sakura, sakura, sakura

You know, when Mother Nature says she's giving you sunshine and cherry blossoms, there is nothing more to say but, "yes, ma'am".

Monday, that is what I did. I walked to all the places around our neighborhood and checked out the cherry blossoms because once they start blooming, it is just a matter of time before the season is over.

Tuesday, I had an appointment in Osaka, so I went to check out the cherry blossoms at Osaka castle.

They weren't fully bloomed but it was still nice.

I then used my GPS to guide me to my appointment. You gotta love technology when it takes you through a park, Naniwa no miya ato Park, the remains of the Naniwa Palace and you get to see the scenery above while walking through the park. (photo above).

I was amazed at how many tiny neighborhood parks had beautiful blooms.

Wednesday was forecast for another sunny day, so I again headed out to check out more blooms, this time along the Ookawa near Sakuranomiya.

This was a particularly nice walk because there weren't too many picnic-ing, probably because it was a weekday.

The weather for the rest of the week was forecast for rain, so I hadn't made any more plans. In fact, on Friday, it was so blustery, I was sure everything had blown off the trees.

Oh, I also tried out the panorama mode on my phone...pretty neat!

Another short sakura season.

Hope you are enjoying Spring where you are!

p.s. over the weekend we hit a cold snap and had hail!!

ureshino-takeo onsen-fukuoka-osaka

Breakfast the next morning was at 8:00 and was to be served in our room.

We got up early to check out the baths (usually ryokan switch the bathing areas in the mornings, so if the women's bath was on the right the night before, it would be on the left in the morning. Confusing, but this is so you can enjoy all of their bathing areas.)

Usually Satoshi takes a longer time than me but we came out at the same time, I told him we should go check out the sakura across the street at Onsen Park.

We changed and went across the street.

The rain had lifted but it was still very cloudy. And there were still some soggy spots here and there. Again the forecast was for rain, but we had a nice walk through the park and were ready for breakfast when we returned.

Breakfast was kaiseki-style and there were many dishes.

We had chagayu (a rice gruel with green tea) and many other dishes.

An interesting condiment was their chatsukudani (seasoned nori with green tea leaves mixed in). A little bitter, but good on rice.

A local dish, yudofu is tofu cooked in hot water, when the water turns cloudy, it is ready to eat.

This tofu is eaten with a sesame shoyu sauce, grated ginger and katsuo bushi (dried bonito).

We were debating as to what to do with the weather being rainy off and on.

In the end we decided to go back to Takeo Onsen and explore the area.

Before leaving Ureshino, we bought some tea (black tea from Ureshino and herb tea from Takeo)

and tea sweets (a green tea financier called Hikicha Furian by Suehiro-ya Kashiho).

We took the bus back to Takeo Onsen and ordered our lunch...Saga-gyu Bento from Kairo-do, a tiny cafe inside the JR Takeo Onsen Station.

Apparently they have won awards for their bento in the Eki-ben (station bento) category.

Our first place to check out was the Romon. Apparently this gate was built in 1915 by Tatsuno Kingo, the same architect who designed Tokyo Station.

The lady at the gate said that they only open it to the public one month out of the whole year! Apparently this gate was restored 2 years ago.

On the property there are many bath houses and there are also historic baths which are no longer in use, these were huge!

Then on the suggestion of the lady at the gate, we raced across town to check out the 3000 year old camphor tree on the grounds of the Takeo Jinja.

You could feel the power from that tree! It was definitely worth racing across town to see it.

We then rushed back to the station to pick up our lunch and then we were back on the train towards Fukuoka, where our adventure began.

Our bentos were so good! Satoshi had their kalbi bento

and I had their sukiyaki bento. Each bento uses A5 rank Saga beef, a ranking they use in Japan for brand name beef.

I think A5 is the highest ranking. The meat was so tender and very flavorful.

I have a feeling the guy sitting in front of us was rolling his eyes every time we oohed and aahed over our lunch.

The weather wasn't all that cooperative, but we got to see, do and eat a lot.

I hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did.

Kairo-do
JR Takeo Onsen Station
Phone: 0954.22.2767

ureshino

From the Kami-Arita station it is about 3 stops to Takeo Onsen station. From here it is about a 30 minute bus ride to Ureshino.

Ureshino is a small town with lots of onsen (hot springs) and many tea farms.

According to a legend, Empress Shinko stopped at Ureshino after a battle. She saw a white crane soaking its tired wings in the river and flew away looking refreshed. The empress told her soldiers to bathe in this river. They discovered that the hot springs in the river healed their wounds. When the empress saw this she exclaimed "ureshino" which means "I'm happy" in Japanese. And this was how this area got its name.

This area is located along the Ureshino River and is one of the most popular hot spring resorts in Kyushu.

The ryokan we stayed at was called Chagokoro no yado Warakuen (which literally translates to Tea Feeling, but I think it means Heart of Tea).

What intrigued us was that this property had a rotenburo cha-buro (outside tea bath), the bath water has brewed tea in it.

Another nice ammenity of this ryokan was that they had wifi in all rooms and on all floors.

Our welcome drink was a black tea with konpeito (these tiny candies are influenced by the Portuguese, I thought I had written up about them before, but can't find it in my archives (it might have been pre-blog!), Satoshi's classmate makes konpeito in Kyoto and to make one batch can take up to a week to make!).

And when we were shown to our room, we were also served matcha (green tea) and a yuzu sweet.

In the room, there was "incense" burning...it was actually tea roasting...nice!

In the main bath areas, they also had tea bags for you to massage yourself with in the bath. Tea is supposed to have healing as well as deodorizing properties.

Dinner was served in our room, kaiseki-style and there were many dishes.

There was also dried green tea which the server told us to grind with the mortar and pestle and sprinkle on the different foods, like furikake...different but delicious!

We ate and ate and ate!

After all that eating we used the rotenburo (outside bath) in our room and relaxed a bit.

Our trip was coming to an end, but there was still one more day ahead.

Chagokoro no yado Warakuen
33 Shimono Ureshino-machi
Ureshino, Saga
Phone: 0954.43.3181

imari-arita-ureshino

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, the weather was forecast for rain.

We woke up and it was cloudy but not quite raining...yet.

Breakfast was at the hotel's buffet and it was pretty sad, even the coffee was bad.

On the other hand, Satoshi, who eats just about anything, made a field day of the buffet...sigh.

So, after "breakfast", we had planned to catch the bus to Ookawachiyama, a pottery village.

There was about an hour before the bus, and since it was only 15 minutes away by car, we took a taxi out there because it was still only cloudy and looked like the weather would hold up a little longer.

It was a good call.

We had the whole village to ourselves, no other crazy tourists running around, just us.

The village was created for the Korean potters that Nabeshima-yaki (Nabeshima pottery) makers had brought over to help them make their wares.

To ensure that no one leaked techniques or items, everyone used to be checked as they came or left the village.

Of course, all the shops were closed (because it was so early in the morning), but just to see the different types of pottery in their window displays were interesting enough to us.

There was even a ceramic chime at the entrance of the village which I videoed, you can watch it here if you wish.

By the time the bus we were supposed to be on arrived, it was pouring.

We hopped on the bus and took it back to our hotel.

When we arrived back in town, the rain had stopped and we picked up some snacks from Etoile Horie for our train ride to Arita.

It is about a 30 minute ride by train from Imari to Arita.

The rain had started again but that didn't stop us.

We walked about 20 minutes from the Matsuura Railway Arita station to have lunch at Honjin.

A group of restaurants were serving an Arita-yaki Gozen.

Arita-yaki is a high quality white porcelain. Gozen is a polite form for the word meal.

The meals are served in Arita-yaki and showcase Arita chicken and local vegetables.

Arita-yaki gozen at Honjin (top row: chicken thigh grilled with curry), chicken skin & chicken breast marinated in vinegar and momiji (chili pepper daikon), bottom row: simmered seasonal vegetables, steamed chicken dumpling, fried chicken breast tempura style

To participate in this the restaurants had to follow specific rules:
1) each had to call their set, "Arita-yaki gozen"
2) they have to use Arita chicken
3) each set had to have a grilled dish, a vinegar marinated dish, a simmered dish, a　steamed dish and a fried dish.
4) all dishes have to be served in Arita-yaki and served in the gozen style
5) each set should have rice from Arita and godoufu. Also dessert and other items should be made from as many local products as possible. If coffee or tea is served, it should be served in Arita-yaki as well.
6) each set should be served with the same chopstick wrappers with the "Arita-yaki Gozen" logo on it.
7) each set should be priced at 1200 yen (tax included).

Whew! enough rules for you?!

Godoufu is a local tofu made from soy milk and kuzu (arrowroot). It is different from standard tofu as salt lye (nigari) isn't used. The texture is quite thick and sticky.

Dessert was a rich pudding and we also had a nice cup of coffee.

The lunch was delicious and it was nice to get out from the rain.

One of the sights we checked out were the Tonbai walls.

Remember the sweet called Tonbai Arita we had in Imari? It was made to look like these walls.

The tonbai walls are made from old kilns, tools used to make pottery & fragments of old pottery as well. The word "tonbai" means the inner wall of the kiln in Japanese.

During the Edo period, there were many shops all over the town, the kilns were located away from the main streets to protect the secrets of how they made the pottery and were surrounded by these tonbai walls.

A nice treat we found in Arita were these Hamaemon cookies made by Yoshinaga Kaho.

Made to look like "hama", the things they use to put pieces on when firing them in the kiln, these shortbread cookies were tasty and very sturdy.

I bought their coconut and cardamom flavored cookies...so good!

Our shoes were soaked, the rain was off and on and we were on our way to Ureshino.

Honjin
1-1-12 Naka no hara
Arita-cho, Nishimatsuura-gun, Saga
Phone: 0955.42.6433
Lunch: 11:30-15:30, Dinner: 17:00-19:30 by reservations only

Yoshinaga Kaho
92-7 Nanbaru
Arita-cho, Nishimatsuura-gun, Saga
Phone: 0955.42.3521
Closed Tuesdays

p.s. it's Friday here, have a nice weekend!

karatsu-imari

It's a good thing the days are getting longer.

By the time we reached Imari it was 17:00, the tourist information center was closed as well as many other places, but at least it was still light out.

We checked into the Central Hotel Imari...talk about a teeny hotel.

I kept hitting my elbow on the sink whenever I used the toilet...

Most hotels only allow you to use wifi in their lobbies, but, all the floors of this hotel had wifi, pretty impressive.

Since we still had a little more time before the sun set, we checked out the main street. This is where you'll find lots of Imari-yaki...the pottery of Imari.

Apparently Imari exports Arita-yaki (the pottery of Arita), so what is called Imari-yaki is actually Arita-yaki, confusing, yeah?!

Near our hotel we checked out a local sweets shop, Etoile Horie.

They make Imariyaki manju (a thin castella cake which envelops a rich egg paste), we loved this sweet.

We also tried their Koimari, a busse (sandwich) filled with fruit puree.

Their Tonbai Arita, a cake that is filled with dried fruit and nuts that is supposed to look like the walls in Arita.

And their Imari roll...a tea flavored cake filled with whipped cream.

For dinner, we decided to check out the restaurant next door to our hotel called Kira Hiiragi.

They started us off with a free appetizer...kujira (whale)...I've eaten this before when I studied in Japan, it was more "fishy" tasting this time around.

And then we ordered squid...it was still moving! (gasp!)

We also tried Imari beef in various forms...as roast beef salad,

lemon steak

and hamburger with a green onion sauce.

Oh the beef was so tender, talk about melt in your mouth.

We agreed that the food was good here.

After a long day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up.

The weather for the next couple of days was forecast for rain...stay tuned as to what happened next.

Central Hotel Imari
549-17 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.22.0880

Etoile Horie
475-19 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.23.1240

Kira Hiiragi
539 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.22.5790

osaka-fukuoka-karatsu

It is a little over an hour from Osaka to Fukuoka.

Actually we wanted to use mileage for our trip but the darn airlines changed their policy on how many miles we needed (we used to be able to go round trip for 15,000 miles, but now they changed it to 20,000).

Since we didn't have enough for a round trip on one carrier, we used 10,000 miles for one-way tickets to Kyushu and back on two different carriers.

After arriving in Fukuoka, we caught the subway and transferred to a local train to get to Karatsu in Saga prefecture.

We were very lucky because the weather was sunny and the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

Our first place to check out was Takashima. A tiny island that is 10 minutes from Karatsu by ferry. It is known to be a lucky place for takarakuji (lottery) tickets.

Satoshi bought some and said his prayers...hopefully he'll win something.

One thing I noticed on this island was there were lots of cats. Some were just hanging out, some were scrounging for food.

There was even a cat that did "tricks", for a treat, he would stand on his hind legs and look like he was praying for good luck...when we saw him though he was snoozing.

Lunch was at a little shop called Houtou Oyasumidokoro. (Houtou means to "win the treasure")

Satoshi chose the Houtou teishoku...1500 yen. His meal had some grilled fish, sashimi, grilled sazae (horned turban) and a little more seafood which I didn't see.

I chose the Houtou kaiun donburi...1200 yen. Tons of fresh seafood, so worth it.

After praying and eating, there wasn't very much more to do on this island, well, you can check out their fish wall, which was pretty impressive and ran almost the length of the island.

After looking at the wall, we caught the next ferry back and checked out Karatsu castle.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and there were people out picnic-ing.

Not as crazy as the amount of people in Osaka during cherry blossom season, but it was nice seeing people out and about.

We then went to check out the Hikiyama Tenjijo, an exhibition area for the elaborate floats that are used in their Kunchi festival. (Apparently "kunchi" is the word used in Kyushu when they talk about their autumn festivals)

This festival in Karatsu is held November 2-4.

These floats are 5 to 6 meters tall (16 to 19 feet), weigh 2 to 5 tons and pulled by many men from the various neighborhoods around Karatsu. The festival itself is several hundreds of years old and the floats are apparently from the 1800s.

>Cool, yeah?

To give you an idea of how big these floats are, look at the door that they come out from for the festival.

We tried some sweets as well, Ohara Roho's Shoromanju, a tiny orb filled with lots of sweet bean paste.　　This sweets maker has been in business since 1850!

And Ikinari Dango by Yoshidaya. Ikinari literally means suddenly, dango means dumpling. These dumplings are steamed mochi, filled with sweet bean paste and a large piece of sweet potato.

The piece of sweet potato will certainly surprise you.

Karatsu also have their own pottery style which is noted by their dark-ish brown glaze. I was impressed with how they used the pottery to decorate their doors at the train station.

Oh and if you still want to pray to win the lottery, check out Kanemochi Jinja (wealthy shrine) which is inside of the wickets at the JR Karatsu station.

Put your hand silently into the mold and make your wish.

And then we were on our way to Imari...

Houtou Oyasumidokoro
519-5 Takashima
Karatsu, Saga
Phone: 090.6770.3354
Hours: 10:00-17:00

Yoshidaya
1843-1 Naka-machi
Karatsu, Saga
Phone: 0955.73.5415
Closed Sundays & Holidays, Hours: 9:00-17:00

Ohara Roho
JR Karatsu Station
Phone: 0955.75.3211
Hours: 8:30-19:00

Hikiyama Tenjijo
6-33 Nishijo-nai
Karatsu, Saga
Phone: 0955.73.4361
Admission 300 yen
*closed during parts of the year, call before going

no joke

It's April Fool's Day today, but no joke...our sales tax is going up from 5% to 8% today.

And...the price of postage for domestic postcards and letters are going up by 2 yen also (why do post offices always make the increase so that you need to buy 1 yen stamps?!)

Train fares as well as many other things are raising their prices to adhere to the tax increases.

People were stocking up on things like crazy before the increase, I didn't because 1) I have no space for tons of t.p. (toilet paper) and 2) I'm sure they'll have sales once the tax increases.

Oh, and don't worry, the sales tax is supposedly going to go up again in 2015, from 8% to 10%...

I can't vote in Japan, but do want to rant this...

I'm pretty sure that if you would use our tax monies "properly" you wouldn't have to raise our taxes so often, and if you do have to raise them, use them for "stuff" we need...