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September 24, 2006
Last Day in Japan
WOW! That went pretty fast, your probably thinking! Well, as it turns out plans have changed again. Saturday morning, Maki, Jimmy, and I changed our plane reservations so we could leave on Monday morning, arriving back in the states Monday evening. Poor Jimmy just arrived in Japan and he already had to think about heading home...so soon. We have been joking with him that he is so cool because he just flew to Japan for a long weekend, and now he's moving on to bigger and better travels ;-)
Anyway, besides that fact that we had to cut our trip short, we tried to make the best of the situation. Saturday afternoon (after Jimmy and Maki sat on the phone with Japan Airlines MOH (Music on Hold) for an hour...and our impromptu trip to the airport...again) we caught the JR (Japan Railroad) to Nagasaki. Maki's sister and her family live there...so they met us at the train station, with her husband and the two kids. Afterwards, they left us while we went to the Nagasaki Museum from the Atomic Bomb. OMG...It was so moving. It was so sad seeing all of the pictures and the remains of the buildings, coins, clothes, etc. that were burned/melt/disfigured from the bombing. We went to the Memorial where ground zero of the A-bomb was, and walked to the Peace Statue. There is no other way to describe the museum other than sad and moving. I think that everyone should see this place or the museum in Hiroshima so they can see and understand the reprocussions of nuclear war. It's absolutely devistating.
Anyway, after that amazing learning experience (as depressing as it was), we went to dinner with Maki's sister and her family. They took us to this excellent restuarant, the only way to describe it is: "Japanses Tappas". They had all these little appetizer like dishes that we ordered and shared. Ohhhh boy, that was some DELICIOUS food (minus the potatoe thing that felt really weird texture-wise in my mouth...kind of like a rubber tire;-) (there's pics of it...coming soon). Jimmy and Masahero (Uki's husband) shared a few bottles of Sake :-) It was again a really nice time. We enjoyed meeting more of Maki's family, and her niece (2 and a half years old...and a WHIZZZZZZZ at using chopsticks!!) and nephiew are the cutest things ever!!!! OMG!!! Anyway, none of them really spoke English, but we made due again with body language, and broken English and Japanese...ohh yes, and of course Maki translating as much as she possibly could. (What a trooper! She was the only link to the conversation that night, and what a GREATTTTTTTT job she did translating and helping all of us communicate!!)
We were all so tired that on the train ride home, as soon as we took our seats, the three of us passed out...and when I saw passed out I mean PASSED OUT hardcore! I have a bad feeling their might have been snoring/drooling involved. LOL Just kidding! hehehe :-) Anyway, we all had a solid two hour nap, which ruined us for sleep later that night. Maki and I stayed up talking until 2:30AM!! This morning, I was cursing myself for not sleeping earlier when the alarm went off at 7AM. My eyes were so tired and my body so exhausted, all I wanted to do was cry during breakfast ;-) But of course I didn't...I was strong...and then I finally talked to Seymen on the phone so I felt 200% better.
Well after breakfast and packing up...we accompanied Maki to the train station. She was headed to her parents house to spend her last day and night with her family, while Jimmy and I decided to forge out on our own and do some exploring. We went to this little village outside of Fukuoka called: "Dazaifu" where there is a few shrines, temples and castle ruins. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL there! It was everything that I imagined Japan to be. We made our way to a temple where we ran into these nice older ladies who with broken Japanese, English, and pointing on the map told us we were NOT at the Dazaifu Shrine...and then they kindly took our picture in the temple.
We finally made our way to the shrine and I made an offering for Clare. We then walked all around the shrine grounds and came across this play being put on. It was traditional Japanese instruments and dancing. These men were all dressed in costumes and masks, with a CRAZYYYY drummer on the side. It was really a great show. Even though Jimmy and I knew no Japanese, it had us laughing so hard. One of the dancers went into the crowd and kept stealing the children to bring them on stage and give them candy...but all of the kids were scared of his mask, so they freaked out and were crying so hard. It was really cute, but sad for the little kids.
After the entertaining show, we headed down the way to the shopping street...were I did my only souviner shopping. Unfortunately, I made one big purchase and I couldn't really afford to buy anything else because they only took Yen and I needed to save the rest for the Taxi home from the train station...and the taxi to the airport tomorrow...so I am a little low on the gifts for this trip...but I feel lucky that I was able to even get anything due to the shortness of the trip. While there we also tasted the Umegae Rice Cake. OMGGGGG...if you've tried Mochie Ice and loved it, WAIT until you try THIS! OMGGG!!! It is soooooooo delicious. It's fried rice cake with soybean paste inside (but sweet...). It was soooo good, words can't even describe it. It was like a sweet 16 party in my mouth, for real. These are a speciality of Dazaifu and we are SOOOO thankful for Maki's recommendation to try it because it was so delicious. I bought a package of 5 to bring home and share with my family for dessert Monday night.
So by then it was almost 5PM and we thought it was time we headed back to Fukuoka. Once we arrived at the Tenjin Station, we walked the 10 minute walk to Canal City. It is this enormous mall that has a canal running through it. They had band playing in the center with fountains spraying in time with the music as the band played. (It was really reaaaallly cool). Jimmy and I ended up walking around there and Tenjin station area until about 7PM when we decided we were starving and needed dinner...So we headed back to the hotel and ate at this buffet restuarant in Hawkstown. Again, the food was DELICIOUS and I had my first ever Japanese beer. (Very tastey I might add!)
So, I decided to turn in early tonight because I had to pack my stuff, and do a little work (I know...bad beth), and write in my blog ;-) and go to bed early because I was so tired today...so now I'm going to lay in bed and read my Danielle Steele novel. GOOD NIGHT!!! and Next time I write! I'll be posting pics! Because I'll be back in Rochester by Monday night!
Posted by beth at September 24, 2006 08:46 AM
Comments
Too bad your trip had to cut short. But at least you get to experience Japan a little and I can already sense that you have become more culture. BTW I hope you didn't put any sugar in your geen tea haha!
Posted by: Alex at September 24, 2006 02:51 PM
I think if someone likes sugar in their green tea, they should do what makes them happy!
Posted by: Danielle at September 28, 2006 04:09 PM