Exploring Kumamoto.

Public holidays are a wonderful thing in Japan, so here I am, with a mid-week day off, sitting down with a cuppa to reflect on my little adventures.

Last weekend Kumamoto City Hall offered a free sightseeing tour to various hidden gems within the mountains to the west of downtown. Most of these places were areas with many historical ties, from teahouses to paved roads leading through bamboo forests to Tamana, a city not too far away. The locations were beautiful, and a reminder of how “inaka” Kumamoto is, with most of these places unbeknownst to me before this little trip.

A place of real beauty was Reigando, a cave surrounded by 500 statues of Buddha, each one with a different expression. This cave is famous for Miyamoto Musashi, a very prominent character in the city, who confined himself to the cave for one year and wrote “The Book of Five Rings”. According to our wonderful little ojiisan tour guide, Reigando cave was the perfect place for him to compose himself, meditate and do so until the completion of the book. 

A large stone sits within the cave, which was where Musashi was once believed to sit and meditate. I was lucky enough to get a chance to sit there myself, and with the sun shining on me, it was easy to envision the aura that he must have also felt. Musashi was eventually buried in a tomb in Musashi-zuka Park, not far from where I live, so my next mission is to finally explore there and hopefully capture its beauty during the height of autumn.

Following a beautiful and long hike through some mandarin groves, we were treated to the most beautiful sunset overlooking the ocean, after feasting on the sweetest mandarins I’d ever eaten in the most adorable little cafe.

Our day was an interesting one, as two famous comedians from Kumamoto and a TV crew also joined us. That’s something I’ll never quite get used to here; the infatuation we hold to people sometimes, and how they love to hear our thoughts on their culture. I was interviewed twice that day, with Billy saving me from further embarrassment by translating all the difficult things I wanted to get across.  While I’ve probably made a show of myself on TV, it’s not the first time, and Billy is going to try and get a DVD of the actual TV snippet that was aired on Tuesday. If that happens, I’ll share it with you all to laugh at my expense, but until then, Happy Thanksgiving.

Bonfire weekend, the less traditional way.

On Friday, I attended a workshop where I got to make traditional Japanese sparklers for the first time.  I thought it was pretty fitting, with it being Bonfire Night this weekend, and it’s one of the few foreign festivals here ignored in the wave of Christmas that follows Halloween. Bonfire Night is definitely a time I miss back home, but this little event made me feel like I still had that part of home with me.

Tsutsui Tokimasa’s shop and factory are located in Miyama City, Fukuoka, and it’s actually one of only three factories of its kind in Japan. They’ve been in business for 90 years, and one out of the 6 staff, Ryota, is Tokimasa’s grandson. 

It’s truly a family business through and through. This is definitely a craft that has been passed down through generations, which can be seen in the precision and care the staff take when it comes to making each individual sparkler.

During the demonstration, they told us it took months to be able to make a sparkler to that quality, and I’m not surprised. You’ve certainly got to be dextrous, and when it comes to fiddling tissue paper filled with gunpowder, that is definitely not a skill I had. I didn’t do too badly though, and my sparklers began to improve drastically into uniform colour gradients similar to the originals. 

I’m not claiming to be a pro, but they have officially been tried and tested from my balcony this evening, when I introduced Kohei to the whole Bonfire Night affair. 

It was different, in the sense that the sky is dark, little sound surrounds my apartment as always, and it’s seemingly like any other night in Kumamoto, but I’m happy I got to celebrate nonetheless. Even more so that my sparklers created the most beautiful atmosphere against the blackness tainted by the glow of a full moon.

Kansai with Kouchan.

After going to Tokyo Disneyland earlier this year, I knew I had to experience the other side of Japanese theme parks, Universal. What better time to do this than during October, when all the cuteness was juxtaposed by zombies roaming the streets after 6pm. Since one side of Kohei’s family lives in nearby Kishiwada, this trip really did kill two birds with one stone (with me being one of the birds absolutely flapping about meeting the fam).

USJ was more than I could have expected, especially after visiting Universal in America so many times. The atmosphere is really amplified with everyone dressing in costumes just like they do at Disney, so of course I jumped on the bandwagon. I have to say I was pretty impressed with our DIY Cookie Monster and cookie costumes, which so many people complemented and I made the night before our trip. I’ve got no idea where this wave of artistic talent has come from, but I’m praying it lasts until Halloween so I don’t look like a complete knob in my planned outfit.

Being the big child I am I was more interested in the whole Minion aspect more than anything else, and was thrilled to find even the minion meat buns were Halloween themed too. Who needs to go to Harry Potter and battle the crowds when you can see hundreds of cute kids running around dressed like Minions.

In Osaka we made a quick visit to a reptile café, which had so many it was hard to choose which one to hold. All I wanted was to hold a chameleon, but guess whose day off it was. Despite being a little bitter about that (come on, have you seen how cute a chameleons hands are?) I got to hold this thing. I don’t even know what animal it is, but oh my god I need one.

On the Sunday, Kohei and I ventured into Kyoto to visit a pug café which was frankly the most relaxing experience of my life. The puppies were even wearing nappies and I think Kohei’s developed a new found love for small dogs. That being said, no pug can replace Mimi Hattori in my life, even if little Yuzu-chan in her nappy came close.

Meeting Kohei’s family and friends was super overwhelming at times, especially with me being sick combined with their Osaka-ben Japanese, but overall I think it went well. I got gifted so much omiyage for my return, a bunch of oranges from Wakayama prefecture where his dad visited during our trip, and his auntie even messages me on LINE now. 

Despite scaring his step-sister into oblivion when she woke up to see me in the kitchen, I think I made an impression on the little 2 year old munchkin. We’re going to be best friends when I see her again, especially after I taught her how to make animal noises in English and she taught me to “nyan nyan” like a cat.

My little souvenir from Seoul.

I’ve followed Banul for a few years now, and her delicate designs have made me fall more and more in love with her tattooing style over time. She is extremely busy, so when I noticed she’d opened bookings coinciding with a trip I’d already planned, I threw caution to the wind and hoped for the best.

Despite my tight schedule, I managed to get an appointment for the day I arrived in Seoul; so after heading practically straight from the airport, I was about to embark on my first tattoo adventure.

Upon entering her studio, I felt more like a treasured roommate than a customer in the best way. I arrived at 6pm and left at 10:45pm, with the tattoo taking just over two and a half hours. The rest of the time was dedicated to redrawing my design to get it perfect and feeding me instant tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).

Banul creates her floral designs using real photos of flowers, before photoshopping them into a design on her computer. As we’d discussed my idea beforehand, she had three designs waiting for me. After seeing my skin, we decided some pinks would be too light, and after giving my opinions she spent over an hour and a half creating a new design I was completely happy with. Banul is so talented, in the sense that even before I’d voiced my opinions, she was already drawing exactly what I wanted.

I couldn’t have asked for a more comfortable experience, and would totally recommend her to anyone interested. I almost fell asleep on the table, because the gospel music playing and her angelic singing throughout added to how relaxed I was.

It’s healing like a beaut, and I feel like it’s been part of me for much longer than it has. I think that’s why Banul is just so good. Not only can she create intricate pieces of art, but she understands you on a personal level and is fully devoted to taking her time and giving you exactly what you imagined. The pictures she put on her Instagram of my tattoo got over 7,000 likes, so many more people have been absorbed by the beauty of her tattoos too. Does that make me Instagram famous? Maybe not, maybe just my side boob.

Getting this tattoo has been a learning curve in more ways than one. The main one? Having to go braless for two weeks (I’m on day 6, will it never end?!), when I’ve barely done more than a cheeky Tesco run *Non-Brits, read ventured outside* without one in about 10 years.

School has been interesting… I’m wearing more layers of clothes to ensure I don’t smack a kid in the head, and I’ll admit I had to body swerve a special needs kid who came running up to me for a hug. That kind of contact I was not, and still aren’t quite ready for.

To those of you who go without a bra daily, I applaud you. For me, I’m counting down the days until this hell is over and I’ll celebrate with a large glass of wine.