Parent's Visit, Part IV: Saga

This post will be about my family’s small trip into Saga. I had a meeting with other JET participants during Spring Break, to meet the new teachers who will be working with me this next school year, and so my parents and Daniel came with me into Saga, and we all had lunch together with my boss.

The most striking portion of this outing was the sakura (cherry blossoms) blooming near the city government building. So, that's what most of this post will be.

Then we went up to the top story of the government building for lunch. The view was amazing.

 I think the Saga city manhole covers are adorable. Mutsugoro! (They are gobies [singular: goby], or "mudskippers," and are native to the Ariake sea, near where I live. Strange and lovable!)

And this last picture is just to prove there are other flowers in Japan besides sakura. ;)

Parent's Visit, Part III: Arita and Imari

There were several things mom wanted to see when she came to Japan: Kyoto, Nara, several World Heritage Sites, and two small famous pottery villages in my prefecture: Artia and Imari.

There was one thing Daddy wanted to see, which was Sakura.

Oh, and of course, me.

My parents got to see everything they wanted to see, and our chance to go to Arita and Imari is thanks to my very generous friend, Tatara-san, who offered to give us a ride and then took us out to an excellent buffet which featured food made from local products. The food was delicious, the towns were very pretty, and the pottery was excellent.

Artia is quite possibly the most famous pottery from Japan—it’s white porcelean with blue and red patterns, and there were many famous potters from Japan in the 1600’s. We went to a pottery factory (the same one Dana and I went to), and saw the really old, beautiful pottery.

Imari was a small town that was quarantined by a local king (or perhaps the emperor?) and forced to make pottery for generations. The pottery these people produced was gorgeous, and people are still making pottery there. The pottery tends to be a little more earthen-ware, a little more day-to-day use, and it was in this town where we spent most of our time.

All of the pictures below are of Imari.

*All photos were taken by my mother.

Another Blog

If you want to read about my and my parent's travels through Kyoto and Nara, you can visit Daniel's (my boyfriend) blog. He covers the trip in four sections:

Tokyo to Kyoto
A Brief Kyoto Update
Na-Na-Na-NARA!
The Saga Begins

Daniel will be an exchange student in Oita (which is on the other side of Kyushu, the southern island I live on), and when he landed in Tokyo he decided to take the shinkansen to Kyoto to meet my family and me while we were on our travels. It was very fun being able to meet him, and he took a ton of pictures.

Parent's Visit, Part II: Takeo

(Comment on photos: most, if not all, of these photos were taken by my mother, and I was very content to let her take the pictures. It's interesting to see what captivates someone new to Japan.)

This is another installment of "My parents were here" series. They have gone home now-- they flew out of Fukuoka at 10:30 on Saturday morning (getting up to Fukuoka by train by 8:30 in the morning was interesting, considering that Fukuoka's about an hour away from where I live, but we survived).

Anyway, on to Takeo!

This was the first full day my parents were in Japan, and I took them to an irori (sunken hearth) restaurant called Warabe. 

 

Warabe was built seven years ago, using materials from four different 100-year-old houses. It's located in a beautiful glen by a small pond, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

We go that way!

(Okay, so I couldn't chose which one I liked better.)

We don't like each other, honestly.

My mom really likes this picture, and I do, too. My garden has leeks! 

We were climbing down the stairs to Takeo's onsen, or hot baths.

Here's the front door to the bath building.

While my parents were here, I went to Okamura-san's house and gave a small koto performance. I also held their dog, Komo. My birthday sweater makes me feel like I'm Komo's sister.

Takeo has some very pretty cabbages growing at this time.

Saga has some very pretty manhole covers. This is Takeo's.

This is yosakoi, a very athletic dance that's almost like aerobics. I've been invited to join a group, and hopefully sometime in the future I'll have some time to actually go.

When my parents came to Japan, it was still the season for Hina Matsuri, or Girl's Day. The Japanese set up extensie and beautiful displays of dolls, and my mom got some really good shots of these princesses.

Takeo has some BIIIIIG pots. I see them sprinkled all around Saga, and I'm not exactly sure what their history is, but I like them. 

This is Takeo Shrine (where the big camphor tree is!), and it's surrounded by beautiful sakura.

(Dad and I being goofy again)

(except he stopped when I went for it.)

This is the big camphor tree in Takeo, that I love oh so much.

A detail of the stairs up to Takeo shrine.

Parent's Visit, Part I: Tea Ceremony

Since my parents have come here, I have taken a ton of photos. (Or, perhaps more truthfully, my mother has taken a ton of photos.) I'm going to start a series of photo-heavy posts to show some of the moments I had while my parents are here.

First up is me being dressed by my kimono teacher, Okamura-san, for a demonstration tea ceremony for my parents. Tatara-san was also there, helping me get dressed.

Okamura-san, my kimono and koto teacher, is tying my bow. Tatara-san, who takes tea ceremony with me, is helping hold strings and sleeves and general moral upkeep as I'm going crushed and tugged and hit by Okamura-san (obi's, the big bow/belt, are nearly bullet-proof, and thus teachers like to hit them as they tie them because the wearer {me} can't feel it {much}).

Tea Ceremony lessons at my teacher's, Shimamoto-sensei, house.

The orange of the fukusa looks good against the green of my kimono, and Shimamoto-sensei and Tatara-san wanted to get pictures of the contrast.

The Three Musketeers-- Tatara-san, me, and Shimamoto-sensei.

This is a knot/bow for a young person, older women tend to have much simpler bows.

My obi is handwoven, and the weaver uses her fingernails to get the threads in place. Thus, it is more expensive (rather than applique-ing the flowers on), and I think it's an excellent piece of art.

I'm really glad my parents got to see my kimono, as one of my tea ceremony lessons, since it's been such an integral part of my life over the past few years. I'm also glad they got to see my kimono in action, and got to meet some of the dear friends I have made since coming to Saga.

I love you guys muchly.

*all pictures taken by my mother.

Kimono and koto

About a month ago, I purchased a kimono and started learning the koto. Two days ago, both came together in a performance celebrating spring and the Spring Equinox.

So, first and foremost, Happy Spring Equinox, everybody! I have the day off today, since it is a national holiday. I might do some research to see what the Japanese people do for this holiday, but I know that the concert I was in was a free concert put on by the city as part of a week long 春まつり、or Spring Festival.

[will be adding more throughout the day, but right now I'm going to go grocery shopping! :D ]

Click here to hear a version of the song I played.