Driving with Ms Higashi

Haruko let us loose this morning, to make our OWN way on the local bus service to meet her at Hita, a reasonable size town, about an hour and a half SE of Fukuoka. Luckily she set us up well, with strict instructions about platform numbers, tickets, times etc so we had no trouble making it. (In our defence Kyushu is not popular yet with Western tourists so no provision is made for non Japanese speakers (I know we are too spoiled every where else in the world)).

Haruko wanted to show us around some small mountain villages surrounding Hita today - in her cute little Japanese mini car.

First stop was the famous Onta village, home of rustic style hand made pottery decorated with geometric designs scratched into the clay. The English potter Bernard Leach spent quite some time here early last century, learning the skills of these traditional Japanese village potters.

 This village wouldn't have changed much over the past 300 years ......

We were fascinated by the way that water from the river is used to "drive" these "hammers" bashing the lumps of dry clay into powder. The water gurgling and the constant knocking of the big beams of timber is the soundtrack of the village.

 The village was full of these kilns - in various sizes.

 We stopped for a coffee at the village's only cafe. We sat outside because all the potters were inside smoking their heads off over their morning coffee and daily gossip.

 But the coffee, served in the local product, was very good!

 With all those kilns firing away the village certainly needs its beautiful fire bell.

 Next stop was the much larger village of Mameda Machi where Haruko had more treats in store.

 Another restaurant for us to try - but this time a simple local's place run by a mother and son team - and very well known in the region for the quality of their stir fried soba noodles (Haruko says the quality of the water makes all the difference in making noodles in this region!).

 These are like the pics I took yesterday waiting for our own private dining room at the Tofu restaurant in Fukuoka - except the ambiance is completely different!

 But our Yaki Soba lunch was truly beautiful. Chewy textured, smoky flavoured handmade soba noodles, crunchy bean sprouts, smoky chicken and lots of pickled ginger... and not salty or oily at all.

 We strolled around the village after  ......

 ... until Haruko led me to her favourite little designer fashion shop in the back streets ...... where we enjoyed a good session of shopping, trying things on and buying a few things too. We had a very warm relationship with Co Ma Me (co owner designer and maker) by the end of it all.

 What a fun experience - and another sign of the way Haruko and me are similar in our tastes!

 We even agreed to Haruko's request to pose for a cheesy photo for her! She deserves that at least!

 Haruko dropped us back at Hita in time for us to catch the train (by ourselves!!) a bit before 4pm to take us to our overnight ryokan stay in Yufuin, an hour or so east of Hita on the express train. We passed through some beautiful mountain landscapes, huge pine and bamboo forests, deep valleys and rocky river gorges on our way to Yufuin.

 ..and this spectacular waterfall ....

 Amazingly, we found our way to our beautiful Hinoharu Ryokan without too much trouble, and were immediately entranced by the exoticism (to us) of the experience. We were greeted with a cup of tea (of course) in our room.

 We dressed in our Yukatas and prepared for our first onsen experience ......

 a private onsen experience for us ... not a public one ..... we're still learning ....

 Well - 40 minutes later - and we're converts - not sure how hot that water was (directly from the mountain thermal springs) but you couldn't stand it too long before having to sit out for a while partly submerged to regain your composure - but what a wonderful feeling after - heaven!!!

Totally relaxed, we then had dinner.... another multiple course exquisite meal ...... and served to us in our room ......to keep the serenity intact!

First course .......(silken tofu and mushrooms and veggies in a broth) ....

 Second course - sashimi - how exquisite is that!

 Third or fourth course: "river fish" and tempura side dish ...

 This beautiful girl waited on us continuously throughout this amazing meal so graciously - on her knees!

 Second last course (after hot pots and noodles etc) - beef so rich and tender it tasted like smoky butter!

........ and after dessert, then to bed. We wouldn't have missed this experience for anything, although i am not sure how hard that tatami mat will be!!

Fukuoka to Dazaifu

Under the careful watch of Haruko we used the local rail lines to travel to Dazaifu today. It's only about half an hour SE of Fukuoka but being a local line it's not really set up for foreigners who can't read Japanese. No worries for us though, with Haruko looking after us .....

Dazaifu is known for its grand Tenmangu Shrine which is surrounded by thousands of plum trees. It's very popular with students who come to the shrine to pray for their academic success.

It was so lovely today to enjoy the shrine, its grounds and the surrounding township with so few people about compared to the big tourist cities of Japan (Kyoto, we're talking about you!)

In Japan there is always a correct way to do things (learning the way to wash our hands and mouths before approaching the shrine) ..........

 There is a correct way of doing chrysanthemums in Japan too apparently (espaliered?) ......

While we were looking at the shrine these cute kids were taking part in a special ceremony. Haruko told us it is customary for kids at age 3, 5 and 7 to take part in these ceremonies (to ensure their future health and happiness). 

 Behind the Tenmangu Shrine is the entry to the Tenkai Inari Shrine ..... 

 Much much much smaller in scale than the famous Inari Shrine in Kyoto but NO crowds at this one!

 Everywhere we walked in Dazaifu today there were symbols of plum blossoms.

We took a tea break too (of course). This town is known for its umagae matchi (roasted rice cakes filled with red bean paste) - perfect with matcha tea. There were a lot of umagae matchi tea shops lining the main street of Dazaifu. This was Haruko's 3rd favourite tea shop. Her 1st and 2nd favourites were both closed because it's Monday! Haruko says these umagae matchi are sweeter than she prefers. They tasted just right to us.

Another specialty of this area is flavoured fish egg pastes. We tried fish eggs with chilli, with squid and with jelly fish. Quite nice!

 We headed back to Fukuoka for a late lunch where Haruko had a real treat planned for us. The very refined Ume No Hana Restaurant specialises in TOFU - it's very popular with locals and visiting Asians - so popular that we had quite a wait today before our table in our own private dining room became available. At one stage two enormous Sumo wrestlers came in to check out the waiting time - but they left when they found out they couldn't eat soon! (Fukuoka is hosting a big Sumo tournament next month and there are a lot of wrestlers in training around the city now).

 For the next two hours or so we were treated to the most unbelievably delicious and refined dishes all based on Japanese silken tofu. There were at least four courses set out like this in sets of three. This was my favourite set: tofu with citrus flavouring, tofu salad with crunchy topping and tofu custard with shrimp, mushroom, rice ball and gingko nut.

 This was a pretty special set too .... which included a deep fried yuba roll with ground fish ....

 This tofu dish was cooked at the table.

 And all finished off with soy milk ice-cream with black sugar sauce ... YUM

 This was one of the most extraordinary meals we have ever had the privilege to experience - how would we have ever found it or navigated the menu without Haruko??

 It was quite late in the afternoon by the time we'd finished lunch so Haruko took us for a stroll around the nearby streets of Fukuoka heading towards Hakata .... down the long arcaded street that was the main street of the city in olden times

 and into the entrance to the Kushida Shrine, where the famous Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival is staged every Summer. This festival is a great celebration for the men of Fukuoka where they test each other in feats of strength and speed, wear very little clothing and drink lots of sake.

 These rocks are inscribed with the names of men who lifted them.... grrrrrr ....

 Sake for shrine offerings

 Haruko used to work here at this shrine, as an assistant, while she was studying at uni.

It was dark by the time we walked back to our Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel. We had a reviving coffee before deciding we'd call it a day - a wonderful day indeed with our friend Haruko.