View Me Some Free Journals: Pottery

Keiko and I both enjoy pottery. So she arranged for us to visit Imari, which is a pottery town about 3 hours' drive from Yanagawa. We went in Amiko's little red Mercedes. There is a lovely replica of the Zwinger Palace and gardens at Imari, which houses a pottery museum. The pieces showcased were rare imperial collections. My favourite was a vase with French influence, left unvarnished in sky blue and charcoal black, it was adorned by a little bird perched on the relief of a branch. Keiko and Amiko liked the museum's most treasured pair of rare Japanese ancient vases that were almost as tall as Amiko!

The highlight of our trip was making our own ceramics with the wheel at the workshop. We changed out into the work-wear provided and were shown to our stations where the attendent showed us some basic techniques. At the end, we could choose the color of the glaze for our works. The shop will complete the kiln process and send the final product to any Japanese address. I am looking forward to seeing my vase the next time I visit Keiko.

View Me Some Free Journals: Flower Garden

On the way back to Yanagawa from Aso, we decided to stop over at a flower garden. We saw a brochure of it at Tarutama Onsen. I have an affection for flowers and Keiko was curious to see the place as well. It was about an hour's drive from the Onsen.

The autumn flowers were in full bloom. Some white and pink cosmos were planted orderly while others were left scattered as in the wild. There also stretches of purple and red flowers that bloom throughout the year. We could "wade" right into the middle of the "rivers of flowers" and take photos.

There are shops selling pot pourri, perfumes and postcards featuring works of a french artist who specialises in painting flowers. After the stroll, we had a simple lunch of sandwiches. I had citrus cupcakes (see photo in earlier post). We then tried the lucky draw which every visitor was entitled to. I won a 50% discount voucher for an onsen stay for 2 people which I later gave to Keiko's parents who loved onsens.

To prepare ourselves for the drive home in the hot sun, we visited the ice-cream parlour. I tried the lavender flavoured ice-cream, which was light and refreshing. Keiko tried the chestnut ice-cream, which was the rich and sweet. With the aftertaste of autumn in our mouths and flower scents in our hair, we headed home, contended.

View Me Some Free Journals: Yame Green Tea

About 2 hours drive from Yanagawa is Yame green tea museum. Yame is located at the peak of a mountain overlooking tea plantations. We experienced drinking tea the traditional Chinese way, with whole tea leaves soaked in warm water and drank out of a small, handless cup with a lid slightly adjar. After about 3 rounds of tea, the server came round with shoyu (soy sauce) and we ate the bittersweet leaves which tasted like spinach.

The museum restaurant offers affordable set lunches with green tea as a main ingredient. That day, we decided to have the green tea soba set, which was light and refreshing. It was a good thing we had lunch first as our next activity, which was to make our own matcha (green tea powder) from scratch the traditional way, required energy.

After the museum staff showed us how to operate the manual granite grinder and the rhythmn of the movement (ichi, ni, ichi, ni... one, two, one, two...), we took turns at it. We had a lot of fun chanting 'one, two' in various languages (Keiko taught me French and Korean and I taught her Mandarin and Spanish).

After an hour of chatting and grinding, we made ourselves a bowl of tea in the tea ceremony way (Keiko practises the art and taught me before). This involved using a special bamboo brush to 'sweep' the powdered tea in a bowl until it the mixture reaches a foam-like consistency. It was definitely the best bowl of tea I have ever drank.

We then selected the kimono-patterned containers for bringing back the remaining matcha. I chose a black background with red and white 'cosmos' the flowers of autumn, to commemorate the season of my visit. Before leaving the museum, we also picked up a few boxes of special green tea-flavored sweets as gifts for our friends and family.

View Me Some Free Journals: Boat ride, Kimono and Yukata

Yanagawa is a city of canals. Keiko said that in the early days, the city had a big debate on whether to keep the canals or to fill them in. It was decided that the canals could stay, but willow trees had to be planted on the canal banks to prevent erosion of the soil in rainy season.


Nowadays, tourists can enjoy a boat ride on the canals much like in Venice. I took my boat ride wearing a kimono. This requires great skill and we had to bring the many beautiful (and expensive) layers of the costume to the kimono shop for the lady there to put it on me.


Occasionally, the local community centre organises lessons on how to wear the kimono. Keiko and I attended one such lesson on wearing the yukata (‘summertime kimono’), which has only 2 layers. Tying the ribbon, however, is quite elaborate and much practice is required to learn how to do it well. The teacher was really patient and thorough, and I learnt the art of tying ribbons quite easily although I didn’t understand a word of Japanese.

View Me Some Free Journals: Yanagawa, Fukuoka

Home for 10 days was Yanagawa, a city about 2 hours from Fukuoka City by train. I had timed my visit to coincide with Yanagawa's annual festival, 'Onigie'. In the beginning, Yanagawa was divided into regions and every October, dance troupes on floats representing each of these old regions gather at the city center to offer their dance to the Gods.

On the eve of Onigie, dancers already began to visit homes or shops of their sponsors (people who have donated money in kind). The next day, the floats turned pied pipers, leading the town to the shrine of the city's primary school. Onigie was a homecoming of sorts. My friend, Keiko, for one, caught up with some of her old schoolmates as we walked.

The crowd eventually settled at the steps of the school's shrine. With great pride and rigour, the men from each region announced their troupe's arrival and presented their dance to the Gods. The procession grew increasingly elaborate, with horses and taekwando demonstrations to boot. The crowd, however, remained especially encouraging to any children who performed.

After dinner, the city re-assembled in the main plaza. In the warm spotlights, the characters of the Onigie dance came alive once more. One by one, the dance troupes presented the 'Old Lady' who brought happiness, the 'Devil' who created drama and the 'Monkey' who mesmerised the crowd as they lept out of their balconies, hung precariously from the edges and sent gifts flying into the crisp evening air. Onigie by night was truly outdoor theatre at its best.

View Me Some Free Journals: Fukuoka Times

Lunchtime in Fukuoka is around noon to 2pm and dinnertime is around 7pm. Shops in Yanagawa are opened everyday except Sundays. However, some of the larger stores nearer the highway are open throughout the week.

Road Trips
I was in Fukuoka City, which is the capital of Fukuoka prefecture, for one day only. The rest of the time, I stayed with my friend in Yanagawa. We did road trips from Yanagawa to neighbouring cities, such as Dazaifu, Yame and Imari.

The longest drive we did was the one to Tartutama Onsen in Aso, which took about 6 hours. On the way there, we stopped at Kikuchi where we strolled to the source of the ravine, Daikanpo a scenic place for lunch and Sisenti to watch monkey show. On the way back we stopped at a flower garden.

The roads are well maintained, although they are narrow and winding. The local people were very helpful whenever we stopped to ask for directions.

N.B. The photos posted on this site are all taken during my stay in Fukuoka, except for the one showing Matsutake mushroom.

View Me Some Free Journals: Speaking and Eating in Fukuoka

Honestly, I wouldn't have had such a smooth trip without a local host. Not many Japanese in Fukuoka could speak fluent English. However, I had a happy and decent conversation with Keiko's Japanese-speaking parents, with the help of Keiko's electronic pocket translator.

In the smaller cities of Fukuoka, the servings at restaurants and noodle houses are usually very generous. At Tarutama Onsen, there was free flow of rice and tea. I am not sure if big eaters could ask for larger servings for the same price, but sticky rice, which is de rigueur at every meal, is really filling.