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I am ensconced in a lovely Airbnb private apartment in Fukuoka, Japan, courtesy of Mayuko and Minoru Ueno. They picked me up at the airport last night and drove me to the apartment, and offered to take me to a Japanese garden the next day. But when we met today to do so, it was such a beautiful day that they asked if I'd rather go to Itoshima Beach, which I'd mentioned planning to visit. I said yes please, and next thing I knew, I was here.
The water was even more clear and beautifully colored than the photo shows, and on the other side were densely forested hills. Minoru goes to the area often to surf, and said he knew a nice view if I'd like to see it. I said yes please, and we drove through a lovely little village with a lot of trees laden with glossy orange persimmons and a rather confusing layout of twisty roads.
He then took us up an extremely narrow, steep, and twisting road full of hairpin turns up Kiyama (Fire Mountain - named because people used to light signal fires on the top). I have no idea what we'd have done if anyone had been trying to drive down, because there was barely room for one vehicle and no shoulder whatsoever. That thought definitely added an extra thrill to the whole experience, but luckily no one did.
At the top, we watched a daredevil paraglider get tossed about in strong winds.
And driving down, we saw a wild boar!
Then we got homemade gelato at a stand operating out of a something like a converted bus, with a long line that barely moved. Minoru recommended the salt flavor, so I got that and caramel. It was spectacular - delicately flavored and creamy, as good as the gelato I had in Italy.
I also got lots of chances to practice my Japanese. I have now gotten to the point where I can understand a fair amount, though my speaking is still pretty terrible. I did get a chance to use some beyond-basic vocabulary (almost entirely involving food, plants, and animals), but sadly I am way better at remembering individual words than at stringing them together.
(By the way, everyone who thought no one was going to ask me about the Tiny-Handed Racist in Japan... I called it. They asked. I had such a wave of loathing that I forgot all my Japanese, and just said, "YECCCH!" Turns out that conveyed my meaning just fine.)
Before that, I ran a few errands (I needed to get my JR pass, and also buy toothpaste and a hairbrush) and of course got lost and wandered in circles around multiple train stations. In the process, I ate a bunch of things from convenience stores - hot canned coffee, egg salad sandwiches, shrimp salad rice balls, etc. I realize that the shameful failure of US convenience stores to sell food anyone would actually want to eat is low on the list of What's Wrong With America, but every time I visit Japan, it looms large in my mind. And it's not just combinis. Everywhere I go, there is delicious food everywhere. I will try to make up for the existence of my evil orange President by contributing to the Japanese economy by eating as much as possible.
Tomorrow I'm spending the day soaking in hot springs at Beppu. Coincidentally, Mayuko and Minoru are also going to Beppu tomorrow, so we may run into each other. There are seven hells (colorful hot springs, not for bathing.) They are spread out, but I'm going to try to hit at least a couple of them. Then I'm hitting the onsen. I am going to hide my tattoo under a large band-aid. Hopefully I remembered to pack it.
The water was even more clear and beautifully colored than the photo shows, and on the other side were densely forested hills. Minoru goes to the area often to surf, and said he knew a nice view if I'd like to see it. I said yes please, and we drove through a lovely little village with a lot of trees laden with glossy orange persimmons and a rather confusing layout of twisty roads.
He then took us up an extremely narrow, steep, and twisting road full of hairpin turns up Kiyama (Fire Mountain - named because people used to light signal fires on the top). I have no idea what we'd have done if anyone had been trying to drive down, because there was barely room for one vehicle and no shoulder whatsoever. That thought definitely added an extra thrill to the whole experience, but luckily no one did.
At the top, we watched a daredevil paraglider get tossed about in strong winds.
And driving down, we saw a wild boar!
Then we got homemade gelato at a stand operating out of a something like a converted bus, with a long line that barely moved. Minoru recommended the salt flavor, so I got that and caramel. It was spectacular - delicately flavored and creamy, as good as the gelato I had in Italy.
I also got lots of chances to practice my Japanese. I have now gotten to the point where I can understand a fair amount, though my speaking is still pretty terrible. I did get a chance to use some beyond-basic vocabulary (almost entirely involving food, plants, and animals), but sadly I am way better at remembering individual words than at stringing them together.
(By the way, everyone who thought no one was going to ask me about the Tiny-Handed Racist in Japan... I called it. They asked. I had such a wave of loathing that I forgot all my Japanese, and just said, "YECCCH!" Turns out that conveyed my meaning just fine.)
Before that, I ran a few errands (I needed to get my JR pass, and also buy toothpaste and a hairbrush) and of course got lost and wandered in circles around multiple train stations. In the process, I ate a bunch of things from convenience stores - hot canned coffee, egg salad sandwiches, shrimp salad rice balls, etc. I realize that the shameful failure of US convenience stores to sell food anyone would actually want to eat is low on the list of What's Wrong With America, but every time I visit Japan, it looms large in my mind. And it's not just combinis. Everywhere I go, there is delicious food everywhere. I will try to make up for the existence of my evil orange President by contributing to the Japanese economy by eating as much as possible.
Tomorrow I'm spending the day soaking in hot springs at Beppu. Coincidentally, Mayuko and Minoru are also going to Beppu tomorrow, so we may run into each other. There are seven hells (colorful hot springs, not for bathing.) They are spread out, but I'm going to try to hit at least a couple of them. Then I'm hitting the onsen. I am going to hide my tattoo under a large band-aid. Hopefully I remembered to pack it.
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