A family saga!

As I am now back at school (after a wonderful Golden Week), I have a few free periods where I now have time to write about my Saga trip, and the rest of the my lovely time off! So, after a great day in Hiroshima on the Saturday, I had a nice restful, lazy Sunday morning, before heading off to Saga-ken with Ellen in the afternoon. We were going to stay with one of her Japanese friends, Ikuko, and Ikuko’s family. I was really looking forward to staying with a Japanese family, in a proper Japanese house for a few days, and the trip did definitely not disappoint! After a shinkansen ride to Hakata, and then a Limited Express train (which incidentally was the nicest/poshest/fabbest train I have ever been on…polished floors and leather seats!) to Saga, Ikuko and her mum met us at the station. We went to their house, a beautiful place with a nice mixture of old and new, and sat right in the middle of loads of wheat fields, where we met the rest of the family; Ikuko’s dad, her brother, his wife, and their 2 children. The kids were soooo cute, and became our playmates for the next 3 days! That first evening, Ikuko’s mum, Mitsuko, made us a great dinner ; salad, Chinese-style dumplings, a stir-fry, fried chicken, fish, and mouth-watering steak! I even had a class of Jacob’s Creek chardonnay to wash it down! After dinner, Ellen and I talked with the family, and played with the kids; Hitomi is 8, and Shuhei is 6. They are both little darlings! On that first evening Hitomi was quite shy around us (but definitely came out of her shell the next night), but Shuhei was immediately comfortable around us, and was a stereotypical ‘tactile’ Japanese little boy! After an origami session, and a few games, it was time for bed…for everyone!

At about 1am, we were awoken by ANOTHER friggin earthquake! It wasn’t huge, but it was enough for Ellen and I to wake up at the exact same moment, and sit and wonder for a second or 2 whether we should be moving to a doorway, or outside! But the tremors soon passed, and we soon went back to sleep! The next day (Monday) we ate Ikuko’s homemade walnut bread for breakfast, and then set off for our day at a big pottery festival in Arita. Ikuko’s friend, Yuko came with us, and also Mitsuko, and her best friend (whose name I cant remember..oops!). After a nice drive through the Saga countryside (which is lovely, but I missed all the mountains that good old Yamaguchi has!), we arrived in Arita, a famous pottery town. The festival was huge, and consisted of a long long street, with nothing but pottery shops and stalls. They had some really beautiful things, and some at good prices too! However, knowing that whatever I buy in Japan (and want to keep) has to come back to England with me one day, and knowing full well how small my luggage allowance is I was strict with myself, and only bought one piece. A really nice oval plate with a turquoise design in the middle, perfect for serving ….erm….anything on! Ellen bought a couple of things too, and we enjoyed the hours wandering from shop to shop, looking at all the pretty things, and also enjoying the amazingly hot sunshine! I actually picked up a little bit of colour that day…pink, rather than brown…but not burnt!

On the way home, we stopped for a drink and cake at a rather grand place resembling some sort of European palace. The OJ was good, and the cherry cake was yummy…but it was soooo weird being in the middle of the Japanese countryside, in a recreation German palace, with English gardens, and Royal Doulton crockery in the café! Obviously very grand, exciting and different for the Japanese people who visit...but just plain weird for little ‘European’ me! We made one final stop on the way home, and that was at Mitsuko’s friend’s house. There, she showed us the immense amount of pottery she has in crates in her garage. She has sooooo much stuff! She put two crates out on the floor, and told us all that we could have whatever we wanted! She was such a nice lady (she had given us green tea, nuts and other bits when we went round in the morning!). After thanking her profusely, we started to rummage through the cups, plates and bowls. In the end, I took home a nice set of 5 little blue-striped bowls, 2 matching cups with a pretty blue design, and a curvy blue serving plate. Woweeee! Japanese people are so generous! That evening Ikuko cooked us a gorgeous pasta dish, and made pumpkin soup! Mmmmmmm! And then an early night!

On Tuesday, Hitomi, Shuhei and their parents went off for a day of fishing to catch some lovely fish for the bbq they were planning for us that evening! Ellen, me, Ikuko and Mitsuko set off for another lovely day in the sunshine. The first stop was a pretty river, which had lots of koi nobori hanging over the water. These are the koi carp kites that are hung every year for Children’s Day on May 5th. Normally houses have 2 or 3 hanging outside, but this river had loads of them fluttering in the breeze over it. It was a really pretty spot, and there was a nice shrine where we stopped as well. Lots of families were out and about, enjoying the nice weather, gazing at the koi, and praying together at the shrine. After that we went to a …erm…I don’t really know how to explain it…a big historical park….kind of an archeological / historical recreation place…complete with people in ye olde worlde costumes, an area where you could have a go at making fire (!), look at what the houses used to be like a long long time ago…a general ‘let’s go back in time’ place! If I can find the name on one of my leaflets, I’ll write the name later! It was really good fun, and a nice area to wander round in the sun, looking at all the interesting things, facts, and people. I’m not sure how much I really learnt, as I was mostly enjoying the people-watching, and the atmosphere, rather than reading every information sign! However, Ellen and I both agreed that it must be a great place to take a school trip, as there were lots of things for kids to have a go at, and all that open space for them to run around in would burn off some of their never-ending energy.

Next stop was Mos Burger!!!! My fave….mostly due to their onion rings! After that little feast, my energy was renewed and I was ready for our next stop…Yanagawa. Yanagawa is actually in Fukuoka –ken, rather than Saga..but still not far. Apparently it is famous for it’s delicious eel! Needless to say, I did not try to find out if this was true! We did, however, do the other thing that Yanagawa is famous for..a boat trip down the canal…or rather, a punt down the canal! That’s right folks, Oxford/Cambridge punting has reached Japan! It was so much fun, and (again) so weird, as my dear old brother took me on punt on the river in Oxford, so I was immediately chuckling to myself at the fact that I was here in JAPAN doing the same thing. We piled on to the boat, all of us wearing very sexy Vietnamese-style straw hats to protect us from the boiling sun that day, and began our peaceful punt down the canal. It was lovely, and we saw some beautiful old houses, and gorgeous flowers from our boat. We even stopped halfway to buy orange sherbet (a bit like an orange slush-puppy) from a canal-side shop! Ellen and I were quite worried that we were going to have bad sunburn by the end of the hour-long trip, and so we were quite pleased when we reached the end, but out of concern for our pale western skin, rather than not enjoying the punt! Yanagawa was probably my favourite part of the whole trip (aside from our evenings with the family and the kids…which I think was definitely the highlight for both me and Ellen). As the punt-trip finished, our punting guy (what do you call them Paul) even attempted some kind of song, to end the trip in ‘style’. Oh, how I would have paid more money for him to try singing ‘Just One Cornetto’!!

Our final evening with the family was wonderful. They organised a fabulous bbq for us; tasty meat, veggies, yakiniku sauce, wine….and of course the fresh fish that had been caught that day by them! 2 huge tai (sea-bream), and 2 amberjacks (that’s what my phrase bk translated the Japanese name as, but I have never heard of amberjack!). We had one of each grilled on the bbq, wrapped in foil…and they were soooo tasty. The other 2 were sliced into sashimi by Mitsuko, and they were actually really nice too. Raw fish is never going to beat bbq grilled fish, but it was still nice! We ate loads, and felt like queens, as the kids kept bringing us more little plates of food, and their parents nudged them forward to pour drinks for us as well! The final dish was yakisoba made from scratch on one of the bbqs…really scrummy! After all the food, me, Ellen, Ikuko and the kids enjoyed the vast array of sparklers that they had bought for us. We lit them on the bbq, and I felt like a kid at Bonfire Night, writing my name with my colourful sparkler. I finished the evening by playing tag with the kids, and completely knackering myself, but at least I had burnt off a few of those bbq calories!
The next morning, we packed and headed off to the station at around 9.30. This was not before a million more photographs with the family, and an almost tearful goodbye with Shuhei! He really wasn’t happy that we were leaving, and ran off to sulk, rather than say a teary goodbye! We promised that we would visit again, and Hitomi looked especially pleased at the prospect of seeing her new friends again! She is such a honey (wakarimasen wakarimasen wakarimsen!!!!...you had to be there!)

Ellen and I had planned to spend the rest of that day in Fukuoka, as it was the big Hakata festival. However, when we arrived we discovered that the main parade was not due to start until 3pm, and we had reserved seats on the shink at 4!! Oops! Oh well! We wandered round Hakata, and saw a cool taiko performance, and some colourful festival dancing from some oldies (who actually wanted me and Ellen to join in…but we settled on just clapping along to the ‘music’). After a look around the food stalls near the river, and a nice break (complete with a yummy maple and walnut scone) at a Seattle coffee place, we headed to Canal City for an afternoon of shopping!!!! The place was packed, but there was a great festival and family atmosphere there, and I succeeded in buying a few bits and bobs (including a few Japan souvenirs for myself…Spirited Away playing cards!! Whoooohooo!) We caught the shink home at 4ish, and I was back in my apartment by 7 (I think!). It was (as always) nice to get home, and relax in my apartment, but I had had such a great trip. It was wonderful to get an insight into family life in Japan, as that is obviously something that we (as ALTs who live on our own) don’t often get a chance to see, or be a part of. It actually felt like a real privilege to be in their home, and be a part of their wonderful family for a few days. I am really grateful for their generosity and warmth, and I hope that I get a chance to see them all again. Thanks Ellen for inviting me! I had a great trip!