Tricia’s blog

Insanely early BART to SFO, 1 hour to LA, 15 hours to Tokyo, line at customs (they took my passport, finger prints, and picture and basically said see ya) 3 hour wait in the airport, random bus ride to the middle of the runway where the plane is waiting, 1 hour to Fukuoka. Find luggage, get out of there (first place I've ever seen airline personal checking the id claim ticket for your luggage), find Mel (hurray!), a funny bus ride to Kurume on the wrong side of the road. I guess here it's the right side except that it's the left side, but it was a little confusing. The bus was not actually funny, but I found everything about the place to be funny (tired, I think). Especially that the request to stop sound plays exactly like a door bell.
And then I'm here on July 4th on the island Kyushu in the city Kurume.
That night we chilled and watched some movies. Mel made "pizza." He described it to me as Naan (Indian bread that is wonderful) covered with cheese. He did not lie to me.
And then after being awake for 24 hours, I spent all night and most of the next morning while Mel was at work.

July 5th- For lunch, Mel showed up with some sushi that involved cucumber and natto. Natto is a type of bean. I"m told that most foreigners have to grow to love them, but I like them right off (I read this: http://www.justhungry.com/2004/02/natto.html  days after eating the natto and laughed and laughed).  When Melvin got home, we went to the train station to meet his co-worker, Grant, and his girlfriend, Mariko, (He is American and she is fluent in English) and we got on the train headed to Tenjin (a part of Fukuoka). Once there, we met some people that they know from work  and went to a Karaoke joint. Karaoke joint = several different rooms, closed off from everyone else (but with windows). We walk down this hallway and can see people singing and dancing in their rooms that consist of a tv, tables, and couches. We get to a door and Mariko opens it and moves for me to enter. All of a sudden there is a lot of cheers and poppers going off and a large "welcome to Japan Tricia" sign. Then one lady comes over and tells me there is more and breaks out a cake that has fruit on top. Then the karaoke begins (even though it was probably going on before we got there). This guy gets up and starts dancing around, shaking his hips. Everyone else gets up and dances on the couches. We all sing and dance. There is a phone in the room that you can order food and drinks from. This is the first time that I realized there is an invisible sign above my head that reads "grab her hands and she will dance with you" which some random very intoxicated guy did. Until some of the girls got in front of him (blocking me) and said no no no no. It was incredibly funny.  People seemed to take turns coming over and talking to me about Japan and their experiences in the States (if they had any, and most did). And having one of the others translate for me when they got stuck on an English word.

At one point, someone realized that the last train was about to leave, so 6 of us take off and run to catch it (running after drinking...an odd experience).  We get back to Kurume and Grant, Melvin, Mariko, and I go to a convenience store to get some food. Then we go to Grants place and watch some Japanese music videos and chill. Mel and I headed back. At this point I still cannot pick the street out that Mel lives on at all. There are no street signs so I have to try to memorize the surrounding buildings.

July 6th -  was insanely hot. So we got some movies (and by that I mean Melvin braved the intense heat and went to get movies) and hid from the sun. Once the sun started to set, we got on our bikes (Mel had taken an abandoned one and fixed it up for me to ride) and headed to the river, armed with fireworks. To get there we went through a really nice residential neighborhood. By the time we got to the river, the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous! Several bug bites later, the sun was down and we found a spot where we could play with the fireworks and watch the trains go by. We shot off some bottle rockets and Mel tried to light some sparklers, but they just weren't having it.

After that, we biked around some more. We saw the ruins of Kurume-jo, what was once a castle. It was huge. Now it's just a wall that people are living on. (I am still pretty useless at picking the street out on my own but some things are starting to look a little familiar).

July 7th - We got up and biked to see the statue Narita-San, a very large statue of a woman holding a baby (13th largest according to one website).  An important fact that will come up again, Melvin wears a hat most of the time we are outside (actually he just wears it most of the time, period). Once we get to the statue, we look around. There are shrines everywhere. There is a place to rinse off your hand, which may have a more significant meaning which is beyond me.  There is also what looks like a couple of temples. We go into the very large statue. There are two different Buddhas. In front of one are many people; in front of the other are many animals. We start to climb the steps of the 62m statue. At the top there a several small windows that overlook Kurume. The we climb back down and head to a show room. It had several (much smaller) statues of different people who were important in history. The there was the archway which lead into hell. This arch was black and had skeletons coming out of it. In hell, there were many different scenes of demons picking on humans. They were eating them and cutting them and boiling them, and other various forms of eternal torment. After hell came heaven. It was a much smaller room, but it was much brighter and nicer. After we headed away from the statue, we went to a conveyor belt sushi joint. (This is what heaven is actually like :) amazing!) You sit at a table and sushi just comes past and you just grab whatever floats your boat. You can also order from the menu if you don't see what you are longing for. Once you are done eating, they charge you based on the color and number of plates that you have in front of you. Then we hit up a grocery store, picked up some supplies which included Popsicles, and headed back. I realized that things are looking very familiar to me :) Once back, we started to watch some moves and recover from the heat with Popsicles. However, when Mel opened the box, he looked very sad. He made me close my eyes when he handed me one. When I opened my eyes, I just laughed because it looked like a tiny little baby Popsicle :) There are some things that I think the Japanese are missing out on :)

July 8th-  The challenge from Mel today was to get out of the apartment (although he did leave out finding my way back, hmmm...) and explore while he was at work. So after I chilled in the nice apartment, I ventured out in the terrible heat to met him for lunch. Sadly, the place we had wanted to go was closed (it was an odd time for anyone to be eating lunch) and Mel had to get back, so we split up. I got back to the apartment and decided that since I was already out, I should go for a ride. I thought that there was no way that I would go out in the heat again. So I decided to ride in the surrounding residential neighborhood. I would go down a street for a while, then turn around an go back, my thought was that if I kept this up I would be able to find my way back pretty well. Eventually I ended up in front of a convenience store. I have been in a couple of them before this, so I know that they have food in them. Since I was hungry, I decided to get some food. I went in hearing the usual chat and is called out as a greeting. I stood in front of the food and just stopped. I wasn't sure what anything was. I finally decided to settle on some sushi that looked like it involved egg, cucumber, and natto. I paid (thank goodness for computers with the price showing on the screen) for the food and headed back.  It wasn't natto, and it wasn't beans. I still don't know what I ate, I think it was some sort of fish, but it was amazing! I chilled in the apartment until the sun started to set. I realized it was much cooler, so I wondered out for another ride. I went down one of the main roads this time. I was really nice, except for all the random looks that I got, but eh they weren't that bad. I rode until it actually started to get dark, then I headed back. When Mel got home, he said that a friend was on the way to pick us up to go to dinner. His friend's name is Masa. Masa did some of college in Modesto, CA, so we could talk easily (and both had stories about the bay area to share). We went to a yakitori restaurant.  We get there, and just inside the outer door is a place to put your shoes. I am wearing flip flops and find it really odd to walk into this place barefoot. We sit on cushions on the floor. Mel and Masa talk about what we need to order (chicken for me). Our waitress came over, also barefoot. When we got our food, it was basically meat and onions on skewers. It was so very delicious. We then went for a ride to the top of the mountain to see the city lights. It was very nice, but it was foggy (kinda reminded me of SF). After this we dropped off Masa's car at his place and headed to a Charlie's Bar. Charlie is from Chicago and has been here 11 years. It was also a karaoke bar, but as the whole bar singing together. We made the third group of people that was there, and then there was group bonding. There was a lady that came over during one upbeat song and grabbed my hand to get me to dance with her (she had obviously read the I will dance with you sign over my head). This was also the second time I was around smoke and by then my allergies were starting to take over me.

July 9th - Masa had a day off, so he decided he need to show me around (an incredibly common trend that is amazing). He picked me up and we drove to Fukuoka. On the way we stopped at a parking area to get something to drink (this heat is brutal!). Kinda like our rest stops, but more poppin since the highways are toll road, once you are on you are on. These had convenience stores, restaurants, restroom, and gas stations. We drive on. The scenery reminds me of the tree covered hills between Chattanooga and Manchester. Very nice. Once in Fukuoka, we quickly pass a float that will be carried in the festival in a few days. It looks like most cities, except that there are temples and shrines scattered around the place (temple= has a Buddha, shrine= no Buddha). We see the Fukuoka Dome, a baseball stadium that opens up when desired. There was also other random cool buildings.   We then get to the Fukuoka Tower, a giant tv antenna. We go in and ride the elevator to the top (and since I am American we got free parking!). At the top we can see all over Fukuoka. It has some very nice beaches on the ocean.  At the bottom we walked around one of the beaches and saw some other tourists (they looked American and kinda looked at me funny. Apparently there is some sort of "you being here ruins my image of Japan" issue at times). We then headed over to a very large mall for lunch. We found a place (the first one we stumbled upon) that had their dishes sitting outside so that you can see what they are. Once I explained to Masa that I do eat more the chicken (saying I don't eat beef people automatically jump to only chicken, especially when I add in no pork. There isn't really any turkey over here, but it makes me laugh that they don't think about seafood, especially since it is most of what I eat). We both thought it looked amazing.  We went inside, ordered, and sat down before we realized we were in a Hawaiian restaurant. We thought that was pretty funny. The food was wonderful. We then wondered around the mall and looked at some of the stores. There were lots of shirts with English writing on them. Masa says it's cool to wear, but once he saw an elderly woman with a shirt on that was pretty explicit; she just didn't know it, and he didn't tell her. Once we started to head back, we took a detour into this very small and old city, Dazaifu, to see the Dazaifu Tenman-gu shrine. It was dedicated to a guy that was very smart and people go there before tests and such. There were ribbons hanging everywhere. Masa told me that they were thoughts and wishes that people hang on like July 7th for the lovers of the milky way. They can only meet once a year because they were banished to live on opposite ends of the milky way when their love prevented them from fulfilling their duties ( http://www.lafcadiohearn.jp/articles/RomanceMilkyWay.html fills in parts of the story that I was confused on after Masa told me about it). We then headed back to Kurume. On the way, Masa asked me if I was getting sick because I had been sneezing all day. I told him about my allergies and that I didn't have any medicine. We then went to a drugstore to see what we could find. He was confident since some people are allergic to flowers here. Masa talked to a lady that worked there. She went off to look for something. We found a box that talked about sneezing and runny noise and throat and such. About that time, the lady came back. She was holding a box that said about all the same things, but she said that she really recommended that one. So I finally went with it. Masa and I then went to an arcade to hang out and wait for a friend of his. Arcades in Japan are more like casinos then our arcades. There were several older people playing the games very intently. There were a few just random games, we played on that involved shooting killer bugs. Gon (at least I think that was his name, who does not speak any English) got there and we headed to dinner, after much discussion. People have also been amazed that I love sushi. I guess I really am an odd foreigner.  Anyway, we walk into this restaurant. In the middle of the place is a pond and a giant ship sits on it. We sit at our booth, and Masa shows me the nets that are next to every table and points out all the fish that are in the pond. At this place, you can rent fishing equipment and catch whatever kind of fish you want to eat. Once you catch it, the chief will make it anyway that you want it. We went for the cheaper option of just ordering off the menu. I also got a small glass of water to test out my new medicine. I was told that I just mix it in the water and drink it. So I was kinda expecting some sort of powder. It wasn't really. I looked more like little balls of sand, but I mixed it up the best I could and chugged it. A little more then a little bit gross. But eh, if it'll help. We got all sorts of sashimi (slices of fish) and nigiri (fish over rice) and one kind of cooked fish. This cooked fish came with an eye. The mean Japanese boys were picking on me trying to get me to try it. I sadly could not bring myself to do it (eggs yes, eyes no). Masa ate it instead then showed me the bone that he had to spit out since it was in the middle of the eye. The guys really seemed to be entertained by watching me eat things they knew I had never tried and laughing at my reaction whenever it was a squirmy/spicy/odd one (and it was a few times). However, the food was incredible! We all laughed and talked. Masa would talk to one of us and laugh then turn and translate to the other and we would all laugh. It worked very nicely, until Masa went to the bathroom. Then we were very very stuck. Gon started pointing at the fish and telling me the names (this was also happening earlier since I know some of them due to my love of sushi in San Fran). It was very strange to go from feeling like we were communicating very well to having absolutely nothing to go off of, but as soon as Masa was back all was well with everything again. We then headed back.

July 10th- Mel had told me that one of his students wanted to take me around one day while he was at work. So, Tsuyako picks me up at 9am. This is the first time I've met her. I get in the car and we head off to Yufuin, a city in the mountains.  Once we got there, we wondered around looking at the shops. We went into a restaurant for lunch. We kicked off our shoes and sat on the floor. We had Dango-jiru. It is what I would consider the Japanese version of a vegetarian chicken and dumplings (with some other veggies and rice as well). Delicious! We walk down to Lake Kinrinko. Then we stop at a place to get a drink. The guy that worked there picked up these bottles that looked like it would be water. He pulls off the protective wrapping, pulls out a kind of tab (flat on top with a piece that sticks out in the middle), and hits it into the bottle. A ball drops down into the top portion of the bottle the the liquid inside fizzes up and out of the bottle. Then he did it to the next one as well, watching my reaction both times. It was a kind of soda, similar to ginger ale, called ramune. We wondered into a place that makes ceramic pottery. We walked around it for a little and saw a lady that was working on making scarves. We went to the restroom and it was the first time I had to use the hole in the ground type of toilet (I had avoided it so far). It was ok. Moving on we went to a place where we tried tofu pudding. It was amazing. I started noticing how much tofu was advertised around. It was in everything (including ice cream). I might not have noticed except that I know how hard it is for Melvin to find it in Kurume. We kept walking around and found our way back towards the car. Here we got our bags that held towels and such and headed inside a hotel to an onsen, a large public spa-type bath that is similar to a hot tub. First we showered off (sitting down in front of a mirror) then we got into the tubs. There were 3 single tubs, that look like large wooden tubs, and 2 large group tubs, that look alot like a large hot tub. By the time we left the onsen we were the only ones there (thus the pics). There were individual mirrors complete with hairdryers and qtips to get ready to leave. We left there and headed further back into the mountains. We went through Aso, where there were cows eating on the side of the mountains, Kujyu, where we found a vineyard and a fox, and Oguni, a large valley that holds a few famous Onsen . Here we finally found a restaurant that was open. We went in, ditched our shoes, and went over to our table. It was also one on the ground, but it had a hole in the middle of it where a charcoal fire could be placed. The people at the next table had a fire and were cooking their own food. We were starving and opted for someone else to cook for us. We had Tororo. It was a kind of potato, but it was kind of runny and very sticky. We poured it on our rice, and I tried not to make a mess as I ate it (also came with the other veggies). We continued to drive into the sunset. We stopped at a parking place for a break and saw some birds (we had talked alot about animals over the course of the day). We then made it back into Kurume.

July 11th - Allergies!!!!! AHHHHH!!!! I really miss my pills. This liquid is GROSS! By now I am totally doubling up the recommended dose (I'm taking more when I can feel it wearing off which ends up being about 4 times today and the recommended was twice a day, but the first day I got it I did take two hits of it that night). However, I'm not worried about that. Mel has told me that the medicine here is not very strong. The best painkiller they have is IB-prophin, and I never even buy that. :P  With that said. I spend the morning doing laundry and sneezing my head off. I also ventured out to an Indian restaurant to buy us lunch. It was good stuff! Once the heat died off I went for a bike ride. I saw a really nice shrine/temple (I can't tell the difference and it was too dark for a good pic) and a culture center. Somehow I got lost. Looking at a map now, the road I went on had a kind of cut into another road from the first side. From the opposite side, this wasn't there. All I knew was that all of a sudden I was on a different road. I kept going, not sure how I ended up there, and then magic happened and I ended up at a bus station that I knew how to get back from.

 

July 12th - I left the apartment at about 11am to head to the train station. I went to the Tenjin station on the Express, thanks to a wonderful map that Melvin drew for me. Once there, I met a lady that I had met at the first Karoke and could speak some pretty good English. We waited for Noriko. She got there, dressed in a kimono, and we headed to lunch. We went to an Italian joint, that definately had a Japanese twist (there was some wasabi in my alfrado) and was delicious. After lunch, which we did sit at and talk for a long time, the lady told me that she had to go to get her hair cut and she told me that Nariko was nervous about hanging with me because she was not confident about her English. However, we only had about an hour until some others would be joining us. We walked around looking at some of the Yamakasa floats that were on display. Someone stopped us and had us write messages to the runners. The largest of the floats were not going to be the ones that were ran with. Two other ladies joined us (Mechio, who has choppy English and a friend of hers). We wondered around the city looking at the floats. Eventually we started seeing men dressed in the typical dress for the festival. We found a place on the street to watch the practice race. There were swarms of boys (and a few young girls) that came running by. Then a little bit later a large group of men would come by with the float in the middle of them. There was always at least one guy on the float. He was yelling the instructions to the others, telling them which way to turn and when to switch places.  Yukako joined us (Mechio's coworker) who was fluent in English (and even wore sunglasses!, wait, did I mention that no one there really does?).  We all went to a cafe to rest and chill. Then the two ladies left and Noriko, Yukako, and I went to dinner. It was a wonderful place, kinda like having Japanese tapas and some amazing sake. After dinner I jumped on the last Express and headed back to Kurume (once again thanks to the second amazing map that Mel drew for me)

 

July 13th - Mel is finally off work :) yay! We went to the train station and met Mechio. We got on a train and headed to Yanagawa where we were picked up by a guy who spoke Japanese and Chinese and another guy who only spoke Chinese. It made for interesting conversations that had to be translated several times. At the store where we got our tickets, Mel told me about Kappa, the water folklore. I don't remember all the details, but it did involve emptying the water out of the Kappa's head.  We took a boat ride down the canals of Yanagawa. There was our group of 5, 2 other people, and our driver. Our "driver" sang to us a few times. He also kept telling us what we were seeing around us. We saw several other boats and a snake and ducks that followed our boat (I think they were used to being fed). There were also several little shops along the way that sold water and snow cones and such. I could randomly pick out "American" as we went past them. After the boat ride, we walked around the tiny town. We stopped at very large house that you could walk around. I wasn't ever reallky sure whose house it used to be. It was very pretty. We then went for a fabulous unagi (eel) dinner. We headed back.

 

July 14th - We met Mechio and Noriko and jumped in the car. We drove to Kumamoto-jo, a castle. We wondered around the castle, walking up several flights of stairs (in the intense heat) to the top of the castle.  Once we climbed down, there was a very drunk guy there that tried to talk to us in English. By the time we were getting ready to leave, he was passed out on the ground with some cops around him trying to help him.  We left there and headed to Suizenji Jojuen Garden. It was georgous! There were many trees and a hill that was supposed to be a likeness of Mt Fuji. There was a river/lake that had very large fish, ducks, and turtles. There was also the Izumi Shinto Shrine. It was also very pretty. We went to an excellent lunch (the same noodles that I had before yummy!). We then headed back to rest before a very long night. Mel and I met Grant and Mariko at the train station and headed to Tenjin. Once we got there, we headed to the Cat Cafe that Mariko had seen a tv episode about. It is a cafe, you can get drinks and some food, but you pay by the half-hour to be in the cafe. And there are cats, everywhere. They are all strays, so if someone bonds with a cat they can take them home. After we hung out there for awhile, we headed to an internet cafe. There we played darts (none of us were very good) and then we went into a karaoke booth. We sang until about 4am. Then we headed to the Yamakasa parade. The streets were very crowded. There were massive cheers as each of the groups came past. After we saw the groups, we headed home to pass out.

 

July 15th - We hung around and relaxed. Then we headed to Charlies for a party. Masa and Gon were there and Grant and Mariko met us there. Charlie made us all spaghetti. We sang more karaoke, danced around, and played darts.  We left in enough time for Mel and I to get back to his place, get my stuff, and then get to the bus station. I then started my very very long trip back.