Kyushu Adventure, part 3

雲仙・黒川

Unzen & Kurokawa

March, 2018

My great love here in Japan is not a woman, nor the cuisine, nor the ancient aesthetic culture, but onsen—the natural hot springs.

Everything about them is magical. There are hot spring areas all over the Japanese archipelago. In fact, this country is so volcanically active, it’s said that if you dig down 1000 meters just about anywhere, you can create your own hot spring (my landlord has not let me try this, however). Each onsen is connected to its natural and cultural surroundings in unique ways—some are hidden within dense, wooded mountains with autumn leaves or winter snow drifts, others on the rocky shores of the sea, or next to a foggy lake, or along a rolling river where the sounds of water enhance the sense of communion with the environment as you soak.

Leaving Nagasaki, I took a bus out to the nearby onsen area of Unzen. The whole town smelled of sulfur, as it’s pretty much built right on top of the piping-hot natural springs themselves—the jikoku (literally, hell—pictured below). Thankfully, the pipes cool the water considerably as its being pumped to the hotel baths. Sulfur baths are milky white, and feel amazing. For obvious reasons, bringing a camera into the baths themselves isn’t allowed, but hopefully you can get a sense of the surrounding areas.

Unzen also has quite the ignoble history. The scalding, sulfurous water was used to torture Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century after Christianity was banned in Japan. Did you see Martin Scorcese’s adaptation of Silence? Go watch Silence. Anyway, that’s all long past, and now there’s a famous red brick church (not pictured), as well as stone memorial dedicated to the Christian martyrs among the steaming springs.

The next stop on my journey was yet another onsen spot: Kurokawa. The name translates literally to “Black River,” and is home to a quaint little village tucked within the mountains, that as far as I could tell, is comprised entirely of onsen hotels. This was overall perhaps my favorite onsen area to date. So many gorgeous and varied baths within a short walk of each other (there was one in a cave!), the food was excellent, there was a great little café where I had coffee and mochi, and in addition to the wide open-air bath, my hotel also had a number of private baths, each with its own unique style. It was paradise.

Next up: part 4. Kagoshima and Yakushima—the final leg of my 2018 Kyushu trip.

Golden Week 2018

鎌倉・江ノ島

Kamakura & Enoshima

Golden Week, May, 2018

I’m currently knee-deep in my Tokyo job hunt, so it seems like a good time to jump back in the time machine, this time to the Golden Week holiday of May 2018. I took a day trip with three international student friends of mine (Korean, Taiwanese, French/German, for anyone keeping track) to Kamakura and the neighboring Enoshima, a seaside sightseeing spot due South of Tokyo and Yokohama. Being a national holiday, it was no surprise that the whole area was absolutely packed.

Below is perhaps Kamakura’s most famous site—the Daibutsu, or great Buddha statue.

And taken somewhere below is a rare portrait of me, capturing one of the increasingly frequent moments in my adult life in which I’m somehow simultaneously losing my hair and in need of a haircut:

With plenty of daylight left, we walked to the beach and then South along a coastal road for a few kilometers, stopping for one of the best milkshakes I’ve ever had in my life. So good, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture.

Our destination was Enoshima, a small island connected to the mainland by a bridge. There’s a famous shrine that winds up the mountain and a small village below that caters to tourists.

Oh yeah, Enoshima also has a stunning view of Mt. Fuji. Thanks to the evening’s perfect weather and warm sunset glow, I was able to get this shot just as the light faded. I know it’s already set as the banner image for this post and is displayed elsewhere on this site, but this is truly an all-time top-10 picture in my catalogue, so I’m hoping you’ll allow me to bask in self-congratulation a little longer.

It makes a good desktop image, too—hit me up if you want a copy.

Kyushu Adventure, part 2

九州の独り旅

Nagasaki & Battleship Island

March, 2018

After recovering from a hard-drive close call, continuing to suffer the slings and arrows of a job-hunt in Tokyo, and procrastinating more than a little, I’m finally back to log some more of my 2018 trip around Kyushu. What I expected to be a 3-part series will now be 4, because it’s my blog and who’s going to stop me?

Nagasaki was the next big stop after Fukuoka. My first day there was rainy and overcast, which made the city no less beautiful, but cast a pale that felt strangely fitting for my first day’s activities. After checking into my room in the hostel, which had a lovely view over the Nakashima River, I walked a ways up the valley to visit the atomic bombing memorials and museum. The famous 10-meter-tall Peace Statue features some interesting symbolism: right hand points toward the threat of nuclear weapons, the left toward eternal peace, the right leg folded in meditation, and the left planted firmly to the earth, ready to stand to rescue it’s people.

Two other famous symbols of the city: Meganebashi, or “Spectacles Bridge,” named for the reflection it casts on the river, and the less explicably named “Turkish Rice,” which is Nagaski’s answer to the Garbage Plate: spaghetti and meat sauce, hamburger, a pork cutlet with demi-glace, rice, and salad (100 yen coin for scale—roughly the same size as a quarter).

The next day was gorgeous and sunny. I woke up early and walked to the bay to take a tour boat over to Hashima, otherwise known as Battleship Island for its distinct profile. Here it is through the smudgy boat window:

Hashima is worth a Wikipedia search. It used to be a dense and prosperous coal mining city, with its own school and supermarket and even a bowling alley and movie theater. Once the coal was depleted, everyone moved back to the mainland, and the island city fell into disrepair until fairly recently when conservation efforts began and parts of the grounds opened for tours. It’s haunting and beautiful—like visiting the ruins of an ancient city (if ancient means the 1970s, which I’m sure it does to some people reading this).

Returning to the bay, we were greeted by the docking of the Quantum of the Seas, an absolutely monstrous cruise ship.

I spent the rest of my day hiking from one side of the bay to the other. I first went up the south mountains where there’s a European architectural influence (Nagaski being one of the few ports not closed to foreign trade prior to the 1800s), including the Glover Garden, built by a Scottish merchant.

There were also a few views like this:

From there, I hiked down through China Town. I arrived two days late for the famous Lantern Festival, but at least got to watch them take some of it down.

Then it was across the bay and up the mountains on the other side, which I was told has a world’s-best 360° sunset and night view.

Yeah… they sure weren’t lying about the view:

Next up, a post a fraction of the size of this monster—featuring the hot springs towns of Unzen and Kurokawa.

That time I (sorta) met the Emperor

令和

Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Saturday, May 5th, 2019

As of May 1st, Japan has a new emperor. It’s an event that, ideally, happens only once or twice a lifetime. The last change was 1989, and the one before that was all the way back in 1926. The change of emperor also brings a change of era, making this Reiwa (trans: beautiful harmony) Year One. Banks and many businesses actually use this method of dating alongside the international Gregorian Calendar, much to the confusion of everyone, native and foreigner alike. For instance, was born in 1985, but on official documents I often have to write that as Showa 60. However, as one of the lone proponents of keeping the US on the imperial measurement system for purely cultural reasons, I have no room to gripe.

So a few days after Prince Naruhito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, a limited area of the Imperial Gardens was opened to the public to hear his inaugural address. And by “opened,” I mean that the whole city ward was on complete lock down, closed to all traffic, with scores of police, multiple security checkpoints, and a fleet of helicopters circling overhead. But you know me and crowd photography—I couldn’t pass up this chance, even when included a three-hour wait in the early morning sun.

Oh look! There he is!

The crowd, of course, was enormous. The public was ushered into this huge amphitheater 50,000 at a time, where every hour on the hour from 9:00AM until 3:00PM, the emperor came out for a roughly two-minute address. Peace, prosperity, good health for all. I should have been listening more closely, but I was busy trying to take his photo—not an easy task over all the little paper flags the boy scouts handed out.

A new era usually begins somberly as the country mourns the death of the previous emperor. This time, however, it followed Akihito’s abdication in good health, so for anyone alive today, it was the first time the event could be outright celebrated. Coinciding with an extended Golden Week national holiday, there were pretty positive vibes going around this city, reminiscent of the New Year 2000 atmosphere.

Kyushu Adventure, part 1

九州の独り旅

Kita-Kyushu, Fukuoka, Yanagawa

March, 2018

Exactly one year has passed since I took my three-week sojourn around Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. I took advantage of the expansive Spring school holidays in Japan, lasting from the end of January to early April for Sophia University students, and figured correctly that—at 33 years old—this may be my last break this long for quite a while. Naturally, I brought my camera, taking hundreds upon hundreds of pictures along the way, which is a contributing factor as to why it’s taken me a full 365 days to post any of them.

There are just so many interesting scenes to share that I’m going to break this up into three posts. This first post covers my first two stops: Kita-Kyushu and Fukuoka.

Kita-Kyushu (formerly Kokura), like my hometown of Pittsburgh, is famed for its steel production. I learned, rather morbidly, that for that reason it was the original target of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb in 1945. Luckily for Kita-Kyushu—and tragically for Nagasaki—the weather was too cloudy on the day of the bombing to get a visual target.

After the war, the region’s steel production would begin to undercut that of the US. As it turned out, this was one major factor in the economic decline of Pittsburgh in the 1970s and 80s. In a way that’s tough to describe, it’s got a vibe closer to Pittsburgh than any place I’ve been in Japan. It’s also interesting to note that, as Kita-Kyushu’s steel industry is itself on the decline in the 21st century, city leaders are looking to Pittsburgh as a model for post-industrial economic recovery.

When I got into my hostel, I asked the friendly front desk girl for a good lunch spot, and she pointed me in the way of a small diner run by her sister and her friend. Then those two recommended a local sake bar, which I visited later in the evening only to again run into all three ladies. After we were good and tipsy, the front desk girl showed me her favorite bowl of Kita-Kyushu-style udon.

I stayed only one night before moving on to Fukuoka, the largest city on the island. It’s known for its beautiful women and its delicious ramen stands. I whole-heartedly approve of both.

About an hour train ride outside of Fukuoka lies a small town called Yanagawa, famous for its canals and boat rides. I took a lovely walk around the quiet town and ate some high-quality unagi (river eel, the local speciality).

On the way back to Fukuoka, I stopped at Dazaifu Tenmangu, a large Shinto shrine which apparently grants success to student who come to pray before important exams. I arrived too late to enter the inner shrine, which may be the reason I’ve failed the JLPT N1 twice since then…

Next up: Nagasaki, Battleship Island, and onsen towns!

New Year in Shibuya

渋谷カウントダウン

Shibuya, Tokyo

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

明けましておめでとうございます！Happy New Year!

Amidst a few fervid weeks of studying for the JLPT N1, job hunting, and a trip to Vietnam, the to-do list for my neglected picture blog has grown quite long. While I set to work, I thought I’d make a quick post of some pictures I took today, just as the year was turning.

At around 11:30PM, I took my camera to capture the sea of humanity that poured into the scramble crossing at the heart of Shibuya. The New Year is more of a quiet, family holiday in Japan, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from this scene. If my blog so far is any proof, I love taking pictures of crowds, and Tokyo, as surprisingly peaceful a city as it is most days, can really, really deliver on crowds.