Tag: volcanoes

What we’ll miss about Japan. And what I missed!

A well propped up tree in Kenroku-en gardens, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture.

I will miss the trees. We visited a lot of gardens and parks to see cherry blossoms, but the blooms aren’t the only attractions. The trees, the green moss, the water features. Although Japanese cities were not all blessed with a lot of parks or green space, those that exist are so well taken care of.

A verdant carpet of moss.
The green. The water. The old tea house. Kenroku-en gardens.
This giant camphor tree in Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine is estimated to be as old as 1,500 years. Feel insignificant yet?
What was the progression here? Tree first than building? Small tree and a miscalculation of tree potential?
Spring is not all about cherry blossoms, this tulip display in Shikoku Mura open-air architectural park in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture holds its own.

I’m going to miss the small streets, with restaurants and shops that cluster together, usually near a train station. Each city has its share of large arterial roads, with plenty of car traffic and sometimes intolerably long signal phases, leaving you standing for minutes waiting for a pedestrian walk signal. But, when you find the area of small streets the entire nature of that city changes. Narrow and mostly car free or very car light, the small streets give you an opportunity to feel you’ve stepped back in time.

Chuo district, Kobe, this an alley between the railway tracks of Sannomiya Station. It’s packed with businesses.
Same district, Chuo, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The night time scenes are so bright and colorful.
The neighborhood of Motoshikkuimachi, Nagasaki. On the hunt for a ramen shop, we wandered around for ages after dinner, entranced by this warren of small streets.
An urban planner could explain how the geometry of the streets, the lights, and the heights of the buildings all work together just so, all I know is I love it!
Still Nagasaki, one of our favorite places. Even the vending machines add to the charm of the nightlife.

Within these fine grained streets, with corners hiding the next view, are the amazing small restaurants. I’ve mentioned the awkwardness of sliding open doors and facing a tiny space perhaps already packed with customers. It can be cringe inducing, but so rewarding to be able to eat at a restaurant that is run by people who focus on one thing. This type of food – we do this and we do it well. You will wait the required amount of time, you will likely be served on hand thrown ceramic plates, and the food will be exquisitely displayed.

A chef waiting to cook our Kobe beef. Yes, he knows this cut and presentation deserves a photo.
Tuna three ways said the menu at the sushi bar. Delicious, delicious, and delicious. Even a conveyor belt sushi restaurant has style.
A burger place in Takamatsu. The chef/owner does burgers and cocktails. That’s it. And they are fantastic. Did I mention the restaurant seats maybe 9 customers?
Shashimi at a small Izakaya in Shimabara. Mom and Dad cooking, their young daughter who started primary school that day sitting at the counter playing. The plate, which you can barely see under this load of fresh fish, was gorgeous.
The same Izakaya. After this tofu salad course I typed into Google translate that their ceramic plates were stunningly beautiful. She turned to him with a look we all recognize: it said, see? I told you so!
Another beautiful presentation at a Shabu Shabu restaurant in Kagoshima, famous for its black pork which was delicious. This sashimi course came with our set menu.

If it’s possible to desperately miss something you only got to do twice then we will desperately miss the Yatai of Fukuoka. The Tenjin neighborhood has small food stands, Yatai, which set up each night to serve up food in a space half the size of the storage unit holding all of our possessions back in the US.

That is a Yatai.
And this is a Yatai. You look below curtain level to see if any seats are available, or you look for a line of patient customers waiting.
Rich added for scale. We had dinner at this one.
Not much room inside to take photos. And you don’t linger after dinner. For one, it’s not the most comfortable seating ever. And the owners need to turn the seats when there are only six or seven of them.
Not much room to cook either, but the chefs were making it work. It’s warm and cozy once you’re behind the curtains.

The number of Yatai was shrinking, but in the last few years they’ve enjoyed a new renaissance and there are about 150 now. In addition to dinner at one we spent a hilariously fun evening drinking at a Yatai bar. Everyone is friends at a Yatai bar which measures 10×8 feet.

Fairly unassuming from the outside, this Yatai bar.
But inside is magic.
My pomegranate daiquiri.
Rich with a martini. Round one.
The tools of the trade. Apparently it takes 3 hours to set up this Yatai each day. And 3 to take down.
My daiquiri and Rich’s mojito. Round two.
A super fun young recently engaged couple from Osaka. We were communicating with English and google translate.
And on Rich’s left two young women, engineers who had studied in Canada.
Boiled peanuts and potato chips (gone already) were the bar snacks which the cover charge supplied. Yes, we have that beer mat.
Again, it’s a seriously cozy space. You sit closer to strangers then you would anywhere else.

What else will I miss about Japan? The safety. The ability for Japan to have nice things that people respect and take care of. Public restrooms which are clean and stocked with rolls of TP which are not stolen. And the quirky things. Things you see and go, oh yeah, that makes sense to have.

Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu. You use these to remove dust from your shoes after strolling in the gardens.
Hot tea from a vending machine. A can of Royal Milk Tea, black tea with milk and sugar. Hot. This is on the ferry coming back to Kagoshima from Mt. Sakurajima volcano.
Hot cans of coffee too!
The little cartoon mascots everywhere. Such a cute deadly volcano!
A radish gets the cartoon treatment.
Volcanic hot springs get a cartoon.
The train to the Fukuoka airport has a cartoon dog keeping you safe.
Who’s a good dog? Kuro is.

You will always feel you missed out on experiences and places when traveling. We immediately have a list for “next time”. It says a lot about a place that you want to come back, soon. Regret is a rear view mirror. So what do I regret about our time in Japan now that we’ve moved on?

There are themed stamps at every train station! I failed to realize this until we had already been through so many stations. And I had no cute notebook in which to stamp these unique stamps.
Then I found one at a volcano park and was even more annoyed at myself. I could have had a whole book of stamps.

This is when Rich and I say to each other “I used to do important things.” Recalling our previous professional lives where we earned money, and made multiple decisions a day that impacted people and projects. And we laugh at ourselves. Another regret? Hotels in Japan supply you with pajamas. Really. Instead of a robe you get pajamas or a button up nightgown contraption or a yakuta, a light cotton kimono. Somehow the pajama tops and bottoms fit both me and Rich, sometimes with pretty funny differences. Do I have a single photo, let alone a collection of photos? No. If you go to Japan learn from my mistake and take photos of yourself in the pajamas in your hotel rooms. And take a notebook to collect the stamps.

A very apt warning sign.
I will not miss hearing Rich’s head connect with room doorways, low hanging light fixtures, and train doors. We hang things from the doors in our rooms as mitigation.
Sunset light on the happy travelers in Nagasaki.

No regrets that we visited Japan. Such a lovely place with wonderful people. Goodbye Japan. Hello Korea.

The blessings of volcanic activity: hot springs and public footbaths.

One of the longest public foot baths in Japan, the Sakurajima Volcanic Shore Park and Footbath, with Sakurajima, an active volcano and the source of the hot water, steaming away in the background. Kagoshima Prefecture.

There are things you know about a country before you arrive and are looking forward to – food, specific sights, cultural norms that are different from your own and therefore fascinating – but the things that catch you by surprise are the gifts of travel.

Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, is known as the city where Koi swim in the canals, full of plentiful spring water.

Plentiful water. Still a mind bending notion to someone raised in Southern California. The city of Shimabara has a castle, a lovely neighborhood of samurai houses, and so much free flowing water. Water under tea houses where koi appear to float in midair, a visual trick of the crystal clear water. Water running between houses in fern lined canals. Water fountains with ladles handy so you know the water is drinkable. So much water. And yes, some of it hot thanks to Mount Unzen, an active volcano which rises and steams and bubbles a short bus ride away.

The sight and sound of running water is calming. No koi in this canal, they are only in specific controlled areas.
Just a street. With a canal. Folks walk by. Locals garden. The postal workers do their jobs. Me: OMG! Water! So much water!
A tea house with floating koi.
How much water is there in town? So much that even your lunch spot will have a tiny stream running through the restaurant.

After admiring the water in one neighborhood, we had lunch, a lovely set menu which is a wonderfully easy thing to order. Then we headed to a spot on the map marked as public foot bath. So far all the water had been cold and clear. Foot bath? That sounds interesting.

Yutorogi Foot Bath. This water is hot. Maybe 36c/99 f. It comes out of this stone trough.
The hot water fills the basin.
The people sit and soak their barking dogs
Aaahhh. It’s not a fancy place. Just a nice spot next to a parking lot where anyone can sit, relax, and put your feet in water warmed by a volcano.
Right next to the foot bath is this public fountain. The sign tells you the mineral content and that it’s safe to drink.
So I did. It’s hot, look at how pink my hand is. You can see the mineral deposits here and in the foot bath.

Feet refreshed and ready for more walking we headed off to see the neighborhood of samurai homes. The canal which runs through the neighborhood was a perk for these high ranking, hereditary, military nobility.

But first, we must drink from every fountain we pass. No ladle, some were removed during Covid.
Ladle! Drink on.
Replace ladle when quenched.
And walk on to the samurai street. Note the walls of volcanic stones.
The houses are occupied, but several have opened the front historical parts to curious visitors.

We headed back to our hotel, craving a proper onsen soak, but first we had to pass another fountain, and stop for another drink. How could we pass up this lovely landscaped fountain, which seemed to be part of the neighboring house’s garden.

Ladle and sign- all good. Drink!
How can we drink so much water, you ask? Plenty of restrooms in Japan, we reply.

One easy bus ride from our waterfront hotel took us winding up the mountain. The bubbling mud and steam clouds of Obamachounzen quickly let you know this volcano is not playing around. “An eruption in 1991 generated a pyroclastic flow that killed 43 people, including three volcanologists. “ The slopes of the mountain down to the sea will look familiar to anyone who has visited the big island of Hawaii. Lava field slopes.

An awesome sound, bubbling and steaming.
Oh! Kitty!
Popular sights in Japan frequently have cute cats to distract you from the sight.

Even though we hadn’t done much walking yet, just a few kilometers around the steamy and bubbly area of Obamacho Unzen, we headed right to the public foot bath.

A pleasant setting.
Some very pink feet. This one was hot. Probably 110f/43c. Hot enough that you took your feet out to cool quite quickly.
Rich enjoying his foot bath.

We did a lovely hike after the foot bath and enjoyed the views of the volcano while having a picnic on an observation platform – keeping a wary eye on the plumes of steam. Then it was a bus back to the hotel, a lovely relaxing onsen and outdoor rotenburo soak at our hotel, and dinner at a local Izakaya. It was time to move on to Kagoshima, which was a ferry ride and train ride away. But first – foot bath by the ferry terminal!

We walked from our hotel to the ferry terminal, got our tickets, and headed over to the footbath.
This water was warm, not hot, and quite clear compared to others. We guess it was 90f/32c.
You can see the ladle behind Rich. If you so choose you could drink this warm water – before it enters the foot bath.
Again next to a parking lot. But quite a bit of seating space. The bath is emptied and cleaned each morning, it opens at 9 am. It was just refilling when we arrived.
That face says no, I don’t want to leave the foot bath.
But our ferry awaited, and we got a fantastic view of Mount Unzen as we headed out.

The blessings of volcanos. Hot springs. There are more than 27,000 hot springs in Japan. The volume of water that flows from them is 2.6 million liters per minute. I was a volcano fan before this trip to Japan, now I’m a volcano fanatic. And we weren’t done yet! Next up, a ferry from Kagoshima to see the slopes of Mount Sakurajima and yes, another foot bath.

Cute mascot, but this active volcano erupted in 2022 and triggered evacuation orders. Rocks fell as far as 3 kilometers/1.8 miles away.
The city of Kagoshima behind Rich and his happy feet. This foot bath was hotter near the source, and cooled down as you moved further away from the spigot.
Looking the other way, towards the active volcano. The visitors center showed the helmets school children have to wear on eruption risk days as they walk to school.
This water was not as clear, maybe more mineral content? But it felt wonderful on this cool cloudy day. Quite warm but not hot.
The happy travelers, we took a bus to the observatory to have a closer view of the volcano.

We’re in Korea as of today, but still catching up on all the fun we had in Japan. I was struck by the relationship the Japanese have with their volcanos. The idea of the blessings of volcanoes, and the use of the hot spring water, gives the volcanoes a different feel. Yes, potentially deadly, but also useful and part of life. Japan has the potential to harness this geothermal energy, mostly unrealized so far, but what an additional blessing that could be. But our feet were happy to take advantage of the blessings of the volcanoes.