Friendly Fukuoka – Dazaifu Tenmangu, Sumo Stable and Komyozenji

I was having a small spring cleaning last week and when I went through all my documents and leaflets I came across leaflets about the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine. I took a look at them and realized I didn’t even write a post about our trip there yet. So I will obviously be making a change to that today! Forgetful as I am I forgot my camera’s memory card so until my friend lent me hers I couldn’t take any photos of the first part of the trip. I will go back soon to make more photos though because I found a part-time job near the shrine and go there once a week now.

All credit to Leonemoff

I have mentioned Dazaifu shrine a few times before because it is a very big and famous shrine near Fukuoka city and it is one of the most famous touristic sightseeing sights in the area. It is especially beautiful in February when the plum blossoms are blooming. There are more than a thousand of these trees at Dazaifu so it is supposed to be very nice. I haven’t personally been there in February but I did go to its slightly smaller brother in Kyoto called Kitano Tenmangu and I can vouch for the incredible beauty of the plum blossom (I even prefer it to cherry blossoms now).

All credit to CTG/SF

Dazaifu Tenmangu is a shrine established in the 7th century after the death of Suguwara no Michizane. Michizane was born in Kyoto into a family of scholars loyal to the emperor. He made it as Minister of Right of the emperor, one of the highest political positions at the royal house. But with the fall of the emperor and the strategic maneuverings of his rival he was demoted to a minor post in Dazaifu and exiled from Kyoto. After he was exiled and died in Dazaifu, the imperial court was struck by a series of disasters and the young emperor passed away. Because of this the imperial decided to build a shrine dedicated to Michizane to calm his vengeful spirit. This is the Kitano Tenmangu shrine I mentioned above. Another shrine was built where his remains lay, which is the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine.

By Kim

Must try snack; Umegae Mochi

Michizane was not only a politician and scholar, but he was an excellent poet as well. Here is a beautiful poem that shows his passion for plum blossoms:

When the east wind blows, flourish in full bloom, you, plum blossoms! Even though you lose your master, don’t be oblivious to spring.

The Dazaifu shrine is not only famous for its connections with Michizane, there is also an unexpected connection with sumo. Hidden behind the shrine is a sumo stable! In Fukuoka there is a big official sumo tournament in November so you can take a look at the sumo wrestlers practicing from the beginning of November.

a little teaser of the Kitano Tenmangu plum blossoms

When we arrived there were already a group of people taking a look at the practice. These are very serious events though so you can not disturb them in any way. That’s why they practice inside a stable and you are not allowed to go in. You can see the practice from the big windows. You should be quiet and not take any photos with a flash. It was my first time seeing a sumo practice and I have never seen a match on T.V. either so to see it in really life from the first time was really impressive. The sumo players really are big, it was so surprising. Especially when you compare them to the really skinny average Japanese person.

By Mareile

We were lucky enough to interview one of the top players. I guess it is hard to say no to a group of 50 foreign students 😉 We could all ask him some questions and he was kind enough to answer to all our questions. To be honest, I don’t remember what we asked him because it has already been a few months. If only I made notes or a video. Oh well, nothing to do about it. Anyway, while that guy was talking to us another one of the high ranking sumo wrestlers was making weird faces and gestures behind him so it was really hard to stay serious. He is a hilarious guy and I can’t believe he is such a big celebrity or famous person in the sumo world. They were also nice enough to take time for their Japanese fans as well, especially the little ones.

If that is not one of the coolest group photos ever then I don’t know what is

When that whole comedy show was over we had time to explore the area by ourselves and we were recommended to go to Komyozenji garden. It is located in a cute area with nice houses. The front garden is nice with a small stone garden but the rear garden is where the magic happens. You first take your shoes of when you go in and walk into this big open room with tatami mats, almost like you are visiting a traditional house, and then you walk onto this small balcony with a wondrous garden. At first it seems just like any garden, but you need to take your time to appreciate it. I think I sat down for at least half an hour just admiring the quiet and the lush trees. It truly was an oasis of peace. I might even say it is the nicest place in the Fukuoka area I have been to so far. Photos do not do the place any justice, believe me. We went there just before the leaves turned into bright autumn colors but I can only imagine how magical this place will be when it does have them in the middle of November.

If you go to Fukuoka then Dazaifu is a no-brainer that you should definitely visit. And if you have the time you should try Komyozenji as well for a true experience Japanese beauty and zen.

A Weekend Trip to Nagasaki Part 2 – Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Glover Garden

Last time I wrote about the the first day of our Nagasaki school trip and today I want to continue by telling about our second day. This is mostly about the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum which is quite a popular tourist destination, so it might be an interesting read for people considering to visit this museum or the one in Hiroshima (which I have yet to visit).

The next day it was time to rise and shine early in the morning (as always), and I really wonder how some of the guys got up that went drinking until deep in the night. Anyway, I was really excited to go to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. This might sound weird, but I have always been interested in WOII events and stories and I was just really curious to see who they had set the museum up and what kind of stories they would be portraying there.

By my friend Kim

As you can imagine it is a museum with a lot of impact. It starts off with a dark room that replicated the scenery of a broken church facade and other broken buildings while displaying some horrific movies and photos, which sets an eerie tone for the rest of the museum. After that comes a more factual part with information about the Fat Boy (the atomic bomb), how it works, what happened during and after the explosion and what king of material damaged it did. You then move on the the immediate and long term effects of these bombs and the radiation. The part that I stuck to the longest time was the part with stories, quotes, pictures and movies of survivors. It is just so tough to swallow, but so important to see how horrible a thing this is and why we should prevent something like this from happening again. I think it would be good for everyone to be confronted with these stories and information and to start contemplating about what it is to be living in a world of relative peace at the moment and what we humans do to each other.

Anyway, near the museum is a Peace Park so we went there after the museum. While you walk to the peace park you actually walk past the ‘Hypocenter park’ where the hypocenter of the atomic was. That feels very strange. The peace park itself is build to commemorate the 10.000 citizens that died because of the bomb. There are several statues and a big fountain in the park, the most famous ‘Peace Statue’ (which looks like some kind of Greek god to me). I was discussing with my friend about war, peace and suffering because this place really makes you contemplate you know. Other than that, there is not much to see in the park to be honest.

For lunch we ate a place which felt like a massive tourist trap to me haha. We had to wait downstairs until the tables were all set, and downstairs happened to be a tourist shop with many local Japanese foods. In Nagasaki’s case the most famous one is a cake originated in Portugal called Castella. Anyway, these shops are a dime in dozen in Japan because Japanese love buying souvenirs. Or rather it is expected of them to buy souvenirs (usually food) even when they are just on a day trip or weekend trip. So to cater to this massive buying of souvenirs there are many of them. There is even one in my local shopping mall where no tourist would ever come (I think).

But I digress. We were tempted with samples of food but then it was time to eat our Chinese-inspired lunch. Nagasaki has always had good relations with China and even the Netherlands and did a lot of trading with these countries. That’s why there are a lot of foreign influences in Nagasaki, like the Portugal cakes, Dutch traders’ island Dejima, Christian churches and Chinese (fusion) food. So our lunch was one of the fusion foods found in Nagasaki. The food was even placed on one of those Chinese spinning tables.

By Kim

When lunch was finished we moved on to Glover Garden. It is near the Oranda Zaka, or Dutch Slope, and is a very lovely European style house surrounded by a huge garden on top of one of the hills in Nagasaki. The house was built by a Scottish merchant and is another great example of foreign elements in Nagasaki. It offers a gorgeous view of Nagasaki Harbor and the garden itself has a lot of flowers and greenery, and it reminded me a little bit of the garden my grandparents used to have. But Japanese elements aren’t missing either because there is a big koi pond and a statue of a woman in kimono. Just like any place in Japan they commercialized the place by building a little cafe and a tourist shop. The cafe is actually really nice because there are seats outside in the garden which is very unusual for Japan. I really miss the Dutch (or European in general) sidewalk cafes and patios, so I was surprised to see it here.

By Kim

After this day full of impressions it was time to head home and let everything sink in.

Have you ever been to an Atomic Bomb Museum?
What did you think about it?

A Weekend Trip to Nagasaki Part 1 – Kyushu National Museum and Mifuneyama Rakuen

Last semester we took a lot of school trips with JTW around Kyushu to see and learn more about the area. The last trip that semester was to Nagasaki. I had been longing to go there because I wanted to visit the former Dutch traders island of Dejima and see some of the Dutch influences left around the city. Unfortunately we didn’t go there.

Before we went to the city of Nagasaki we dropped by the Kyushu National Museum and later at Mifuneyama-rakuen. The National Museum of Kyushu is located in Dazaifu, near Fukuoka. The building is very big with striking architecture and when we were there a Balinese musical performance was being held in the spacious entrance hall. The permanent museum collection itself is not too big though. I don’t think you will need a lot of time looking around. The collection is called a ‘Cultural Exchange Exhibition’ and is not just about Japanese or Kyushu history, but the history of Asian cultural exchange. The interesting parts for me were the Dutch collection, the ‘Hidden Christians’ (kakure kirishitan) artifacts and a Chinese painting which had the same set up as one of the paintings we studied for the East-Asian Arts course back in Leuven. Sadly I forgot my camera during this trip so I only had my iPhone at disposal. So I am also using some pictures taking by my friend Kim 🙂

By Kim

As I said the collection isn’t too big so within an hour we had seen everything and headed to our next destination Mifuneyama Rakuen. It is a big ‘stroll garden’ designed by a painter from Kyoto and completed in 1845. It has gorgeous views with every season or every month offering a unique view. It is supposed to have beautiful autumn foliage, but sadly when we were there most leaves had already fallen down. It is still a nice garden with a small mountain and many azalea bushes, so I can imagine how impressive it most be when these are in bloom (which is actually around the time that I am writing/posting this article). How I wish I could go there right now to see the azaleas. I have fallen in love with those flowers since I first saw them blooming a few weeks ago. I saw them for the first time in my live and can’t get over how bright and colorful they are.

A bare garden without the autumn leaves or spring/summer flowers.

Still found some red leaves!

So the garden was really nice but it just wasn’t the right timing to go because there was no autumn leaves and no flowers blooming either. Instead we just fooled around, chatted and took a lot of photos. When we were finished I really wanted to buy a hot chocolate at the little coffee stand outside the garden, but when we got back it was already closed. Too bad. But it was time to head to our inn. The Nakamasu ryokan we were staying at was really luxurious with big rooms, onsen in the building and a luxurious dinner. I can’t believe we only paid 300 yen for this trip. JTW sometimes really amazes me. The funny thing is that the outside didn’t look like a ryokan at all, and the hallways and stairs looked like they had had their best times, but the rooms, the onsen and the dinner were so nice.

By Kim

After the amazing dinner some people went to soak in the hot springs. I went out to buy some drinks and snacks and decided to take a nice warm soak in our big private bath to eliminate the winter cold from my body. To city of Takeo where to ryokan is located isn’t to big but there was a gorgeous illuminated red gate and some other nice views which made a stroll around the city a good idea. I decided to skip because I wanted to stay warm and cosy inside. When everybody did their strolls, took a bath and put on a yukata we all gathered in one of the guys’ rooms to play games and drink together. It was such a fun and cosy night, and a nice way to enjoy our last trip of the first semester.

Next time I will be sharing part two of this post which is about us actually going to Nagasaki where we visited the Atomic Bomb Museum and Glover Garden.

Aso Volcano Area: UNESCO Global GEO Park

I am excited to introduce another field trip to you guys. I know, what’s up with all the field trips you might think? Well, I get to visit unique locations in Japan (mostly Kyushu) that are usually inaccessible or unknown to foreigners and even some Japanese. Besides that I also get to listen to tours and explanations of these areas by experts so I learn a lot on these field trips, if I manage to understand the complex Japanese that these experts use. Lastly it is great to bond with all these people and also a good practice for my Japanese. There is not much not to like about these field trips, except that they leave you very tired and broke after a while, but is is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make.

Anyway, this time I am going to talk about the Aso Vulcano Area. It was designated as a Global GEO Park by Unesco last September. My laboratorium tried to organise a trip to the area straight after the designation. In the first half of the post I explain what Aso is and the second half is my experience there.

Global GEO Park

UNESCO World Heritage, both cultural and nature, is well known I think. GEO Park is a more unknown part of the UNESCO Heritage covering Geological Heritage. This means that the promotion and protection of these GEO Parks is connected to agritourism and geotourism. Some other sites on this list are the Korean island of Jeju and Langkawi in Malaysia. There are different kinds of Geo Parks varying from Dinosaur Geoparks to Volcano Geoparks and Mining Geoparks to name a few. As the official website of Global Geo Network says their aim is sustainability and real economic benefit to the local communities, usually through the development of sustainable tourism and other cultural and economic activities.

Promoting Aso Vulcano Area

The Aso area is still in the very early stages of promoting tourism because of two factors. One is that it only got recognized as Global Geopark, and thus as Geological World Heritage, very recently. Secondly, the Aso area has to camp with the same problems as the rest of rural Japan; the rural areas keep getting more abandoned and are running empty. Most young people move away to big cities to study, find jobs and even just because it is more entertaining and hip there. Together with the rapidly aging population this means that there is only a small community of elderly people left in most of the countryside. To change this or at least attract more tourists to the local areas several groups and centres have been set up to promote the Aso area and organize tours.

We were able to visit the Aso area with the help of So Setsuda from Aso Design Centre (阿蘇地域振興デザインセンター in Japanese). He set up a route and plan that would be the most comprehensive, informative and bring us in contact with locals. And the best part; everything was completely free. Free stay in a traditional inn, free delicious dinner, free lunch, free hot springs, free visit to a museum, free tour bus and more. Basically a free two-day-one-night tour in return for our honest reviews about the tour, tips on how to get more tourists there and posting photos and information on social networks. Now that I think about it, it is basically like what many travel bloggers do; go on a sponsored trip in return for a review and media exposure. Only this was in a big group and this was for educational purposes.

Agricultural Traditions

The fact that the Aso area is a Global GEO Park is pretty amazing, but why is that? During the trip I learned that the people in this area have a very unique tradition of cutting down the trees on the mountain and burning all the grass and weeds in order for grasslands to be created (called Noyaki, translates a ‘burning grass’). It is one of the few places on earth where you will see wide grasslands on mountains. They do this because it is a volcanic area and thus very fertile. They keep cows and other kettle on these grasslands as well as growing rice, vegetables and working with greenhouses. So it is a very important agricultural area. It is actually the most well known place throughout Kyushu for agricultural products and a quite some tourists stop by to get some of the products.

The fact that those grasslands are not naturally just there and what significance they hold is very unknown amongst these tourists. There is a need to promote awareness of Noyaki. First of all it is a tradition only found in Aso so it is important to make sure this unique tradition doesn’t disappear. Second of all it takes a lot of work to practice this Noyaki but with the ever decreasing population in the countryside the people of Aso need the help of volunteers more and more. It is hard work but very fulfilling and getting in contact with the local people while really helping out people that need it is a good thing in my opinion.

The downside is that it is still all in Japanese. I recommended them to appeal to foreign tourists and students as well because I am sure there are people interested to help out and dive into the local culture of Aso. But it is still a work in process.

If you are interested in some pictures of Noyaki, you can take a look at this post by Atsushino Tanno.

Touring Aso

As always we started our field work by getting on the bus on campus and taking a long drive. When we arrived in the Aso area the landscape started to change and we saw stretching grasslands on the mountains and the occasional cows. We started by going to the Aso Visitors Centre. The Centre is almost like a museum with photos and explanations of Aso on the walls and other displays of Aso. One of the volunteers working there explained the characteristics to us. There was also a corner to make cute animals with sticks and leaves and flowers. Another corner was intended for kids with some books and costumes. Around the centre is a Wild Flower Garden but we didn’t get to see that.

Since we’d had a long drive we then moved on to lunch. It was a very special lunch; the tables were pits with sand and burning coal and instead of plated all the food was put on big skewers. There were even gloves provided to take out the skewers from the burning pit. All the food was locally produced like local fish, tofu and meat. The location was also pretty unique; the restaurants looked like a big farm house and just outside were stretching fields of grassland and farmland. And a bunch of cute goats!

Volcano Eruption

Our next destination was Aso Volcano Museum. While driving there we drove past the Volcano Crater. Or more like we could see it from a distance. There was smoke coming out and it was my first time seeing that in real life. I have never been to a volcano so it was pretty cool to see even if it was from far away. Actually it appears that later that day the volcano erupted a little bit and visiting the crater has been restricted since then, although it seems that there is no direct danger of a big eruption at present time.

The Volcano Museum was quite interesting but everything was in Japanese and the guide was very difficult to understand. His sandbox explanation of volcano explosions and the creation of Aso Caldera was interesting though. So if you don’t know Japanese this might not be the place for you. Some of the signs did have English translations though, so if you are interested in volcanos it might be worth a try anyway. I do recommend to visit the crater if possible and enjoy the gorgeous view of the grasslands and the volcano.

Lavish Dinner

In the evening we arrived at our lovely ryokan. Before we could settle down and eat it was time for an interview with two local farmers and to tell our opinions and thoughts of what we had seen that day. So basically we had a study session. After about two hours our food was set up in another room and we could finally take a rest from all the touring around and studying.

Dinner was Japanese style of many small dishes including hot pot, sashimi and duck. It was very lavish. Sake was flowing and before I knew people were dancing on the small stage in the room. We have students from Japan, China and Korea, and then me and a visitor from Germany, so every ‘country’ had to show a local dance. My German friend and me represented Europe with the chicken dance. You need to think of something right?

Talking about interesting food, the breakfast next day was also quite interesting. It as normal buffet style except that next to the tables was a fake river and occasionally baskets with eggs would float by so you would have to catch your eggs from the baskets. I have never seen anything like that before.

study session. Photo by prof. Fujihara

Awesome dinner. Photo by prof. Fujihara

Soaking in hot springs

When dinner was finished it was finally time to freshen up in the hot springs! Also is has many natural hot springs and this inn specialized in them with hot springs in different locations around the hotel. So we girls put on our yukata and went to the first one which would turn into a mixed bath later in the evening. It started to drizzle but we were warm and cozy in the bath. I can definitely recommend doing this, it feels so good!

After nearly an hour we put on our yukata again and walked to the second bath which was a small one outside in the second floor. And we went to a third hot spring down the slope (in the dark) as well. So basically we were touring the different onsen. In Japan it is a custom to drink cold milk after a warm bath so we drank cold milk locally made in Aso together in the lobby. Then I took a last shower in dipped into a private bath before falling asleep on cozy futons.
Sorry no photos because they are not allowed in hot springs!

Aso Shrine

The next day we went to a lecture. It was in difficult Japanese though so I didn’t really catch what they were saying, but I remember it was about volunteering for the Noyaki and what kind of work and organizations are involved. After that we visited Aso shrine. My professor was really excited because he was born and raised in this area and he knew a shop with very good meat buns. Around the town near Aso shrine there are a lot of fountains with the local spring water. This water is supposed to be very healthy and delicious so you should definitely take a sip from the different springs.

The shrine itself is known for the festival held to celebrate the Noyaki and a fire ritual festival. My professor showed us videos and photos of this fire ritual festival and it looked very impressive and a little bit dangerous as well. it is celebrated in march but sadly I couldn’t go there to check it out myself.

Megaliths

Lastly we went to some mountain where there is a lot of electromagnetic fields called Oshito-ishi. It started to rain though and it was super misty and cold so we weren’t in the mood to do it. Basically we had to climb a hill and try with our compass all the different stones there and see which ones made the compass go crazy. They are megaliths made of volcanic rock and some have inscriptions on them in some ancient language. One of the biggest stones there is sacred to the local people. The hill that the stones are located on supposedly offer a great view of the Aso caldera but it was too misty for us to get a good view. Sometimes we could catch a glimpse and the view looked fantastic indeed.

so misty

the sacred stone

Friendly Fukuoka – Tea Gathering and Tea Ceremony

During the first semester in Kyushu University I followed an introductory course to the art of Japanese tea ceremony. We did readings, presentations, listened to stories of the teacher but there was also the practical side of making tea, folding a special kind of napkin and serving tea and so on. The best part of this course were the field trips. One of the field trips was a trip to Nishijin to buy some supplies. I bought a tea cup, a tea whisk, a tea scoop and a set which included the aforementioned napkin, paper holders for sweets, a sweets cutter, a fan and a small bag. After the shopping ws done we went to an Indian restaurant where our awesome professor treated us. I received one of the biggest naan I’ve eaten to date.

So you think we were set for our tea ceremonies after having bought this stuff right? Well, you are right, but this was actually our second field trip. We went to one before buying the materials for a tea ceremony, so basically we were unprepared for our first field trip! The reason our teacher did this was to make us dependent on the others there and thus forced to make contact with the people around us. Our first field trip is a so called ‘Tea gathering’. It is different from a normal tea ceremony because it was outside and actually reminded me of a festival. There were big tents spread over the terrain of the temple, each tent representative of a different school of tea. In front of the tent you could buy a ticket. That ticket granted acces to the tea ceremony inside. Another difference is that these ceremonies were performed in front of a big group of guests while it is usually a small gathering. And we got to sit on normal chairs and tables. Anyway, there was only one ticket left for the next ceremony of my teachers’ school, Nambo Ryu, when I arrived so my teacher gave it to me and I left my classmates behind who were going to one of the later sessions. So I was thrown into the unknown, on my own. My first tea ceremony, without utensils, without support. The lady next to me was nice enough to notice I didn’t have the proper utensils and gave some of hers to me. In front of a few rows of guest there was an old lady in a kimono holding a kind of conversation with the guest of honor and explaining some things. Next to her was a lady preparing the tea, so doing what we would think the actual ‘tea ceremony’. That tea was also for the first guest (or guest of honor). All the others got tea and sweets that were prepared in the back room. Usually the first gets and the host exchange some words about the weather, season, decorations and the guest would say how good the tea was.

We were so lucky that our teacher could get us some more tickets so we could attend a second ceremony by a different school. They have different ways of decorating, folding their napkin, scooping the hot water for the tea and even drinking the tea. There are many subtle differences which was interesting to experience. I didn’t take any photos of the actual tea performances because it is not proper etiquette to do that and I stand out enough as a foreigner as it is. My friend did take a few photos though, so thanks to her I can show you a glimpse of the ceremony.

The day of the gathering was also the time of shichi-go-san festival, when families with three-, five- or seven year old kids go to the temple to thank for their healthy kids and pray for ongoing health. The kids get dressed in their prettiest clothes. Sometimes in kimonos, sometimes in tiny suits. it is so cute to see. And the traditional clothing for a tea ceremony is the kimono, so I saw many beautiful kimonos that day. As you might notice, the kimonos of these ladies are quite sober, not as brightly colored and decorated as the ones the kids are wearing or we can see on maiko (apprentice geisha) in Kyoto. That is because tea ceremonies are supposed to be a sober and relaxing event where boasting your wealth and possessions is not proper, so you need a simple kimono to match that thought. The older the lady is, the darker and less bright the colors get and the less decorations are on the kimono.

Made by my friend Kim Le

Priestess

Priest

And the last field trip that I joined was a tea ceremony, not a tea gathering like above. Although it was not a tea ceremony for entertainment, but a memorial tea ceremony in a tempel. It was to commemorate the death of the founder of the Nambo Ryu tea school. It started early in the morning with all the guests gathering in the main hall. There a memorial service was performed and a symbolic bowl of tea was prepared. It was much like any other memorial service or morning service of buddhist temples. The only problem was that is took a good hour if not more and I was sitting on the ground in the same position the whole time. I know now what pain and uncomfortable is. When the ceremony was over and I could finally feel my legs ago we could go to a warmed up room (because temples are cold and not heated) to eat a lunch box. We had to wait for our turn for the tea ceremony so we took some pictures outside the temple. I didn’t bring my camera this time, so I only took pictures with my phone. Anyway, soon round two of sitting in seiza (on the knees) began. This time the pain came much quicker especially because the room was so cramped I couldn’t move a muscle. It was actually so painful I started to feel sick and break out in a sweat. But all the Japanese in the room were doing fine so I had to put up with it. When we finally got the sweets and some tea I had some distraction. But I survived somehow. And by now I was dreading the third round. But there was a nice old lady who had seen my struggles so she had asked for a stool for me. So the third round I could sit on a small stool and I was so happy I could kiss the woman. And like that a long and painful day ended, but I was a lot more rich in experiences than I was before.

‘Camping’ in Japan and Autumn Foliage

So I and many other exchange students got invited by Japanese friends to go camping. I love camping and it was also a good way to go watch the autumn leaves which turn incredible red and yellow colors in Japan, so I immediately agreed to go. The thing is, the Japanese interpretation is different from mine. I was thinking about a tent, campfire foods and going to the toilet somewhere in the woods. They were thinking private cottage, big hotpot and Japanese style toilet inside the cottage. It doesn’t matter though because it was a good time either way.

The trip started by a nice long drive. It felt to drive around Kyushu with friends. It almost felt like a little road trip. I was the only girl among six guys in the car so it was a crazy but fun drive. After a while we reached a village famous for its sake. As soon as we got out of the car we got some sake boiled in bamboo offered to us for free. It was good, but really strong. Anyway, these are the kind of moments that make my stay in Fukuoka and Kyushu worthwhile, the people are so friendly. We took a look around the village which was preparing for a kind or lantern festival. Sadly we had to move on before we could see thee lanterns light up. After another (rather hilarious) drive we reached an onsen. It was a hot spring in the middle of nowhere, next to a river. It was so tranquil and soaking in the baths was a great treat. When the boys and girls had gathered after a nice soak we made way to a huge Gingko tree. It had never seen one before. Its leaves were a bright yellow color and it stinked (I wonder why).

The last part of that day was trying to find the cottage. It was quite far up in the mountains and it had become dark long before we reached the area. But finding a cottage in the mountains, in the dark is not easy I tell you. After having driven back and forth a few times we asked people in a local restaurant (the only establishment that was open in the range of a few kilometers) and they told us how to drive there. When we finally found the place it was pure bliss. As I told you before I thought we would be camping in a tent (which would have been a bad idea in the winter in the mountains), then I heard we would stay in a cottage (which I also imagined to be very basic) but we reached something like a private villa. Okay, villa might be a bit exaggerated but it was a very big house with a few showers and toilets, a few rooms that could fit the 20+ of us easily, a kitchen and a living room. And then the preparations for diner began. Hot pot for everyone! Booze was not to be missed either of course.

The next morning we tried to clean up the place with the best of our sleep-deprived effort. After breakfast I ventured outside and woke up to the most stunning view of mist in the mountains. I won’t forget that view soon. We took some group photos before leaving for the next part of our trip. We were going to a temple where the autumn foliage would be really nice. The driver of our group was much faster than the others’ so we were way ahead of the rest. We decided to make some stops at some other places since we had some time anyway. But we lost track of time and in the end we didn’t have time to climb the trail at the temple with the autumn leaves. We got to see some awesome other places so it wasn’t all too bad. After all the fun it was time to head home. Everyone was tired but happy and satisfied.

Friendly Fukuoka – Kimono Parade, Lantern festival, Rice harvesting, and Picking Oranges.

Hello everyone!

I finally started properly working on my bachelor paper and I attend seminars regularly for ISP, which means that I regularly move between two campuses of the uni. So I am flying around Fukuoka just to be in the right campus on time for the different classes and seminars. But this also means that I am even more busy than before, so please excuse my late blog this time around! A lot has happened this past month, so I will sum up the most important moments. There are lots ad lots of photos so enjoy!

On saturday October 18th there was a parade of women dressed in kimono, which is of course something we all wanted to see! So I went with a group of friends to the place of the parade, and there I unexpectedly met a friend from my home university! She was there for the Octoberfest, so after talking for a while we said our goodbyes. After the kimono parade, accompanied by traditional music also played by kimono wearing women, we went to the lantern festival. The station and a lot of temples near the station were decorated with a sea of lanterns and it was so gorgeous. This is one of those situations were pictures speak more than words I think:

The next day we went rice harvesting in Arita. We all worked together to cut the rice and then we had to put all the rice in a sorting machine which takes the grains off the stems. The important thing to remember when you cut the rice is to keep your thumb up otherwise you can say bye-bye to your thumb. Since we were a big group so we were done quite soon with cutting the whole rice paddy. After our hard labour we were rewarded with the best barbecue possible. There were local grown vegetables and local meat of the highest quality. I am seriously not kidding when I say these meats are sold for a close to a hundred euro when you get it at the supermarket. And I have to say, it was the most delicious meat I ever ate.

The farmers were also eating with us and were really nice. They also let us drink some sake made with the same kind of rice we just cut ourselves. It was definitely something! Afterwards we went to Kagamiyama (Mirror Mountain) in Karatsu where we had this wonderful view on the coast of Karatsu. The only downside of this place; SPIDERS! everywhere! And not those cute little ones, but huge ones with black and yellow dangerous looking colors. The fun part of this was that we had to hike all the way down the mountain through the forest, knowing these things were everywhere around us. I’ve had better times in Japan haha.

As if this day wasn’t tiring and impressive enough it was also the birthday of my dearest friend, so afterwards it was party time!

The next weekend we went plucking mikan, which is often translated as orange but the size and taste actually reminded me of mandarins, on saturday. It was not a JTW trip, but a private trip organized by a church group and I got invited by my friend. It was really nice because we went to the place by car and it was a while since I had a drive. I don’t know why, but sometimes there is something really relaxing about driving around with friends and just looking at the landscape. Anyway, the group was really mixed with very young children and elderly people and any age in-between, from all different countries.

At the place where we went plucking the mikan I was overwhelmed! The place was so big and it was beautifully situated in the mountains. The fact that it was a rainy day made the place even more beautiful. And mikan trees reached as far as the eye could see. We each got a plastic big which we could fill with as many mikan as we wanted. All the while tasting them of course! They were sweet and delicious. The trick is to find ones that are a little bit soft. Personally I preferred small sized ones with a dark orange color because they were nice and sweet. After we were done plucking them we all ate self made lunch together and moved on to the next place; a flower exposition at a temple.

Friendly Fukuoka – Nomikai, Game Centre and Oktoberfest

In the morning we had classes; ‘Miyazaki Hayao’s World’ and a gender class. Both or very interesting classes, especially the last one where we discuss a lot about gender roles and other things both in Japan and our home countries. After the classes my friend and I did some groceries and ate lunch together before preparing for a nomikai (drinking party) in the evening.

This was a rather funny evening because in the same room as ours was another party. It was a huge group of Japanese girls and boys around my age, or a little bit younger. The party was a birthday party for one of them who became ‘legal age’ which means that they can finally drink alcohol. So drinking is what they did, a lot! And not just normal drinking, but they were singing special drinking songs to encourage the people drinking to down their glass in one go, or they played drinking games. Anyway, they became more drunk as the night went on and they were so noisy.

I never knew Japanese could be this loud, we couldn’t even normally talk to each other. But that doesn’t matter because it was a lot of fun to see them enjoy themselves and the atmosphere was really good. When the JTW students also had had a few drinks it didn’t take long before the whole room was in chaos and everyone in the room started to drink and talk with each other. When it was time to go we had to pretty much run back to the station to catch the last train home, but it was worth it.

On Tuesday the typhoon that had caused some storms during the week already passed Fukuoka and most of the storm became quiet except for some cold winds. After classes we went to the popular スシロー again. I didn’t eat much sushi, but instead I enjoyed the cheap desserts there. Afterwards we went to take a look at the halloween costumes and did some shopping in a nearby shop. One by one people went home but my fellow Dutchman, my Filipino friend I decided to stay and go to the game centre. There we played some dancing games, which were quite difficult, and took purikura. Taking purikura with a boy is really interesting I have to say, and the results were hilarious. I just love Japanese game centers. They just have the weirdest games and there are usually many people so it feels very lively. The game centre back home are in the downfall, if present at all. Although with all the machines screaming at you it can be quite overwhelming as well. Actually, my ears start to hurt after a while.

The purikura machine that we used used the Dutch word ‘mooi’. Coincidence? I think not! It was fate that we chose this machine hahaha.

Oktoberfest started on friday, and of course we wanted to take a look there. I am not much of a beer person but I was curious to what the atmosphere would be like and that they would be selling. I didn’t even buy one beer (they were really expensive anyway), but I did buy some food that I shared with my friend. We tried pizza, garlic bread and a waffle. Except for the waffle all the food was really good! I was contemplating to go there again next week just for the food, but in the end I didn’t haha. Anyway, there were German performers there and the crowd was so into it.

It was an awesome atmosphere. People were singing and dancing and we joined them. We were there quite late so sadly it was already the last performance of the day. Even though we weren’t drunk we could still appreciate the lively and happy atmosphere and it was funny to be dragged into dancing the polonaise by some random people. I really liked experiencing Oktoberfest for the first time, even though it was a Japanese version of it. Afterwards the party was not over so we moved on the a bar for nomihoudai. I talked a lot with some people I hadn’t really talked to before, so it was nice to get to know them better. Some people decided to go to clubbing after the nomihoudai was over, but I wanted to go home because Oktoberfest and drinking in a bar was more than enough for me. Some people were very drunk so we all walked all the way back to the dorm with our bicycles at hand. And the dorm is actually surprisingly close to the city centre by foot.

Friendly Fukuoka – Nakasu Matsuri, Momochi Beach, Canal City and Showa Style Pub

On friday there was a matsuri, Japanese festival, going on in Tenjin. It’s something that most of us had always wanted to see, so of course we couldn’t skip it! During the day I didn’t do much though. So in the evening a lot of the JTW students and students went to the matsuri. During these festivals a portable shrine is usually carried through the city to the main shrine. Usually men do this, but this was a special matsuri where women had to carry the shrine. They wore some special traditional attire that I had never seen before. They looked so cool. When they were carrying the shrines they were shouting in unison and they looked so bad-ass. On the shrines there were standing four girls to encourage and keep the pace of the shouting and walking.

After they were gone some Japanese girl group gave an performance. It was funny to see because it’s such a typical Japanese thing to have crazy fanboys shouting and dancing with their lightsticks to a group of too cute underage girls. When they were gone a group of young taiko drummers gave a performance. And man, they were so cool! I wished I was that cool at that age. They played very seriously with a cool posture. When they were finished another group of drummers came up, but they also did some traditional singing and dancing along with the drumming. It was so beautiful, and very traditional. But during their performance we left to get food. We went to a pretty expensive izakaya but didn’t drink this time around. After dinner we moved on to karaoke (oh my god, maybe I am addicted), but only for an hour. After another satisfying evening we biked back to the dorm and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Cute little boy!

Saturday we finally went to the beach! There are a lot of beaches in and near Fukuoka and I had been looking forward to go there since, well….. since the day that I knew I would be going to Fukuoka. It took us a while to go there because we went by bike, but during the ride there we saw a lot of Fukuoka which was a big advantage. I really need to go exploring by bike more often because there are a lot of nice places to discover here. The beach itself was very big and with the pier it really had a wow-factor.

Sadly there was a typhoon on its way to Japan so the wind was very strong so it was too dangerous to go swimming. But the water surprisingly warm despite it already being october and the strong winds. I think it was even warmer then the water in Italy a few weeks back. I keep thinking about the sea and how badly I want to swim there! So instead of swimming we just stood there in the undeep water and got splashed by the high waves so my one of my friends and I ended up being soaked by the water anyway. No need for swimming. Most people felt cold because of the wind (which wasn’t that cold to me). I could have spent hours there but they wanted to leave and get lunch, so that’s what we did. We went to some Udon place and after that returned home with full bellies and a little bit tired.

Another day of classes on wednesday. They were just introduction classes though so I don’t know about the real deal yet. In the evening there was a lunar eclipse going on so we went to roof of one of the uni buildings to watch it. It took a long time, but it was beautiful to see. Someone brought a telescope too so we could view the moon in detail! Being there was really fun because it was my first time going up a rooftop here and the airplanes heading to Fukuoka Airport were so close to us! The whole moon-watching on a rooftop scene was just something really special in my opinion and it all seemed so Japanese to me, like I was in a Japanese movie or cartoon or something. And I got to talk to my friend Japanese friend who wants to go to Leiden University next year. But all that moon-viewing took long and we were really hungry afterwards so we hoppe don our bicycles and headed to スシロー, the conveyer belt sushi place it talked about in the post about my first week here (I think).

a friend took these photos with his cellphone

Thursday I didn’t have class because the only class I wanted to attend got cancelled. So we went to Canal City. It is a big shopping centre, but we didn’t go there for shopping. We went there for the food and the decorations! As the name says, there is a small canal in Canal City. There is also some greenery, statues and this time of the year a lot of Halloween decorations. It is really pretty and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shopping mall like that. There is also a cinema, planetarium and a theatre, so I am sure I will be going back there to check them out. We ate at Gindaco, a place that specializes in takoyaki. For my Dutch family/friends; they are basically savory poffertjes with squid in them and mayonaise instead of poedersuiker. Now you might be wondering, why does someone who hates seafood eat squid-hotcakes? Because they are freaking delicious of you take out the squid! I took out the big pieces of squid and gave them a friend, and what’s left is a delicious, hot, savory mini-pancake. It is sooo good, just like okonomiyaki.

Spiders!!

Are you sure we are in a shopping mall?

Making hotcakes?

Nope, it’s takoyaki!

First robot sighted!!

Fukuoka~

In Solaria Plaza I waited for my Japanese friend who I hadn’t met in two years. She lead me to a place where we would eat, but first we took purikura together (You know how I roll). Since she has a Japanese cellphone she can download the photos, so I can finally show you what purikura looks like, to give you an idea. She picked out an izakaya in Showa style. Showa is a historic period from the 1920s to the 1960s. The place was filled with old posters, food containers, lanterns, old tvs. The decoration was spot on and the atmosphere was just right. It was small but cosy. The prices are really cheap for an izakaya and they sell some popular dishes from that time. The yakitori for example was only 52 yen which is not even 40 eurocents. They even had some fried cheese dish which was so good and reminded me of kaaskroketten. I miss cheese! But this place has some awesome fried cheese to curb my cheese cravings. With one particular dish that a client ordered the whole staff started singing some song in really loud voices, it really added to the atmosphere of the place. And the staff was very friendly too. I think it is the best place that I went to so far. I am very thankful to my friend for introducing me to this place and the fun evening we had.

heavenly cheese on a stick.

And some purikura for the curious people;

Basically a photo machine which makes your eyes big and skin beautiful, and afterwards you can decorate with a lot of cute and weird things. Decorating is the fun part!

There’s already so many pictures and writings in this post that I will stop for now ! 🙂 Next week’s post will be more toned down as I had some quiet days when the typhoon came.

Friendly Fukuoka – Ryumon Falls, Aso Farmland and Kumamoto Castle

This will be a long post as it covers the first field trip and the opening ceremony of the Fall semester. So I apologize in advance for the many photos and long texts! Hang in there 😉

On sunday morning we gathered at the International Student Centre. We were going by bus on a two day ‘Welcome Trip’. The highways in the city are built up high, very different from those back in the Netherlands which are just ground level, so we had a nice view over the city and the sea on one side and mountains on the other side of the city. What a view. I can’t believe I managed to go to a beautiful place like this and felt very lucky.

After a fun but also slightly sleepy bus ride we arrived at our first destination, Ryumon Falls. At these waterfalls usually a shinto ritual takes place, which is the ritual of purification. The thought is that by standing onder the falling water your impurities will be washed away along with the water. But the stones are very slippery and dangerous so we weren’t allowed to climb them. We could go in the safer part of the water, but it was crowded and with my camera I didn’t want to take the risk. It was a beautiful place in the nature and it oozed tranquility.

We ate lunch in a restaurant near the waterfall. It was traditional style; we had to sit on the ground and the food we ate was some kind of soup with noodles, smoked fish and unidentifiable vegetables. The restaurant was very quaint and cute and it was nice to experience a real rural and traditional place like this.

And some photos made by the staff and friends 🙂

Selfie stick!

We then continues our bus ride through rice plantages, quaint villages and way up to the mountains. The nature in Kyushu is so impressive, it feels so organic, like it has been like this for thousands of years. The second place we visited that day was Kokonoe suspension bridge, which is the biggest in Japan according to our teacher. I never walked on a suspension bridge like this. The fact that it slightly swinger from left to right was interesting. Not for the faint of heart though. The views were spectacular as was to be expected. On the other side of the bridge some of us ate some soft ice-cream. It’s not as good as the ones back home, but they are delicious anyway and ice-cream is always welcome. One of my friends brought a ‘selfie-stick’ with her. It’s a trend in Asia lately, but I never saw one in real life. And it is actually a very useful thing! Making group pictures has never been easier. After this trip I am convinced that I should get one too…

At the end of the day we went even further into the mountains until we stopped at our ‘hotel’. It is a facility that belongs to our university with sleeping rooms, a gym, conference rooms, a cafetaria and hot spring baths. Soon after we arrived we had another short information session until dinner was served. We got some curry with rice and fried chicken. It was an easy meal but I really liked it. I just love curry. In the evening we had free time! I had an appointment with one of the professors about my bachelor paper, but after that I want to the gym. It was just a big sports hall just like back in elementary and high school. We played badminton, basketball, volleyball and things like that. It felt good to do some exercise after all those days without any exercise and eating a lot of food. And the reward; soaking in a hot spring bath. At first I wasn’t sure about going because it is scary to be naked in front of strangers. But I just went at a time when it was quiet and together with a friend we said we just look away from each other haha. But it wasn’t all too bad!

After a relaxing soak in the bath we went up to our rooms and chatted for a while until the other came back from the gym and the bath. We then gathered with a big group in the hallway and played games and chatted until late in the evening. It really felt like a bonding trip. And the hotel had great wifi so I finally got the chance to Skype with my parents, even though it was just for a short while and it was a chaos with all the noise in the hallway. But it was such a fun evening.

Next morning I had to get up early even though I hadn’t slept at all. There was just so much noise and it was hot and generally I can’t sleep well with a lot of people around me. But I wanted to make this day another good one so I ignored the fact that I was dead tired. After breakfast and packing our things we continues our trip. We went up the mountains again to go to Mt. Aso. On the highlands of Mt. Aso we got of the bus. The first thing we saw there was a performance by a monkey. The monkey was so cute, but it was also very sad to see. It was so scared and confused. But moving on…. There was an awesome view over the valley beneath Aso. There is a lot of farmland there, and you could see it neatly divided in rectangles of all the same size. As someone from the Netherlands, mountains and views like this still impress me endlessly. After a bunch of group photos we headed to the valley of Aso.

There we reached Aso Farmland which is basically a huge supermarket complex with ‘local products’. I was expecting fresh fruits and vegetables, but it was the typical Japanese sweets and other products packed in their pretty packages. These packages are so gorgeous but I was hoping for fresh products. They also sold some ice-cream and other home-made products though. I went to take a look at the cheeses (I miss cheese!) but the prices made me want to cry. Everything was too expensive there so I didn’t buy anything in the end. When everyone was back in the bus we headed to Kumamoto, for the castle but first lunch! The lunch was really nice and we all got a mini-stove which was so cute. And again it was kind of a traditional lunch which was nice. What was even better; the focus was on meat and not fish this time.

With our bellies full we made a short bus trip to Kumamoto Castle. This castle was on my bucket list for Japan, so I was happy to go there! Sadly we only had an hour there so we kind of had to rush through the place. What makes Kumamoto Castle so special is it’s black exterior. The rest, well, I wouldn’t know well. I didn’t pick up much information there because I didn’t have time to read the information signs. Instead, just enjoy the photos 🙂