Southern Hospitality

A quick summary of thoughts from today and yesterday before I head for Beppu by nightbus:

Beginning in Kumamoto, I was greeted with conversation by the Suizenji Garden's resident photographer as he was setting up his equipment for the day (I arrived as it opened). He offered to take a few pictures of me using my camera as "free service". While doing so, we met another fellow who, at the thought of accidentially intruding into our photo shoot, began to apologize profusely - in English! Incessantly!

I now understand the alien feeling we students were warned about by our Japanese instructors: not to over-do polite speech. It was bizzare to have this guy practically repenting as if faced with death. Luckily he made no attempts at seppuku in our presence (though the pictures might have turned out more interesting). It turns out he studies English in Tokyo and is still in university, though thankful he doesn't have to do part-time work on top of that. After talking a bit, he was kind enough to give me a postcard, which was met with my last keychain souvenier. He sure needed something to focus and calm with, though.

Reigandou was a confusing place to reach by bus. After much map checking and staring at long lists of tiny kanji I knew it would be faster to ask the police and let them solve the case. There was a koban directly attached to the bus boarding area - why not? Given how long it took them to figure a course, I would have likely wound up in a caldera somewhere on the other side of Kumamoto. I wound up taking one bus to an intermediate hub (with about 30 boarding areas) and mine had 8 different routes it serviced, but the one for Reigandou doesn't mention it as a destination, so you have to head for some onsen in the hills and get off at a random stop, oh and what time does that come because it's a Thursday let me see... it isn't normally a holiday but it's kind of near one so I guess they turned it into a holiday.......... blah.

The cave - when I finally reached it - was surrounded with beautiful scenery, and I can easily see why it would be a choice spot to write a book or die at. Seeing as it was such an ordeal to get there, I was worried a little about the return trip since these rural buses don't come by too frequently. If I stayed more than an hour, the last one would pass and I'd be spending the night with Musashi's ghost. There happened to be an older man accompanying two lively kids as I was leaving for the climb down the hill. As he drove past me later, he asked if I'd like a ride. There was plenty of time to make it to the stop, but being a fan of random encounters such as this, I gladly hopped in.

It was only a few minutes before reaching the bus stop, and I said I'd be fine waiting until it came since I had bought a book before traveling for such situations. He was heading into town anyhow, so I was glad to be rid of any bus headaches. The kids in the back were thrilled at the chance to talk with me more, and I was happy to be the object of their curiosity. Descending the hills provided such a magnificent view of the city and surrounding mountains and forests, I wish I could have asked him to pull over for a picture. My excitement was compounded by the speed at which he took the tight mountain turns in a slight fog. Graceful stuff, though. My two interrogators were keen to know my likes and dislikes on a host of subjects. I hoped to spark some interest in foreign cultures and travel, but maybe at that age Badmiton is still much more important.

I was let off at the perfect spot to quickly catch a train south for Kagoshima. Sitting next to me on the train was yet another guy who was more than happy to strike up conversation (in surprisingly consise English) and help me by explaining the necessary transfers. He went to Kagoshima University and studied diving, which he later explained had more to do with bio-diversity. His recommendation was to visit "Kaimon" - another mountain - at the end of the southern peninsula below the city. I regret not being able to visit... Sakurajima took a lot out of me and I felt one mountain was enough. This man's most memorable quote from our talk about rural travel: "cities like Tokyo are not Japan. I'll drink to that.

Not 5 minutes after stepping out from the station and into the warm Kagoshima winter, I heard a "hello?" from behind. Turning from the map and looking down, there was an elderly Japanese man greeting me with slow (but learned) English. In short, he wanted to chat and so we went to a conbini (I will just write this from now on since "convenience store" is way too long and I don't care to endorse specific ones) and grabbed a pair of beers... and here I thought I was too young to be sitting and drinking in front of a train station in Japan. One more "cultural experience" to add to the list, I guess. My new friend - English name: George - had traveled to Georgia in the U.S. during the civil rights movement. Interestingly, he says he was never the target of discrimination. His most lasting memory seems to be simply how "there were so many black people!"

This was probably the strangest day of meeting others while traveling ever. Too much at once, perhaps!

Kumamoto-jou

Exterior view of Kumamoto Castle. This is one of the outer walls looking over a moat and bridge to the main keep. The leftmost "turret" has five floors and offers an amazing view of the surroundings. The walls have narrow rectangular cutouts for firing arrows down on invaders.

The main keep is under renovation and it made me not want to take many pictures of it.
"Best 3" my ass! This year marks its 400th anniversary - although the main castle was destroyed by fire in 1877. Originally populated by two generations of the Kato line, in the 1630's Lord Hosokawa moved in and kept it for 11. At one point, Miyamoto Musashi becomes retainer to him and is considered a guest. I wonder what room they put him up in.

View of the same turret from the inside. It is one of the few surviving originals on the grounds, because on that fateful day in 1877, the wind happened to be blowing away from it.

View from the 5th floor of the wall turret, modern Kumamoto in the distance.

I wanted to get a shot that exposed how tall and angled the walls truly are. There are varying styles of construction represented at this location, but most follow the same idea of stacking alternating stones together and filling in the cracks with.. more stones. The one on the right is much steeper at the top than the one on the left - suggesting it was built later. People for comparison.

Origin of the Bear

First things first: Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Christmas isn't celebrated in Japan because less than 1% of the population are Christians. As far as Santa and gift-giving are concerned, I was shocked to see that the normally overwhelming capitalist and consumerist attitudes here haven't strongly adopted the custom, either. Christmas isjust another holiday for boy/girlfriends to get one another a gift. On the Eve, I saw a few people in the streets wearing Santa hats and selling cakes (the convenience stores offer a cake catalogue, too). With the general stigma against obesity and people generally trying their hardest to look good at all times (over-dressing themselves regardless of where they go - McDonald's is a good example), nobody I saw was interested in cosplaying as the Fat Man himself.

The New Year, however, is the most important holiday there is; it has kindly provided me with about two weeks of vacation time. I currently sit in Kumamoto, Kyuushuu (near the middle of the southernmost of Japan's 4 main islands) after a good meal of butakimuchi (pig cooked with korean kimchi and onions) and raw horse. My travels will last until roughly Jan. 6th, when I am obligated to return to work. Unfortunately for me, this time of the year is the busiest for travel, since most of the entire country has a week off, and will most likely return to their hometowns and families to celebrate the New Year. Since all planes, shinkansen, ferries(!), etc. were already booked by the time I began thinking about it, I wound up on a night bus from Shinjuku in Tokyo to Fukuoka in Kyuushuu. To my pleasant surprise, the trip lasted a mere 12 hours instead of the 14 that was described on the webpage.

Fukuoka is probably cool but I don't really care to explore big cities so much when traveling far. I have one of the biggest in the world a 40 minute train ride away from my house, and I doubt there's much I'm missing. Cities like that are overwhelming at times - especially with my relaxed and roughly planned style of travel. As the bus was pulling into the station, I had just finished deciding what order I would visit the cities I had penned prior. Oh, speaking of which, here's the plan:

1. Fukuoka - arrival
   
2. Kumamoto - castle, gardens, the cave Musashi wrote Book of Five Rings and later died at
   
3. Kagoshima - volcano, southernmost point in Japan I'll visit (though Okinawa would be nice)
   
4. Beppu - hot springs, sex museum (as curiously mentioned on Wikitravel)
   
5. Kita-Kyuushuu - New Year's celebrations, island where Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro dueled
   
6. Nagasaki - WWII atomic bombing, museum, Dutch trade port/artificial island
   
7. Fukuoka - head home in one way or another
   

Since I am in a net cafe and not only have my camera but the base stand with it as well (I figured I'd need to charge it at some point), I can upload a few photos from the touristy spot I visited earlier today: Kumamoto castle (one of the "best 3" in Japan)!

That's it for Rebun, I promise

Momo-iwa in all of its peachy glory.

The "fast way" down to the coast .

On the other side now, Momo-iwa is the top-right rock. Some of the most amazing scenery I've been able to witness.

The strip of white to the far right is a ski slope which faces the full view of Rishiri.

"Please stay out of the flowers."

Another look at Rishiri, this time with more snowy vegetation. The terraced farming in winter makes you feel as though you're hiking over a giant zebra at times.

Heading back from the hilly west, signs of civilization (even if practically a ghost town).

:3


The big payoff: lunch. It was a late one, and hurriedly eaten, but damn it was good. The true taste of Hokkaido: kani-ikura-don. The bowl is filled at the bottom with rice, then topped with shredded crab and fish eggs, then adorned with three more pieces of crab. The warm miso soup brought our body temperatures back to normal and the pickled squid side was one of the most oddly pleasant flavors I've been exposed to recently. The fish eggs were almost peppery in flavor, but its the texture that stands out on your tongue. Of course, the crab was real, fresh, and delicious.

Start of the Trail

That was a busy week. Now, back to the pictures.

After arriving on hilly Rebun, the ferry boards before returning to Wakkanai.

The port holding the smaller fishing boats that provide food year-round for the island's residents. Even on a cold winter morning such as this, captains were removing the ice and heading out for sea.

The southeast coast of Rebun facing Rishiri, which looked more like Olympus on this cloudy day. The road follows the perimeter of the island has buildings on either side, making it one infinite, small-town "main street." Due to our visit during the off-season, nobody was manning the shops or restaurants, and it seemed more a ghost town than tourist destination. This, of course, was our preference.

Behind the ferry port was a winding road that we walked for an hour or so. Not knowing exactly where it was leading - and having amended our travel plans to be less demanding, not caring - we went on until coming to this fork. Momoiwa was the tall hill we'd read of and hoped to reach in order to get some great pictures of the surrounding terrain.

To our surprise and amazement, this was the first sight after ascending the 1km incline: a steep cliff sliding into the ocean. To get an idea of the slope's magnificent size, the tiny wooden barricades stabbed in to prevent avalanches are about as tall as an adult human. The travel guides mentioning Rebun's southwestern coast did it no justice. It is a breathtaking feat of nature, with a palette to match.