家族と福岡で (With family in Fukuoka, vol. 2)

The plans for Sunday were quite open for me and my family. We decided to not to travel anywhere further after the previous days so Nokonoshima island in Fukuoka seemed to be a suitable attraction. We took a subway to Muromi and walked to the windy beach. From there we went to buy ferry tickets to the island and enjoyed filled baguettes, something non-typical Japanese food. When we reached the island after a 10-minute ferry ride, we stopped by at the restaurant area before heading to the Nokonoshima Island Park, the flower park in the Northern part of the island. When we walked to the bus stop and checked the timetable, we noticed that the previous bus had left quite soon after the ferry arrived to the island and the next bus would come after 45 minutes. It was about 3,5 kilometers to the other side of the island but we decided to reach at least the top of the hill by foot to see the view from there. It didn't take much time to realize that the buses actually drove more often than once in an hour so we could have just waited for the next one at the bus stop. But in fact we agreed later that it was good that we had missed the bus. We saw much of the nature and the living on the island and got some nice exercise when walking uphills and downhills all the way to the park. Even a short rain shower didn't dispirit us.

After finally reaching the park we felt like being in the Netherlands because of all the flowers. The view to the sea was amazing and the whole place with different kind of outdoor games and restaurants seemed like a nice place to come to spend one or two entire days. But we only had a quick visit there and then took a bus back to the ferry.

We wanted to have a dinner in an izakaya (an informal Japanese gastropub) in the evening when we got back to Hakata but one of the near-by izakaya restaurants was too difficult to find and the other one was closed. We ended to to go to a restaurant that served different kind of small dishes too (like in an izakaya). They didn't have an English menu and I could understand maybe one third of the Japanese one but we managed to order different kind of good (and interesting) dishes. The chef didn't seem to enjoy the way we ordered food and I realized the reason afterwards when other customers started to come about one hour after us. Everybody else ordered a bowl of ramen and maybe one side dish. Then I understood that the place was actually a ramen restaurant where the staff is prepared to serve bowls of ramen for the customers but we ordered only one ramen for all of us and many different kind of side dishes the izakaya way. No wonder the chef didn't give us smiles because he had to work super hard to make all the dishes for us early in the evening when the were still only a couple of employers working that time...

Pig legs

On Monday we I had the last day with my family in Japan. We started it with one of the traditional Japanese art, ikebana. I had got free tickets for us all from my teacher of the volunteer Japanese class. We saw many arrangements and a demonstration when two Japanese women did ikebana. After that some people from the audience (including me and two of my friends) got to try to make their own arrangements too. Everyone had the same plants to use but the outcomes were quite different. That was my first ikebana experience ever.

After a very Western style lunch (hamburger steak and oven potatoes) I showed my family the Ohori Park that was very nice place to be on a sunny spring day. Even I saw a new area there when we went to see to ruins of the Fukuoka Castle. Because the cherry trees had started blooming, the park was full of people having picnic under the blossoms. And adding some food-selling stands to that it reminded me of Finnish vappu.

Finally I had to show my visitors my every-day places, the university and the dormitory. At the university we went to meet also the lovely person in charge of the international students and she seemed really happily surprised to meet my family too. When we got to my dormitory, I asked to house lady if I could show my visitors around. (Normally all the visitors are allowed to come only to the lobby, not to the floors.) She came to us and asked if the visitors were my friends and when I answered that they are my family, her face changed from suspicious to happy and she said I surely can show them my room and the places.

Since we were in my neighborhoods, I needed to take my family to have the cheap ramen close by and then we continued to play some darts and drumming game and the have free ice cream with soft drinks in the book store next to the ramen restaurant. Something different to experience for my visitors before they had to return to the hotel to sleep early for the next day's flight.

It was a nice vacation week also for me, I felt like an excited tourist too when visiting all the new places. Once again I got to realize that I have learned some Japanese here because it was mostly me who dealt with everything during that week and I always spoke in Japanese. As far as I understood, also my family felt relieved when they had someone to speak for them when the local people didn't feel comfortable with English. It is actually cool how I have learned to manage with Japanese in half a year even though I still often don't understand written or spoken Japanese I face. Soon I will learn more again since the second semester will start in two days!

家族と広島で (With family in Hiroshima)

After the second night in the Japanese style hotel in Kyoto, we took our bags, walked next to a nice small river to the metro station and took metros to the train station.  It was time to head back towards Fukuoka but with one extra stop on the way. After a couple of hours in shinkansen we got to smell the air of Hiroshima. It took quite a long time to find a place where we could leave our bags at the station but finally we managed to go and explore the city without too much to carry.

The weather was sunny which was more than fine for us after the rainy Kyoto. Most of the places we wanted to see were on a walking distance from the station which made it easier to go around. First we checked the garden of Hiroshima castle that itself looked very nice with the combination of white and wooden colors. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. In front of the castle we met a couple of persons from a samurai clan and they taught us to pose with "three arrows". There were only few cherry blossoms in the park but we saw some people who had got there for hanami, the blossom viewing which is very popular in Japan during the cherry blossoming. In the garden we also saw two players playing traditional Japanese music on live. So nice atmosphere!

From the castle we continued to the Atomic Bomb Dome, a must see attraction in Hiroshima. A former industrial promotion hall had surely suffered badly but it was still strong enough to be one of the few buildings that left standing after the explosion even though it had been close to the epicenter. Since the bomb dome was close to the city center and many restaurants, I had hoped to find a good place to taste okonomiyaki which is the specialty of Hiroshima. Unfortunately one place had a huge line outside the restaurant and others had closed after the busiest lunch time. Nevertheless, we found a nice restaurant where we spent about 1,5 hours.

After the lunch there was not too much time left before our train so we just quickly checked the Peace Memorial Park and the Peace Memorial Museum. In the park there were the Flame of Peace, a torch that is set to burn until all the world's nuclear weapons are destroyed and a cenotaph that has the names of the atomic bomb victims inside it. All these monument form a straight line together so one can fit them in a one photograph. The museum was very crowded and unfortunately the main building was under renovation but still we got a picture of the horror of the atomic bomb, I had wished to visit also Miyajima island in Hiroshima but I had to leave it for some other time since we took the six o'clock shinkansen back to Fukuoka.

家族と京都で (With family in Kyoto)

We had one full day time to spend only in Kyoto and unfortunately it was raining almost the whole day. Nevertheless, we decided to go around and enjoy different places with my family while my friend continued his way up to Tokyo and the north. The first place of the day to see was Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion which is probably the most well-known attraction in Kyoto. It surely was an amazing building with the golden (not yellow as in some photos I had seen) walls and in the middle of the beautiful nature but the atmosphere suffered due to a huge amount of visitors.

From Kinkaku-ji we took two buses to reach the bamboo grove and we realized how cold Southern Japan's spring can feel when it is raining and we have to wait for a bus... Still we could also enjoy walking in the middle of a large bamboo area which kind of an experience none of us had had before. And it was exactly what the guide book said: hard to capture in a photo. Through the bamboo forest we reached a park which lead to a river. It was like from China or somewhere else in Asia with small mountains next to the river and boats sailing on it.

Our next destination was on top of the hills where there was a place called Monkey Park. One can walk among wild monkeys and even though the monkeys were used to people, there are certain rules one should obey, such as 'keep always distance of at least 2 meters to a monkey'. It seemed that the monkeys didn't know about this rule since they walked and jumped close to us even when we started to get back down from the hill. The only place where people had a cage between them and the monkeys was the feeding place when the humans had to go inside while the animals hang on the cage to reach some nuts and fruits from the visitors.

"Watch out for the monkeys", "Don't touch the monkeys"...

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by at the Imperial Palace Garden. It was quite simple with the straight roads and the trees as the only decoration, very suitable for Japanese style. We could see only the roof of the palace over the wall but at least some of the cherry and peach trees had started blooming to delight us.

Since the day had been tiring after walking in the rain, only three of us decided to live the hotel in the evening to go to see Kyomizu-dera which is maybe the second best known place in Kyoto. And it really was good idea to visit it after sun set because the red buildings lightened in the dark night were an amazing view! The cherry blossoms under the famous balcony were not remarkable yet but Kyomizu-dera became the best memory from Kyoto for me.

Kyoto is known also for its delicious fish dishes so as the last interesting experience there we decided to go for a puffer fish dinner. I don't think there will be too many chances to easily try puffer fish in my life so why not to do it when there are plenty of those kind of restaurants nearby. We entered a small but nice looking restaurant and ordered fried puffer fish and a hotpot to cook puffer fish, some cabbage and noodles. These two dishes would have been enough to fill only one person's stomach but since the price was quite different from normal restaurants we decided to continue eating elsewhere. The two dishes cost almost 5000 yens together and the taste was quite similar to coalfish. But it was an experience and we all are still alive!

家族と姫路で (With family in Himeji)

On Thursday morning I had super early wake up because we had tickets for shinkansen that left Hakata a bit after 7am. It was my first time in shinkansen but we didn't find it that different compared to a normal train. The speed was faster yes but one could not feel it that well from the inside.

We changed the train in Okayama and headed to our first destination, Himeji. We could see the big white castle already from the train station and I could realize already on the way there that Himeji is much more popular among (Western) tourists than Fukuoka. They also had police officers at the traffic lights to ensure that nobody crosses the road before green light. Sometimes Japan has really found ways to employ more people.. We were lucky to have a very sunny day so that we enjoyed being also on the yard of the Himeji castle. But it was also very nice to see from inside. They had made a clear way inside the castle so that we could go around all the floors without problems. Sometimes to big crowds of tourists made us walk slower but since we got there already around 11am we missed the busiest time. We saw also some cherry blossom in Himeji though the best time was still to come.

Next to the castle there was Kōkō-en, reconstruction of the former samurai quarters with nine Edo-style homes. Unfortunately we couldn't enter any of the houses but the gardens around them were really beautiful and worth of visiting. Before taking the next shinkansen we had lunch in an udon noodle restaurant and yummy dessert in another cafe.

The next destination for us was Kyoto where we stayed over in a hotel with Japanese style of rooms. There were tatamis on the floor and removable mattresses. Since we felt tired after all the travelling, we only asked a recommendation for a yakitori place from our hotel and headed there to have a dinner. The place was small with only a counter to sit around and the yakitori selection was somewhat small too but we atmosphere was a great experience for us. One chef with one helper cooked everything in front of our eyes and we could talk with them too. Before sleeping some of us went to test the baths of the hotel that reminded like a little onsen with similar small chairs for washing and one hot bath to relax in.

家族と福岡で (With family in Fukuoka, vol. 1)

It is very popular to go for picnicing under the blooming cherry trees in the spring time and also I have got many invitations for hanami. The cherry blossoms are late due to the cold spring which has had an effect on people's plans. They had planned to go for hanami on my Saturday's volunteer Japanese class on 25th of March but we ended up eating bento (a lunch box with different kind of ingredients) and enjoying some performances and speeches inside because there were no flowers at all yet.

I got my first visitors from Finland when my family came here last week. First I went to the international airport to pick up my friend who was supposed to land to Japan half an hour before my family but the plane was delayed so I took to the shuttle bus back to the domestic airport to greet my family who had changed the plane in Tokyo. Since my friend got stuck at the airport because of the questions about his longer stay in Japan, I took my family to the hotel and traveled back to get the sixth visitor there too. In the evening I finally got to visit Fukuoka Tower also myself when we went to enjoy the night view over the city of Fukuoka. Quite amazing view with the city lights on the other side of the tower and the black sea on the other side. From there we rushed to Sushiro (a conveyor belt sushi restaurant). I knew that Sushiro is a delicious place with cheap prices but I got even a bit surprised when all my visitors found it nice too. Sushi is not a typical food for my family, and even I have to admit that it is not my favorite from Japanese dishes. Nevertheless, Sushiro is something worth of going.

On the first full day together we headed to Dazaifu. When we got to the temple area, there was a Japanese woman who asked if we can have a photo together. She was posing with her child and the seven Western people of us while her husband took a proof that they met a group of foreigners. We walked behind the temple in some area I had not noticed on my first visit and it was great. We even found a nice restaurant in a Japanese style building and luckily they served also umegae-mochi (a rice cake with red bean paste inside) with matcha (thicker green tea with foam on the top), the delicacies one should try when visiting Dazaifu. A new place for me was also one of Japan's four National Museums. The building was big but the exhibition itself was quite small with some weapons, jewellery, statues and stories about Japan's history.

When visiting Dazaifu, it was quite easy to visit the Chikushino Tenpainosato onsen that I already once tried. When being in onsen on one hand I would like to spend hours and hours there relaxing but on the other hand the hot baths make me feel thirsty and dizzy if I stay long. Anyway, I like to visit those even for a shorter time as we needed to do to return back to the main Fukuoka fairly early. For the dinner I leaded everybody to CoCo Curry to eat the Japanese curry I really like so much. The spiciness was a surprise for some of my visitors and the taste divided opinions. But I cannot get enough of curry!