4.30 - 5.1
You might be thinking, 51?! Where is post 50!? Is this an internet glitch? Are we in Wrecked Ralph World?!
Fear not. It is not a glitch, nor an err...it is a Kai needing to catch up with the speedy passing of events while also wanting to write a more careful reflection piece for my 50th entry. This past week was Golden Week, one of Japan's two large national holiday series (the other is Obon in August) which meant not just one, but TWO escapades outside Yakage. This means many a photos to post and tales to tell before too many days toodle away. That was a fun sentence to write. Insert laugh.
So, today is part 1 of my 2023 Golden Week: Yamaguchi!
I actually never intended to visit this prefecture...it doesn't shine and sparkle like the big "KYOTO! NARA! OSAKA! TOKYO!" metropols do. But, holy azuki beans am I elated for having experienced this part of Japan. In only two days, I think I've encountered some of my favorite moments in nature throughout this PiA season.
Yamaguchi is the most west prefecture in Honshu...so cartographically speaking, if looking at Japan as a seahorse (which is how I see it) it is the last of the spine, right before the curly tail (Kyushu area).
Yes, I know. A genius of maps.
Perhaps its location in the southern part of Japan helps make it a prefecture truly known for its natural beauty-it is surrounded by three different seas and is home to all sorts of landscapes, from Japan's largest limestone cave to wave-crashing cliffs that shoulder century-old rice terraces (still used today.) It is all thanks to the Ma-Chan dynasty that I got to see all that Yamaguchi has to offer; Ma-Chan's oldest daughter, Hiromi-san lives in Yamaguchi, and her daughter Nana-Chan offered to take me with her on her Golden Week return home. When I agreed to go, I thought I'd get to see maybe one or two Yamaguchi-esque things around Nanachan's home, but nope. Hiromi-san and Nana-Chan took me from, literally, coast to coast of the prefecture so I could see the best of what their home had to offer. I am still struck by just how giving they were in time, money, and energy...Hiromi-San ended up paying for everything (even though I really tried to cover for at least my portion of the meals and tickets) as well as giving me a place to stay AND driving me, truly, around town. I'm still at a loss of how to ever repay their kindness and hospitality, so if you have any ideas, please do let me know.
But on to explaining the trip itself...spots visited were:
1. Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido: The limestone partners! Akiyoshidai is Japan's most concentrated karst plateau--the duality of green rolling hills and grey jagged rocks made it feel like the perfect battlefield for the Starks and the Lannisters. It's only about a 300 million years of age, and serves as evidence of earth's gradual but extreme movements since the karst surface is a result of rain slowly eroding the limestone throughout time. Akiyoshido is the "underworld" to the Akiyoshidai; Akiyoshido is Japan's largest and longest limestone cave, spanning 9 km (of which we are allowed to walk 1 km) and it was seriously the perfect setting for a real-life Gringotts or Crystal Cave. Let's just say I wouldn't have been surprised if an inferi came out from one of the rushing water falls or cave lakes. After re-entering the sunlight, we freshened up with one of a million soft-serve flavors offered along the cavetown's shoutengai. I really deliberated over roasted green tea and Yamaguchi pear, but since the Yamaguchi pear came with the summer orange flavor as well, I went for the latter.
2. Motonosumi Shrine was also striking with its 123 crimson tori gates, lined together to form a tunnel out onto the ocean-facing cliffs. I spent a little too much time trying to get my 10-yen offering into the offering box that sat not under, but on top of the first tori gate. Hiromi-san and Nan-Chan got their coins in quickly, but I took so long and essentially just accepted the fate of my coin landing not into the box, but actually on top of the tori itself. Maybe this calls for some extra luck.
3. I grew up seeing Power-drink commercials filmed along Yamaguchi's infamous Tsunoshima bridge, so actually driving on it myself made me feel like a Japanese 2000s body builder. I don't think that is most people's first takes of the bridge, but here I am, in full Kai-ness. For normal people, the Tsunoshima bridge is a 1780 m piece of eye candy as it lolls the waves like a long stretch of taffy connecting the main Yamaguchi to its small sapling of an island, Tsunoshima. Tsunoshima in itself was stunning--we were able to drive around a bit during sunset, so despite accidentally inhaling sand when trying to take a ground-up picture of the coast's wildflowers, I felt a forlorn peacefulness Odysseus might have felt on Circe's magical island.
4. Beppu Benten Pond is like Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring but without the whole "if you step in it you'll boil to death" part. Also maybe 1/20th its size...but still, imagine that same cobalt blue. The unreal color was truly like a sheet of glass since even the small schools of fish in the lake's bottom center could be fully seen from the outer edges. The blueness is said to come from the extreme amounts of calcium stored within the limestone topography. We ended that excursion with freshly caught riverfish prepared in not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR different ways: sashimi, fried, karaage, salt grilled. The meat was super soft and sweet, but so were the bones...which made it a labor of love not to get some of the fish bones stuck in the nooks of my teeth, mouth, and throat.
5. Yes, my eyes were filled to the max by Yamaguchi's natural beauty, but holy MOLY my stomach was filled to the max by Yamaguchi's insane sushi game, found at its renowned Karato Ichiba. This is one of Japan's largest local fishmarkets where fishermen bring in their fresh catch to be prepped into sushi within hours for selling and CONSUMING during their Ikiiki Bankasai held only on weekends and holidays. The fact that its all local means I HAD SOME OF THE BEST SUSHI I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE THAT DAY. And, what's even better...the sushi is so inexpensive!! Since it's just the whole sale arena, there are no transport/shipping fees. So the sushi was beign sold for basically half (or even less) of what one would find at regular kaiten sushi places. I was able to indulge in divine, rare fish such as Nodoguro (one fish usually sellf for over $40) Uni, raw shirasu, rare fatty tuna, jumbo shrimp, unagi, abalone, and puffer fish among many other treats.
Welp, I ended up writing a lot more than I had expected...and there's more because what are words without pictures!? I suppose words without pictures are paths to creativity, imagination, storytelling, and thought but when it comes to aqua waters, magnificent bridges, massive caves, and some of the world's best sushi, pictures won't hurt. The last thing I will say is just above all these places and foods and things (oh my!) the best part was getting to know Hiromi-san and NanaChan throughout their 48-hr "welcome to my home" tour. Authenticity and sincerity come to mind when thinking of Hiromi-san. She really wanted to make sure I left feeling like a queen, and man she made me feel like queen of the universe with everything she introduced to me. As the oldest daughter, she's in planning mode of bringing MaChan's tempeh to Yamaguchi. This way, when Ma-Chan needs to stop her business, her tempeh legacy can keep growing. Hiromi-san never thought she'd agree to do this, but she said that with the help of her communtiy in Yamaguchi, she feels like it's now or never to give back not only to her family, but also give in to her enjoyment in hosting and planning. She's another example of how one can direct life in however way we want as long as we have the courage, deterination, and support...she reminded me that my decisions now won't concretize my life until I die. Yes, it will point me in a certain path, but I can very much make a slight turn or climb or descent when I feel led whether in 5, 20, or 50 years. So, here's to MaChan's family--here's to Hiromi-san, here's to Nanachan, here's to Yamaguchi, here's to the best shrimp sushi I've ever had, and here's to being intentional while open with where life and God will lead us before our final stop at death. Hurrah! At least now I can die knowing just how good sushi can taste.
