Kyushu, Part One

Our last big trip in Japan! We’ve seen many places in the last two years. For this last trip we headed southwest to island of Kyushu.
Kyushu isn’t a very popular destination or part of most tourist itineraries. We weren’t sure where to go on this last trip and took some time pouring through our guide books, websites, and talking with friends about places they had visited. In the end, we settled on Kyushu because it is the home of Kumamoto, a castle town, Mt. Aso, also known as Aso-san, the largest active volcano caldera in the world. Of all our possible destinations for this Spring Break, an active volcano on a remote part of Japan was the one that was the most different from our lives here in Kobe and our lives back home in America.

We had a great Shinkansen trip down to Kyushu. Knowing that this round trip would be our last one on Shinkansen, we appreciated it all the more.

We were able to quickly make our connecting trains and arrived in the castle town of Kumamoto in the middle of the day.
We hadn’t expected too much in Kumamoto and were overjoyed when our low expectations were exceeded. It turns out that it was peak cherry blossom season in Kumamoto. The castle and surrounding park were decorated by thousands of cherries thick in full bloom. After a long day on the trains, the kids were so happy to run, play catch, and play soccer on the grassy lawn of the castle park. With the warmer air, cherry blossoms, and wide open space, it felt like a sudden onrush of spring.
The castle itself was huge. It towers over the city and has a lot of mass. We entered at the basement level. The entrance was guarded, much to kids' delight, by this young man. He kindly posed with the kids and then showed us the basement well that also served as the secret entrance to the castle from the lord’s nearby residence.
Kumamoto castle is a modern concrete rebuild from the 1960’s. It didn’t have the same feel of history as the historically original castles that we have visited. Inside was a museum exhibit about the last battle of the samurai after the shogun was deposed in the late 1800’s. The samurai were fighting to restore the old way of the traditional, feudal society where they had many privileges. The government troops looked like union soldiers from the American Civil War.

Across the courtyard from the castle was the residence of the castle lord or daimyo. This residence was rebuilt this decade using traditional materials and methods. We had to take of our shoes to walk on the soft tatami matted and smooth cypress planked floors. As we walked along an adjacent hallway, we could look into the many waiting rooms for those seeking an audience before the daimyo. The higher the status of the supplicant, the fancier the waiting room he could wait in. The first room was simple tatami mats on the floor and shoji screens as walls. Each succeeding room was increasingly elaborate and ornate. Ink decorations were added to the shoji screens. Fancier borders were added to the tatami mats. The final room, where the daimyo would be seated on a raised dais before which the supplicants would bow and request was decorated with gold leaf scenes of court life and nature.

The paintings and residence building itself were remade by consulting old records and applying traditional techniques and materials. From the raising and malleting that joined the post and beam frame to the careful painting of the folds on a lady’s kimono, the video that was shown was amazing. It reminded the kids of their old favorites, This Old House and New Yankee Workshop, but even better. We know that Norm Abrams would love to visit Kumamoto.
Coming Soon: Our visit to the Mt. Aso volcano

Japanese High School Baseball

Right across the street from Canadian Academy, the Rokko Island High School boys baseball team practices. These boys are there nearly everyday of the year at lunch time and after school. They water and rake the packed sand field. They run sprints and race across the field doing frog squat jumps. They practice batting, throwing, pitching, and catching in a million different ways. The martial sound of these young men chanting "HEY HUP, HEY HUP is part of the background here much like the birds or crickets back home.

It is fascinating to watch and listen to the full throated chants as these boys practice day after day. There is a vague feeling of a military boot camp to their practices. Perhaps it is the endless drills. Perhaps it is the precision with which each member of the team completes each drill. Perhaps, the endless running and effort regardless of the searing August sun or the cold January winds. For all the times I have stopped to watch them for a moment or two, I know that I have never seen them play a game or practice game like situations. It is endless drills of the basics along with stretching and running.

According to our coaches at CA, the year round Japanese school teams are far superior to our weak seasonal squad. When the CA middle school (grades 6-8) scrimmages against a local Japanese team, it is against 4th graders. And CA still usually loses!

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Last week we visited the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. It is the longest suspension bridge in the world. Twice as long as the George Washington in NYC. The bridge connects Honshu, the main island of Japan, to Shikoku, the smallest of the four main islands.

As we walked along the waterfront park, we watched giant tankers and
cargo ships pass under the bridge. M, S, and E enjoyed collecting
shells along the sandy beach. We were surprised to find this gigantic
sculpture of a bagel along the way.

Himeji-jo

We traveled by train to the samurai castle of Himeji-jo during our winter vacation. This year we are trying to visit new places and revisit some favorites from last year.

Last year, we saw the inside of the castle and climbed all the way to the top floor on the ancient floor boards and steep stairs. On this visit we arrived early at the castle, but were so busy that we never made it inside. We did end up walking around the entire castle. We were able to see the wide moats and great walls. What was once a military fortification is now a park that many tourists and locals visit everyday. We saw elderly people strolling, fathers and their children jogging, kids playing at the climbing structure, and countless cherry trees.



We never made it inside the castle itself this year because the local history museum was so great. The kids enjoyed the dress up and traditional games room. They were able to try Kabuki masks, spinning tops. marble mazes, and other Japanese traditional toys.





















The museum also had
exhibits displaying Japanese toys and household goods from the last 150 years. The older toys were wood and metal figures with large metal springs that could dance when you turned a crank. They just did that one dance but children were able to watch it again and again back in those days.



In the 20th Century section, there were planes and cars that would zoom across the floor when the key on the back was turned. There were dress up dolls with traditional and western clothing.



The household items were more interesting for K and I. The TVs with tiny screens and huge boxes, the 4 inch wide heating coil for boiling a tiny pot of water, and a clothes washing machine with a ringer roller attachment. The items were so different from today's household appliances that E wasn't able to identify very many of them correctly. Somehow he did recognize the iron, although how he knew that one growing up in our house is anybody's guess. Maybe from using one to seal wax paper around fall leaves...

Arashiyama

Ararshiyama is a small town on the western edge of Kyoto that is surrounded by forests and tucked into a crook in the Katsura River. We traveled to this beautiful little spot by train on a wintry day in late December. When we arrived at the little train station we walked out to see mist crawling through the forested mountains. The many maple and cherry trees on the mountainsides were bare and stood out amongst the evergreens and more tightfisted leafing trees. To get to the town we walked across a small bridge onto a little sandbar island. We made our way across this island, happy to stretch our legs and move in the cool air. M and S played follow the leader. The wide shallow river had many little islands and grassy sandbars. There were herons, egrets, and mandarin ducks feeding. It was so beautiful and wide open.

We crossed the Tegetsu-kyo Bridge and entered the town. The town itself is old and is layed out inside the elbow on the flat eastern shore of the river. On the outside of the river's bend, on the western shore, mountains rise up steeply, straight from the water's edge. As we crossed the Katsura and stood on the eastern shore, I kept watching the mist climb up and crawl along the mountains. A bit of Vermont danced in my memory.

It was mid-day and K had spotted a restaurant overlooking the river while I was mooning at the misty mountains. We walked along the river's edge and found an old riverside house that had been converted into a traditional soba house. Soba is buckwheat, a very popular grain here in Japan. We entered through an old wooden gate into a courtyard. Leaving our shoes at the entrance, we went upstairs and were shown a private little room with a low table and a sunken floor closed off from the rest by sliding screens . The tatami mats and simple wooden walls and screens were serene. We enjoyed a feast of soba tea, daikon salad, hot and cold soba noodles, tempura, soba porridge, soba dumplings, and some soba ice cream for dessert. Rice is not served at soba houses, but E and S are more than happy with plates heaped with cold soba noodles. They even sprinkle on the scallions these days! Despite all the soba dishes, at no point did the soba seem overdone. Each dish had a different temperature, flavor, or texture. The Japanese have invented many different foods to make from this grain that is not really a grain. It was a great meal that warmed us on this chilly December day. The special little room, the view of the mountains across the river, the red pine with gnarly pruned branches outside the window, the happy eaters all made it a special meal to remember.

We then walked northwards along the riverbank. Arashiyama can be packed with visitors during the fall foliage and spring cherry seasons. We enjoyed the empty quiet of the low season. We walked and ran among the non-existent crowds along the river. M saw a flock of white birds take off from the water and seem to magically double their number when their reflection appeared just as they emerged from the water. They balleted back and forth and around in front of their mountain backdrop. The mandarin ducks dabbled, furiously paddling to keep their heads down.

We climbed the wide wet steps up to a park and hiked up a hill to bamboo forest. The sun had come out and the afternoon was light. The bamboo grew thickly. Just a few feet in from the edge of the path it became quite dark. None of the bamboo were thicker than a man's leg, but there were so many, so close together that it would be difficult to pass through without a cut path. The forest was a deep green and oh so quiet when we weren't talking or stomping.

We hiked down through the forests past some temples and on to the train station. We found seats and took the train back to Kobe through Kyoto Station carrying the peace of Arashiyama in the winter with us among the monochromatic crowds of tired salary men and housewives heading home for dinner on the train.

Okayama

We zipped into Okayama on Shinkansen. The ride fast and fun as usual. We barely had time to eat our snack! Janet noticed how the conductors and snack cart ladies all bowed to the passengers as they entered and left each car. On the ride we passes through many tunnels. When the train entered a tunnel, we could feel the windows get pushed in a bit if our hands were on them to feel the effect.

The city of Okayama honors the Japanese folk hero, Momotaro. Briefly, Momotaro is the long wished for son of an old man and woman. He is found in the pit of a peach (momo in Japanese) nevers grows higher than a few inches but goes on great adventures with his companions, a pheasant, a dog, and monkey. Throughout Okayama's downtown district, there are occasional statues, manhole covers, and restaurants honoring Momotaro.

Our first morning in town, we visited the samurai castle of Okayama jo. It is a rebuilt castle that stands high on a bank in a bend in the Asahi River. The river made a substantial moat on one side of the castle. On the other side, remnants of the moat and outer walls could be found here and there in the downtown district. Finding an old gate or seeing a section of wall down an alley is a fun scavenger hunt. In the castle, we took the elevator up to the top. We looked out the window and saw the golden dolphins that protect the castle from fire. The five floors of the museum were devoted to honoring the samurai family that lived there and ruled Okayama for hundreds of years.

Okayama-jo is nicknamed the Black Heron. It is said that its black color was a response to the building of the famous White Egret castle of Himeji-jo.

Riding in the lord's palanquin.








In the distance, behind the golden dolphin, lies Korakuen. Korakuen was once the lord samurai's private garden. It is now a public garden, said to be one of the most beautiful in all of Japan. It is very beautiful and relaxing indeed. Korakuen has large expanses of grass, larger than any we've seen in Japan. In th efront areas of the park, there were small gates that prevented people from going onto the grass. However, deep in the back part, there were no gates. We were hesitant to go on the grass, biut once we saw a Japanese school group having snack there, we sat beneatha cherry tree and picnicked. After eating,the Japanese school children began to play. E, S, and M joined in and it was a wild game of chase and tag. It was loud and crazy, but no one seemed to mind. Perhaps because it was all happening in a relatively far off section of the park.

The park's signature feature is a little hill overlooking a pond. The pond has an island in it and on the island is a tea house. M and K went in for green tea and Japanese sweets amid the calm water sof the pond. In the tea house they enjoyed the peace and quiet.

























Meanwhile the rest of us explored the park. Janet and I walked about on the paths. S and E ran and ran and ran. Every once in a while I would catch sight of one of them as a blur between some trees.

The park was such a pleasant place for all of us. After traveling about so much, it was so good to be free to move or not move on our own.

Everything in the park is made, planted, and tended by people. The hill and pond are artificial. The trees and flowers are all planned and planted to provide a certain mood or effect. Trees are continually pruned and and made to grow certain ways. The whole idea of beauty is one of nature adapted by people.