on an island and be back at your hotel by five? This full day does all three. Book the night before in Matsuura, and you’ll walk to the meeting point.
