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.