regions, prefectures, stereotypes

i met an american guy this weekend who has lived in japan for 17 years, mostly in tokyo. he told me that he moved to fukuoka because he was told it was full of kind honest people, but that in the few months he has been here, he has found the people (japanese people, that is) to be "two-faced and immature." in other words, they are kind and happy, but won't tell you things straight to your face. i've been thinking about whether or not i've encountered this, and in some ways, i think i have, without realizing it so clearly. i still think that kyushu people, in general, are more chill and unaffected by the rivalry between kansai (osaka) and kanto (tokyo), but it got my wheels spinning about how we foreigners perceive japanese people, and how japanese people think of japanese in other regions/prefectures.

a few interesting articles on the matter. my mind is far from having a formed opinion, but i will continue thinking on it.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20080302pb.html

http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/kenminsei.htm

Pre-Yamakasa, around town

Fukuoka was gearing up for the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival, one of the three biggest festivals in the city. It technically started on the 1st of July, but the big event was the morning of the 15th. Pictures of that to come in the next post.

I love this poster for "Inception" because the Japanese running down the left of it says "DiCaprio will invade your mind." Hahaha. Of course they had one for Ken Watanabe too.

A decorative float that would be paraded around town at the end of the culminating event on the morning of the 15th.

Since this one is tall and quite elaborate, they can't run with it really quickly the way they do with the others. Stay tuned for pictures of the big Yamakasa event!

omg super old pics

all the way from the FIRST WEEK IN APRIL! i will catch up some more this week. going to invest in a mouse so i don't have to exhaust my fingers on the trackpad.

cherry trees near ACROS

perfect scene for hanami, or "flower-viewing," which actually translates to "getting drunk in the middle of the day under flower-bearing trees." we didn't hanami at this time.

i don't know if this was a photo shoot for an advert or for this couple's wedding photos, but in any case the bride looks like a pink-frosted cupcake.

water show at canal city!

dear god, these types of dresses are tragically popular here in japan for the bride to change into during the reception. barf!

inside a tea house on a lovely day.

more cherry blossoms on the grounds of tochoji temple.

shots like these are soooooo "japan."

IMS! 15-story mall right around the corner from my work. shiny and eye-catching, no doubt!

OK I PROMISE I WILL POST MORE PICS LATER THIS WEEK!!

Perfect day on Nokonoshima

I know I should post my farming-adventure pictures, but I would like to keep this blog somewhat chronological, so I will update with a series of catch-up posts starting from several months back (beginning of April, I think).

I went to Nokonoshima, the island in the middle of Hakata Bay, when a foreign student came to visit and it was my responsibility to show him around the city. I had never been to Nokonoshima, so it was nice to have an excuse to go (during work hours especially, haha). The island is especially famous for "Island Park," a Wonderland of landscaped gardens and seasonal flower displays. We happened to have a gorgeous day when we went! The whole place felt very Dr. Suess-esque, in many ways.View of Fukuoka City from Nokonoshima. The ferry only takes ten minutes! From left to right: Yahoo! Dome, Sea Hawks Hotel, Fukuoka Tower... and then way to the right is one of the biggest ferris wheels in all of Asia that is being disassembled and shipped to Taiwan :(
Funky little cafe right near the ferry landing on Nokonoshima.
Take no ko, also known as bamboo shoots, which look terrifying but are secretly delicious.
View from the entrance to Island Park. See why I used the Wonderland/Dr. Suess analogy?
So much color! It was actually really chilly that day, hard to believe so many flowers were already in bloom.
Weird knobbly trees. Awesome!
Beautifully planted flower beds. I have zero interest in planting flowers, but I like to admire the hard work of others.
Another weird, otherworldly scene.
The PINKEST, most densely grown azaleas I've ever seen in my entire life. Barbie approves!
Six Jizo figures. Jizo is the bodhisattva I studied for my senior thesis. (LINK)
This stunning flower field overlooks Umi no Naka Michi ("The Road in the Middle of the Sea"), the thin strip of land that connects Shikanoshima (once an island) to the rest of Kyushu. This is a field of rape blossoms, called na no hana in Japanese. They are such a cheerful bright yellow and have a lovely fragrance. I was grateful to not have pollen allergies, because otherwise I probably would have died. We were COVERED in yellow pollen after walking around/through this field.
Late-blooming cherry trees and na no hana. I really like this shot.
You can eat the dark leafy green bottom part of this plant. It tastes like spinach and is super healthy and delicious, of course. I like it in udon!
One can never have too many pictures including cherry trees in Japan.
A really beautiful trip! I will try to go back for the sunflowers in the summer and the late-blooming cosmos light-up in October/November!

Stirrings of Sakura: Maizuru Park

I won't lie. The sakura are on their last legs here, but these pictures were taken 2 1/2 weeks ago when they were just beginning to bloom. A few trees were in full blossom but for the most part they were just buds.The sun! A weirdly cloudy end to the day that allowed me to take this picture...

Sun! This was my first time in Maizuru Park, I am somewhat ashamed to say... It's really quite huge and houses the ruins of Fukuoka Castle (not much to see, boo).

Crazy sideways sakura tree.
Oooh illuminated
Ooooh (there's not much else to say)
Nice!
Shadows on the castle ruins (replica? dunno).
Nice flower-viewing spot... when the flowers come out!
Oh hi, there you are, gorgeous.
Oooooooers. I like them with the red benches.
A funny little fellow I met while flower-viewing. Nice kicks!
Ohhh, the pink ones are the BEST.
Strange mostly-naked alien-like sakura tree.
Oooh it looked even better on the way back.

yatai

Hakatakko, which means "child of Hakata"

Inside, the joint was jumping (I think it sat 11-12?)

Fukuoka is famous for it's yatai, which are food stalls that pop up all over town around 5pm and are open late into the night. They mainly cater to tourists and drunk businessmen, but some are supposedly quite good. In general, however, they are overpriced and mediocre. I actually hadn't been to one until today, and I was largely underwhelmed. The atmosphere is kind of cool (though the people who run it are incredibly cranky), and while I'm glad I had the experience, I doubt I will be going back for more. It was some of the worst Hakata ramen I've had X_X

My First Few Days in Fukuoka

It's been a truly crazy week, but somehow I survived and I THINK I'm almost over my jet-lag. I can already tell that Fukuoka is going to be a great place to live. It actually feels similar to Kyoto- I think because the buildings are pretty low, the crowds on the sidewalks aren't packed, and there are oodles of people riding bicycles. There is also often a wind off of the sea, so even in this stinking hot, miserably humid weather, there is usually a refreshing breeze.

So what have I been up to... There isn't a lot to say about Tokyo orientation because most of it involved sitting/listening/trying not to fall asleep from exhaustion. It was also not my first time in Tokyo. And I'm still not even sure if I like Tokyo. But anyways, S came to pick me up and we hopped on a plane to Fukuoka on Wednesday morning. I couldn't believe how easy it was to check my suitcase and get through security at Haneda. No removal of shoes, no wrestling my laptop out of its case. I think it took about 30 seconds to get all the way through. How civilized!

That afternoon I dropped all my stuff off and went to work to do official greetings, or aisatsu. They were pretty terrifying, but I got through them fine. I had only slept about three hours the night before, and it wasn't an official work day for me, so I went back to the hotel and slept for about 10 hours.

Thursday, I shadowe my pred and he explained that my day-to-day stuff will primarily involve translation. I imagine it will get tedious at times, but I also know it's going to be really great for my Japanese, as well as my writing skills. He also explained everything that's necessary for the Hakata Dontaku International Troup, of which I will be the head organizer. I will start the preparations at the beginning of the new year, and they will continue until the festival is over at the beginning of May. Wow. It's going to be a lot of work, but hopefully quite rewarding too :)

Friday, we walked around the whole day with the visiting high school kids from O-land. It was nice to get to see some of the city, though I wasn't wearing proper shoes (not fun). There was farewell party in the evening, and after that my section went out to an Okinawan restaurant to wind down. I didn't stay terribly long because I was once again quite exhausted, but I hope that's the last time I have to leave early by a long shot. Everyone is so kind, and being with them is very comfortable.

I'm feeling a nap coming on, so I will leave you with this photo of my lovely new cellphone, which I was able to procure all by myself. It's an "old" (spring) model, so intead of paying it off every month (an extra $30-40 to your phone bill), I don't have to pay anything for it. It's very cute and easy to use, though I'm still getting used to some of its functions. Anyways, I'm in love!