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Explore the Little Traveled Wonders of Japan
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Japan : Hotels, Flights, Travel
Packages, Information |
Of the nearly half million American tourists visiting Japan annually (2004
figures), most trod the well beaten path between
Tokyo,
Kyoto and Nara, with day long side trips. For first time visitors to
Japan, these destination cities and small day excursions are necessary
routing. Especially in
Tokyo,
they will see the future of all modern cities, where some new innovation is
bound to surprise even the most jaded observer.
To experience Old Japan, the cities of Kyoto and Nara are "must-sees,"
though you should know that they are both essentially huge museums, where
the arts and customs of certain periods are preserved and memorialized for
tourists. Marvelous as they are, visitors will find a clear delineation
between modern everyday life in big cities and what is being kept of the
past for the edification of those living today.
There's another way to see Old Japan, though, and that is by getting off the
Tokyo-Kyoto-Nara well traveled path, getting off the main island of Honshu,
in fact, and heading west and south. On my last trip, to experience the
other aspects of Japan Past, I visited Kyushu, the farthermost of Japan's
four main islands.
Eclipsed in size by Fukuoka (an industrial city on the northern cost of
Kyushu) and in international fame by Nagasaki, the city and prefecture of
Kumamoto are overlooked by the vast majority of American visitors. That's a
pity, as here you can experience what Japan is like without the presence of
many overtly foreign influences. Fewer locals speak English, fewer signs
appear in Roman letters, and best of all, this is the place Miyamoto
Musashi, author of The Book of Five Rings, chose to spend his last five
years on earth, writing his epochal masterpiece in a cave.
Cultural Highlights
Home to a progressive government, Kumamoto prefecture (akin to an American
state) is largely agricultural, but has one of the most enterprising
cultural programs in all Japan. Dubbed an "Artpolis" program, it strives to
build new centers for culture while capitalizing on traditional aspects,
many of which are on display. Major events are held every four years, the
next being in 2008.
One Artpolis project sure to entertain is the Seiwa Bunraku Puppet Theater,
where visitors can see the ancient art of bunraku performed by local artists
(given here for the past 150 years or more!), nearly all of whom are farmers
or workers in daily life. Having seen a performance of the Ferry Scene from
Cherry Trees Along the Hidaka River on my recent visit and comparing it to
professional performances in Osaka and Tokyo, I was amazed at how proficient
the puppet managers (all female) were and how smoothly the play progressed.
Performances are on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. More
information at www.vill.seiwa.kumamoto.jp (in Japanese only).
Another program underwritten by the prefectural government is the
traditional Kagura Dance in Aso City (formerly Namino Village). Dating back
to the Tokugawa Period (1615-1868), the Iwato Kagura masked performances are
connected to Shinto shrines, where they are staged, using elaborate costumes
and minimal scenery. A typical dance portrays an elderly couple, their
gorgeous daughter and a sword-waving hero, who has to slay a dragon before
he can marry the fair lady. The big and ugly Iwato dragon, no slouch,
snorted real sparks and steam before being chopped up by the fan waving,
foot stomping suitor. Regular performances every first Sunday from April
through November, except October, at 1 PM (lasting two hours). Admission is
free. In October, the performance takes place at another location and costs
¥500 (about $5).
A fun project is making your own paper, which can be done at the shop
opposite the entrance to Shirakawa Springs, in Hakusui Village. For just
Y800 (about $8), you can make the paper for two postcards, pressing tiny
dried flowers and glitter into the mulch before it is dried. Splendid paper
products are on sale, too.
In Kumamoto City, the chief attraction is the castle, which has one keep
(the Uto-Yagura) dating from about 1607, but the main tower of which was
rebuilt in 1960 following its destruction in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.
The main castle wall, the longest in Japan, measures 253 meters (about 830
feet). Open daily except Dec. 29-31, ¥500 admission (about $5).
If you want to buy local crafts, check out the Kumamoto Prefecture
Traditional Crafts Center, opposite the castle's eastern border. Closed
Mondays and December 25 to January 3; cyber.pref.kumamoto.jp.
Natural Highlights
Some 50,000 people live in Mt. Aso's caldera, the world's largest crater,
through which a railroad happens to run. There are five peaks surrounding
this crater, which is approximately 18 km (about 11 miles) by 24 km (about
15 miles), and one, Nakadake, smokes constantly. You can drive right up to
Nakadake's edge unless the wind shifts in the wrong direction for viewing or
if activity is above the Level Three at which I last visited. (That's on a
scale of five, by the way, with TV cameras and particle detectors within the
volcano monitoring every movement. Lava temperature in this crater reaches
up to 1200 degrees Centigrade.) Even so, you will want to make your stay a
short one, and to wear a mask or otherwise cover your mouth and nose. People
with asthma, bronchitis and the like are warned to stay away. At the
Nakadake site, you can visit a Volcano Museum, which is quite educational,
with captions in English.
Events
From May 11-14 in 2006, Kumamoto will be the venue for the 4th World
Conference on Women and Sport, where the sponsors hope to have over 100
countries and 700 participants taking part. Held every four years, previous
conferences have been in England, Namibia and Canada. More details at
www.iwg-gti.org.
Odd Job for a Samurai
Having seen the Tom Cruise film, "The last Samurai," filmed in Kumamoto in
2003, I was curious about the allegation in Japan that his character was
based on a real American who participated in the Satsuma Rebellion against
Imperial forces in 1877. Stumbling on the story of L.L. Janes, about whom a
book "Yankee Samurai" (1975, Princeton) was written, I thought I was onto
something. But it was not to be. Although Janes was a captain in the
American Civil War and came to Kumamoto to teach English in 1871, he was
asked to leave the city in 1876 when he started mixing missionary
proselytizing with language lessons. When some of his converts proudly
declared themselves Christian, his school was closed and after a while, he
left for home. So, yes, he was a samurai, but in the United States, not in
Japan, where he was nothing more than a sensei, teaching English to the
young. Both the Kumamoto Prefectural Government and Historical Society said
they knew nothing of an American fighting with Saigo Takamori in "the last
samurai" battle, which, incidentally, destroyed most of Kumamoto Castle. And
Warner Brothers and a co-author of the script describe the film as purely
fiction. There was a rebellion, but no Yankee samurai on either side of the
battle.
Cuisine
The Japanese are quite like the French about one thing, and that's food.
They want to know everything about what they are putting into their mouths,
including the name of the farmer who grew the produce. Kumamoto is the
country's leading producer of watermelons and tomatoes, among other items,
and first in number of eco-farmers. (Kumamoto has a sister-state
relationship with Montana, by the way, and raises a fair number of cattle.)
As for drinking water, four natural springs here are recognized by the
national government as being among the top 100 in Japan. I drank directly
from one, Shirakawa (which spouts some 60 tons of water per minute) even
carrying away some bottles I filled at the source.
Local specialties include basashi (marbled horse meat eaten raw with ginger
or garlic and soy sauce), ramen (the soup stock is made with boiled bones of
pigs and chicken), and shochu (a rice spirit, stronger than sake, and a bit
like European plum brandies). Another is karashi renkon, lightly fried lotus
root stuffed with mustard.
A typical modern Japanese eating place is Tetsujin, in the Shimodori
Shopping Arcade, with everything from yakitori and sashimi to pizza. Typical
cost, for chicken curry, is ¥580 (about $6). Phone 096/212-5551. Kamameshi
("burned" rice) lunch is a specialty at Aoyagi, also in the Shimodori
arcade, at ¥1100 (about $11). Phone 096/353-0311.
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