Postcards from abroad
You might be wondering why those famous Japanese autumn colours have not featured yet in our blog. Because Kyushu is further south than the rest of Japan and considerably warmer, autumn is much later except in the mountains. And yesterday, we drove back towards Mount Aso to stay a night in the most beautiful, pared… Continue reading Autumn colours
As promised, an introduction to Beppu, onsen capital of Japan and home to three thousand springs of near boiling water: apparently over one hundred million litres a day gush out for use in local homes, swimming pools, for medicinal purposes, heating and - of course - for public and private baths (onsen). The town looks… Continue reading Beppu
Many of you may know of the practice in schools called o-soji (beginning in primary schools) when children clean classrooms, corridors and shared spaces for about twenty minutes after lunch accompanied by music piped over the school PA system. The students are divided into teams with each one assigned a specific area. It isn’t some… Continue reading Rubbish and cleaning up
We had a long journey north today as we made our way from the balmy weather of south-east Kyushu to Beppu in the north-east where autumn is arriving. We travelled peacefully through agricultural Kyushu, full of tidy fields, tidy polytunnels and tidy villages until we reached the Saitobaru Burial Mounds - where over 300 Kofun… Continue reading Burial mounds, buddhas and cosmos
We went to visit a park in Miyazaki encountering its so-called ‘Tower of Peace’ (looks more like a tower of war to me) built, I understand, in 1940 to celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the ascension of Emporer Jimmu, the mythical first emporer of Japan on what is believed to be the original site of… Continue reading Statues and the seaside