March Updates

As I said in my previous post, this post will be more of the (very late) updates of what has been taking place here in Kumamoto over the past few months. Sorry this took more time to post then I originally said but this post is very long.

March Updates

March 3rd

March 3rd was the Japanese Doll festival or Hinamatsuri. The Kumamoto mall was decked out with a multitude of doll displays, pictures and people.I don't know much about the dolls themselves but I do know they are very expensive.

Student drawings of the dolls.

One of the many giant displays that was decked out for the event. I believe specific groups were working on each display and then a prize was given for the best one.

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March 5th


The YWCA ( The same as the YMCA in America) hosted a Hinamatsuri Festival (Japanese Doll Festival) on March 5th. At the festival foreigners living in Japan were introduced to a wide variety of Japanese traditions. The day started off with being dressed in a very formal male kimono. During this time a Japanese women helped me dress into my Kimono because of the intricacy and strict rules for wearing a traditional kimono. The kimono consisted of Hadajuban (a white undershirt like garment), a breast plate cloth that was very tight, Nagajuban (outer robe for the kimono), Datejime (hidden belt), Haori (Jacket),  Hakama (the pleated front part that is worn over the kimono) and Geta ( wooden shoes). Just from reading through that list of garment items you can tell why I would need someone to help dress me. After I was fully dressed, I made my way to the traditional tea ceremony area where I meet some of the other foreigners who were participating in the Hinamatsuri festival.

At the festival I was able to dress in a traditional male Kimono and meet some of the other foreigners in the area. From Left to right Egypt, Philippines, Bangladesh, and America. Also in the room but not this picture were people from China, Thailand and Korea.

A very short traditional tea ceremony hosted by the YWCA. A camera crew was covering the event for the 6:00 local news. I missed seeing the program on TV but a few people at work talked to me about being seeing me on TV. 

Picture of me siting while I waited for the tea ceremony to start.

 After the tea ceremony, I made my way slightly confused to the hallway where I was told to wait. After waiting a little while people were asked to gather in a larger room. It turned out that we were going to have two musicians perform a traditional Japanese poem, followed by a Japanese dance teacher.

A fellow J3, Allyson, posing with me next to the Japanese doll display.

On stage are the two performers who shared a poem with us. Left side was the female drummer and next to her was the flute player and vocalist.

Shortly after the musical poem performance a dance teacher, woman in front of the camera, shared a simple Japanese dance with us.

Fellow foreigners in japan that were dancing.

After dancing the group posed for a picture and thankfully a woman from my church here in japan was kind enough to take a few for me.

Group picture.

 The YWCA festival was amazing and if I get the chance I would gladly go again next year. I am also very happy to say that I made some new friends from around the world.

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 March 13th

On March 13th Pastor Asahina, his wife and a sign language teacher drove myself and the two other new J3s through an island chain south of Kumamoto city called Amakusa. Amakusa City covers parts of two main islands, and six smaller islets and has a very rich history of Christianity. On our day tour of Amakusa we stopped at two museums that covered the history of Christianity here in Japan. One focused on the general history and information about christian figures in Amakusa while the other displayed multiple artifacts of the hidden Christians and battles. We also went to a sea research laboratory where we were introduced to the wide variety of fish in the seas surrounding Japan and were able to feed box puffer fish, black carp and flat fish.

 Amakusa is in Yellow.

A beautiful view of the East China Sea and the mountains.

We took a short 5-7 minute break after an hour or so of driving to stretch out legs and visit a "famous" street that has been in multiple Japanese movies.

The first museums that we stopped at focused on the general history of Christianity coming to Japan.  It also introduced us specifically to some of Amakusa's most famous christian individuals and the battles wagged in the area.

The entrance to the museum.

Inside there were many displays and a 3d movie about the history of Christianity.

View from the observation deck of the museum.

A picture showing the previous pope visiting Japan.

Our next stop, a sea research lab and observatory.

One of the flat bottom feeding fish.

NOOOOO MR. CRABS!

A wide variety of shell fish, crabs and snails that are found in Japan.

At the research lab we were able to feed the fish pellets in a round outdoor tank.

The fish in the tank that contained 4 types of fish.

A close up of a Japanese box puffer fish.

This little guy reminded me of bubbles from the movie "Finding Nemo", bubbles is infatuated with bubbles and looks just like this fish.

 After our stop at the fish lab and observitory the meat and fish eaters in the group were ready to dig in to the islands tasty cuisine. We stopped at a place that is well known for its octopus and Takoyaki ( my favorite Japanese food). The restaurant was located at the top of a hill looking out at the sea. At the bottom of the hill were statues of octopus that I have seen in magazines or on tv that are very famous here in Japan.

The famous octopus statues near the sea.

Personally I love the cute aspect of Japan. This is a comment box to tell the restaurant how the food was.

The display of the meal that I ordered. I ate half of mine before I realized I forgot to take a picture. It was sea food rice with lots of octopus, crab, shrimp and shell fish. 

The outside of the restaurant.

A sign saying how tasty the octopus is.

A box full of delicious takoyaki. The taste was a little different than other takoyaki that I have had. There was mustard and wasabi in the ball batter. The octopus was very good.

Outside of the other museum we stood in front of a statue of a boy who lead a battle for Christians in the area. This boy led the Shimabara Rebellion. This rebellion was an uprising in southwestern Japan. It involved mostly peasants who were not being treated well because of their faith. 

Sadly I could not take pictures of the artifacts but a book displaying the items was in the room so I snapped a few pictures.The objects were very interesting including a flag that was captured at the giant christian last stand before they were slaughtered (Shimabara Rebellion). The flag is now considered one of the 4 greatest battle flags in Japanese history. Also on display were items of the hidden Christians in Japan. After Christianity was introduced there was a point in Japan that Christianity was banned and punishable by death. Under Hideyoshi and the succeeding Tokugawa Shogunate, the ruling government, thousands of Japanese natives and missionaries were martyred. Some Christians were killed by crucifixion. The most famous marters are the " Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan" in 1597 who were tortured and crucified on crosses outside of Nagasaki in the hope that it would discourage Christianity.

If you would like more information on the history of Christianity here in Japan please start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Japan

While some artifacts were from the Shimabara Rebellion my favorite were the artifacts from the hidden Christians (隠れキリシタン kakure kirishitan). Christians that had been forced to publicly renounce their faith but kept practicing for generations in secret . These secret believers continued to worship by concealing Christian symbols in parts of building, homes and everyday objects.

This is a picture of the famous battle flag from the Shimabara rebellion. The real artifact is on display in the museum. It is considered a National treasure and one of the 4 great battle flags in Japanese history.

Some Japanese despised Christianity mainly for the fact that Christians would not take their own life. The Samurai Bushido code stated if a samurai warrior failed to uphold his honor he could regain it by performing seppuku or ritual suicide. But Christian Samurai would not commit suicide and thus were seen as disgracing comrades.

A hidden cross statue underneath a Buddhist statue used by hidden Christians

View of the city from the museum.

On the way back to Kumamoto we noticed that the sea tide had gone out. You can see the stranded boats at the dock.

I am hoping that I can visit Amakusa again since there is allot of history and it is so beautiful. If only I could drive here in japan.

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March 17th

Last month I was told that there was going to be a Saint Patrick's day parade here in the Kumamoto Mall. So I decided to walk through the mall to find it. When I found the spot with green balloons and people dressed in green I knew I had found it. What I didn't know is that I would be invited or gently forced to join in the festivities and march in the parade.About half of the parade I held a giant banner for the Japanese Irish relations club and the other half I helped a woman who was having trouble walking with two dogs. In very broken Japanese I tried to ask if she wanted me to walk one of the dogs.

While waiting to watch the parade some of the participants invited me to join them in the parade.

The honorary Saint Patrick for the day.

When the Parade reached the end of the mall.

Since I was in the Parade I tried to take a picture with some of the people before they disbanded... 

After the parade I was also invited to join the Saint Patrick's day after parade dinner party. At the party I was introduced to multiple people who had connections with Luther Gakuin ( the school I teach at now) and had a blast. After paying a small fee for dinner I was given the Japanese version of Irish meals. A 4 course meal that included fruit (slice of melon with thin sliced ham), bangers and hash ( mashed potatoes wrapped in a few thin slices of pastromi), Onion soup made in a small kettle with bread baked on top and dessert. While I don't have any pictures of the food, I do have a few videos from the party. 

This video is short but the performers were amazing. The man playing the tin whistle was a very talented musician. He played the tin whistle, guitar, flute and violin that night. Also the musicians had recently been married earlier in the month.

This is a video of myself "dancing" a jig with two others... it was more hopping then dancing but allot of fun.

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March 20th

As I said in the last post I visited Fukuoka for a general church assembly meeting. At the meting I introduced myself in Japanese to heads of the church and pastors in the Kyushu area.

While in Fukuoka I also made my way to Costco. Very excitedly I bought bulk food items that elsewhere are impossible to find or extremely expensive compared to Costco. Some of the items on my list: Lost of cheese, flour tortillas, muffins, Alfredo sauce and bagels. After buying all of my bulk items and having some of my purchase shipped I made my way to the food stand to get a giant American style hotdog and slice of pizza. That I happily gorged myself on for dinner after skipping lunch. For a few minutes I felt like I was still in America with the over sized carts, cheap prices and English labels on everything.  

After the very long hour and a half buss ride back to the train station from Costco I found myself having extra free time to explore the area a little before it became too dark outside. I made my way out of the train station to find that a large stage with giant taiko drums were being played. What was even better was that this performance was free and part of a running show that will soon make its way to Kumamoto. All in all it was a great day
 

Fukuoka bullet train station.

The Bullet train, Shinkansen, for my return trip back to Kumamoto.

View of on of the doorways at the Fukuoka bullet train station.

Amazing Taiko drumming performance.

Flute performance in Kumamoto for the one year anniversary of the bullet train, shinkansen, coming to Kumamoto.

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March 24th:

This was the first weekend of the Sakura and Kyushu festival. While walking with one of the J3's we stumbled upon another event taking place that was showcasing international relations. We briefly stopped and listed to a man performing a Chinese 

While walking around during the weekend at the sakura festival. One of the J3's and I stumbled upon this man playing a erhu. A Chinese string instrument that sounds like a violin mixed with the deep sound and wider range of a cello. 

Tomato Ramen at the Kumamoto Sakura Festival on the Castle grounds. 

My favorite Japanese food Takoyaki at the Kumamoto Sakura Festival on the Castle grounds.

Arial view from the castle of the Sakura festival.

After we were done moving into the new church apartment I wanted to take a picture.

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Since the Skaura trees came into bloom in the last week of March. I decided to go to the Kumamoto Castle Sakura event and take a bunch of pictures of the sakura trees. while there I went to the sakura festival and kyushu event that has been happening for the past 2 weekends.

View of the wall and moat that surrounds Kumamoto castle.

Children posing for a photo op.

A very large and interestingly shaped sakura tree.

I love the way the blossoms on some trees appear directly on the trunk.

One of the Gate walls.

People having a picnic and viewing the lone sakura tree.

The busy entrance to Kumamoto Castle.

View of the food area during the sakura viewing events at Kumamoto Castle.  

Another mascots from around the Kyushu area, I have seen him before many times.

On stage different mascots from around the Kyushu area (Provence) were introduced along with specialties of the regions.

A sweet meat ramen in chicken broth.

I am not sure what this is called but it is a fire grilled rice cake with seaweed and a brown glaze sauce. crunchy on the outside but it had a marshmallow consistency on the inside. It was very good.

Another view of the castle wall and moat from a different location.

While on the castle grounds, I stumbled across some "soldiers" standing around the castle area. Apparently there was a reenactment of a battle here in Kumamoto but I am not sure what one or if that is 100% correct.  

Sadly I also missed the Taiko drumming performance earlier in the day...but I did get to see the drums as they were being taken away.

After taking close to 200 photos and spending about 4 hours on the castle grounds I decide I would head back home but as I made my way down the large hill I bumped into a guy from the English church service, Mac,  and a guy I met from the YWCA festival named Abu. we walked around and took even more pictures together and were just having a fun time.

Myself and Macdonald or "Mac" for short who goes to the English service here in Kumamoto.

We started to pose for a picture when a couple passed by and asked to help. So we asked the the random Japanese guy to join us in a photo. Left to right: Random guy, Abu, myself and Mac

Once the three of us decided that we had spent enough time viewing sakura and goofing around we started making our way back down the hill where the sakura trees are on both sides of the road. As we walked we saw the lanterns turn on and were amazed by the beauty of the orange glow, blue sky and the white/pink of the sakura blossoms.

The lantern illumination contrasting the white and pink sakura blossoms.