Kurokawa Onsen

After visiting Oita last year, I’ve become a serious lover of relaxing weekends away in onsen towns. Kurokawa is one of the most famous onsen areas in Kumamoto, and for the past few months, every evening the river has been covered in hundreds of bamboo lanterns. Of course Kohei and I decided to head there for what is now becoming our annual onsen trip.

Despite having a few issues getting there, which is a given since I don’t know the ever changing road closures that well, once we arrived it was like we’d entered a little area of tranquility. Since this event was so popular, the main streets were super busy when we arrived; full of tourists who were only doing a day trip here, as many people do. 

A famous bakery, Patisierre Roku, makes the most beautiful choux creams; the vanilla smell wafted through the air every hour when the buns were cooked, and the queue was ridiculously long but worth it. Another gem we found was Shiratamakko, a small café specialising in traditional desserts; a must visit if you’re a fan of matcha, fluffy mochi in zenzai and super sweet ichigo daifuku. Most of the local stores close earlier, around 8pm, as most people staying in the ryokans overnight have dinner provided. We spent the early evening relaxing in yukata, before being treated to yet another amazing ryokan banquet. 

After dinner, we took our first onsen of the evening in the smaller baths located inside the ryokan. Kohei and I had planned to meet about 40 minutes later, but my god, I’ve never been in water so hot in my life. I instantly looked like a lobster, and so did he when we met in the corridor earlier than expected because we both couldn’t hack it.

After the onsen we got dressed in our yukata again and headed to view the illuminations. They were so beautiful and it was super tranquil. The only thing ruining it was, since it was the last weekend of the illuminations, too many people were ruining the aesthetic with their car headlights and pushing to take photos. This is often a downside to things like this in Japan… too many people end up ruining a beautiful moment, but thankfully Kohei and I managed to find an area a little quieter to enjoy it.

After enjoying some umeshu at a little hole in the wall bar, we headed back to the ryokan. The best thing about Japanese people liking to bathe before bed is that after waiting until later in the evening, Kohei and I managed to get the entire family size onsen to ourselves. Cue Kohei acting like a happy child floating away to his hearts content. Even better, I didn’t (literally) burn my ass off this time.

I’d definitely recommend an onsen getaway to anyone who needs to refresh themselves. The simplicity of the ryokan, and the peaceful locations really give you the opportunity to switch yourself off from the outside world. We’re already planning our next trip and may even make it a bi-yearly tradition from now on. 

During our drive home we also got some beautiful views of the Aso area from the recently reopened Milk Road. It made me realize how there’s still so much to discover even in my own prefecture, prompting another trip idea that will hopefully come to light in the next few months.

Strutting my stuff in Suizenji.

Suizenji Park holds a special place in my heart, so when I was offered the chance to be in a kimono fashion show there, it was an instant yes. Once a year they hold a kimono month, where people can learn how to dress themselves amongst other things. The penultimate event being the fashion show wanted a few foreigners involved, to which I happily obliged.

There were a variety of people there, ranging from adorable little grandma's wearing Kumamon obis (the part wrapped around the waist), to the sweetest 2 year old who had no idea what was happening,  but was happily dragged across stage by her older sister. Of course the bunch of foreigners were a novelty,  and our picture made it into a local newspaper reporting the event.

Despite being petrified that my clumsy self would be my downfall, thankfully I paraded around the stage with no problems and delivered my required speech to an okay-ish level. I do own my own furisode (kimono with long draping sleeves) but I'm saving that for some sort of special occasion. 

It was actually really nice to wear a different pattern to what I own, and we were super lucky to have a few hours to enjoy Suizenji Park wearing our kimono before and after the event.
If nothing else, I got paid about a tenner and gained a new profile picture out of it. A win win situation.

Crafting in the countryside.

Earlier this year I attended a small tea ceremony in the city thanks to Ruth, who asked if I'd like to join a bunch of her teachers. One of the teachers was planning to go crafting a few weeks ago, and graciously passed on the invitation to both Ruth and myself.

So off we went, along with her super adorable son, into the middle of nowhere near Ueki. Both Ruth and I weren't really sure what we'd gotten ourselves into, but upon arriving we realised it was something called "Kraftband".  

From what I gathered, this adorable old lady offered up her time to help fellow oldies in the area. I felt instantly welcomed by everyone, who showed me their projects with glee, and even got origami gifts from other women who popped in just to say hello.  

The lady advised us what we'd be capable of making in a day, especially since we were beginners. Although I had my heart set on making a cute new summer bag to go with my yukatas, that was too high of a skill level and will have to wait until next time. Instead, I settled on a "bin" which is currently serving as the best hair accessory container I could have asked for.

The afternoon was wonderful,  all of us making our own pieces whilst watching the Olympic men's figure skating. Of course, tensions were high when Hanyu performed,  with the awful television reception adding to the squeals of despair from everyone in the room.

I'm looking forward to going crafting there again,  especially since I'm no novice anymore; I frankly think my bin looks fabulous. Let's just hope my new summer bag meets expectations. Pray for yourselves,  you could all be getting something for Christmas.  

Yuki Matsuri

Earlier this month, along with Sheridan, Myra, Simona and Chase, I headed to Sapporo to see the famous snow festival. The highlights of this festival, which takes place in the northernmost prefecture in Japan, are the intricate snow and ice sculptures in abundance within the city. 

The evening we arrived we ate some of the famous miso ramen in Susukino, which I have to say was the bomb. Definitely would recommend that to anyone arriving and facing -11 degree weather like us. I discovered a quirky little parfait bar too which we went to shortly after. 

Yes you read that right, parfait in -11 degrees, but Hokkaido is famous for its milk products, so it would be rude not too. Something I learnt from Simona this trip was that parfait can be eaten anytime, anywhere, and that this girl has a soft cream problem. This was cemented firmly after meeting us in a café and quote: “I was only going to order a tea”, but yet again, having ice cream in front of her.

Our first day was fun filled, we visited Odori Park to see the intricate snow sculptures that the festival is so famous for. My favourite was a Cup Noodle ramen themed slide that children, whose expressions varied between those of joy and pure horror, sped down with great encouragement from everyone watching. 

I was a little disappointed that the main spectacle was something Final Fantasy themed, as I’m not a fan, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the work the Defence Force had put into creating it. Food and alcohol stalls lined every corner of the park, so the drinking started early with some mulled wine. This, accompanied with Minions galore and a rather sinister Winnie the Pooh made from snow, really created a winter wonderland.

In the evening we visited Otaru, a small harbour town about 40 minutes to the west of Sapporo that looks out onto Ishikari Bay. During the snow festival the canal is adorned with floating lanterns, along with walk ways glowing in light from wax candles with petals or leaves inside. The atmosphere it created was just beautiful, and despite the hordes of tourists (admittedly I was about to punch the next person who smacked me with their selfie stick), you could appreciate the hard work that goes into creating something so magical.

Our final full day was more relaxed, with us heading to an onsen and afterwards heading to an ALT enkai organised with ALT’s from all over Japan. The onsen was a learning curve in itself, since it was the first time I’d onsen-ed since getting my tattoo. Sheridan was in the same position and we bought some skin patches to hide them. Hers worked well, mine on the other hand… let’s just say my skin wasn’t pink like she thought, and I looked like I’d had a skin graft from a deer.

Whilst I loved my trip to Hokkaido, there were so many more places I wanted to visit, but the time scale and snow made it a little impossible. I've promised myself that I'll go back in summer one year, to visit the local Ainu areas and to discover more about the indigenous people who once thrived on the island. Visiting some tiny craft stores in Otaru, I was surprised at the somewhat similarity between Ainu and Native American jewellery. A kokopelli wouldn't have been too out of place, and that only intrigued me even more.

teamLab 城跡の光の祭

For our anniversary, Kohei and I went to Fukuoka Castle, where teamLab, an artist collective group who aim to explore relationships between humans and nature through art, have created “Light Festival in Fukuoka Castle ruins”.

There were various different exhibition areas within the castle ruins, and the trail took you through them all. We spent around an hour walking through the exhibit, and considering it was the weekend prior to the exhibition ending and there were a lot of people, I never felt like I was being rushed through.

Animals of Flowers: Symbiotic Lives in the Stone Wall

One of the most impressive installations projected onto the castle walls. Animals created from petals walked along the walls, which provided the perfect backdrop for such large animals. The flowers began to bud, bloom, and scatter and fade away in a continuous cycle. When people moved closer to the animals, the flowers would scatter instantly and the animals would disappear.

 

Resisting and Resonating Ovoids and Trees

This was designed to give people a heightened sense of awareness of the presence of others sharing the same space. Pushing the ovoids caused the colour it emitted to change, and a sound associated with that colour echoed across Maizuru Park. The changing light from that ovoid resonated out towards other ovoids in the nearby area. 

The trees on the other hand, changed colour slowly, as if they were breathing, creating a magical effect of spontaneous colour waves. You could truly appreciate the beauty looking down from above the castle walls.

Spatial Calligraphy in the Stone Wall 

Designed to offer a contemporary interpretation of traditional Japanese calligraphy, the projections show the depth, speed and power of each brush strokes just like you’d see on paper, but in a much more dramatic way. This area was a huge contrast to the other areas of the exhibition, with less colour and more focus on tradition. Despite this, Fukuoka castle managed to be the perfect backdrop for the fusion of new and old.

  

The thing I enjoyed most about this exhibit was its interactive nature, and visitors were encouraged to touch the ovoids in the park, despite the odd few looking a bit deflated after a hard day. They have a new exhibit in Tokushima in a few weeks which I’d definitely go to if I didn’t already have plans, but I’m keeping an eye out for their next event. If you’re interested in going, keep an eye out too; they currently have other events in Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne and Paris.