Greetings, readers!
It's WR again. I know, I know. You're probably getting sick of me and my Japan stories, but DW is really busy at the moment, so I thought I'd pull voluntary blog duty and earn some Wife Points. (If you get 100 WP, you get a free meal at the Brazilian Steakhouse of your choice! True story!*)
*denotes hyperbole.
Today was a national holiday, 建国記念の日or "National Foundation Day." It celebrates the foundation of Japan as a nation, and the ascension of the first Emperor, Emperor Jimmu. (He's a handsome devil, with that 'stache and all. Read about him here.) So, thanks to ole' Jimmy boy*, I had the day off of work and decided to take a quick day trip down to Yanagawa.
*denotes cultural insensitivity.
Yanagawa is a small town in the southern part of Fukuoka prefecture. (To see Yanagawa's tourist website, click here.) It's not terribly far from where I live, only about 45 minutes away on the fastest express, but it feels like a different world. Here it is, on a map of Fukuoka prefecture. Yanagawa is the the city in dark green, fronting on the Ariake Sea.
Yanagawa is famous throughout Japan for its deep literary traditions, its savory unagi (cooked eel), and its miles and miles of beautiful, winding canals. Today, armed with my Nikon and blessed with beautiful (though flippin' cold) weather, I took the following pictures of Yanagawa.
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| The canal men, waiting for us to board. |
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| The canals near the station. |
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| Our "driver." He had a lovely singing voice! |
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| The driver, ducking as we pass under a bridge. |
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| "Drive-thru coffee." Yes, really. |
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| A doll-shrine, on the canals. |
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| Ducks! |
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| I love this one. You can see our boat in the safety mirror! |
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| Some of the homes we passed on the tour had beautiful docks. |
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| On the ground, around Yanagawa old town. |
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| A row of tea shops and coffee houses. |
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| The traditional displays inside the "River Flows" tea shop. |
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| Close up. Cute mouse. |
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| My darling Darjeeling. |
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| Beautiful skies. |
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| A famous house, the importance of which I can't remember. |
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| "Welcome to Yanagawa!" |
As you can see, Yanagawa is a gorgeous place and the canal tour was fantastic, despite the occasional blast of frigid winds. And while I definitely didn't understand the lion's share of what our driver said, I consider it a huge personal victory that I caught the all-too-important phrases, "Remember, this boat ride is one way," and "Take your time exploring Yanagawa," and "Don't walk back to the train station," and, "Take our free shuttle," and, "The walk back to the station from here takes 1 hour and 45 minutes," and "No, seriously, take our shuttle," and "It comes every 30 minutes, right over there." Aha, got it. I'm glad he told us that, too, because it'd been my plan* to walk back to the station. The shuttle was much more convenient and saved me a ton of time and energy.
*original plan based solely on laziness of research.
All in all, though, it was a lovely little day trip. I could've seen more, I'm sure. But I enjoyed what I saw, and plan to drag DW back, when he comes to Japan for his next visit.
Thanks, as always, for reading! Don't forget to feed those fish!
(And maybe even follow us or subscribe, while you're at it.*)
WR
*totes do it.
