Month: November 2012

We’re 2/2 for castles involving ‘motos in Japan. We visited Kumamoto castle early in the morning. It is a 36 minute hop, skip and shinkansen away from Hakata.

The city features a tram, which courses through-out the city. It had rails and everything. It was pretty cool. We bought passes for the tram at the station. We planned to use the tram a lot.

While the city of Kumamoto wasn’t quite as quaintly quaint as the quite quaint village of Matsumoto, the castle and fortifications were magnificent. Our plan was to stop at Kumamoto Castle to let Locutus storm the ramparts and then zip over to Suzenji Garden for some natural landscapes. Our plans were waylaid, however, when Kumamoto Castle broke out the dance team. But don’t worry, we’ll get to that.

A brief miss-remembered history! Kumamoto castle was built a long time ago by a military type person in Japan. He was a pretty clever guy and built a pretty clever castle. Or, more specifically, he built huge, nigh-impenetrable stone fortifications and turned the naturally-defensive terrain already existent into multiple murder zones, around a rather typical castle. Which was good! Because the castle burned down before the rebels arrived.

And it was rebuilt! For us! With dance teams! But don’t worry, we’ll get to that.

It’s hard to define the castle grounds. Our tour started in sort of an outer area, which I shall call the outer courtyard for simplicity. It was located between the wall over-looking the moat, and another wall, under-looking more walls. The sky was cloudy but it was very warm, so we set Locutus down and let him relocate gravel while we read the infographics.

In the outer courtyard was a reconstruction of a covered well, one of some 160 individual wells the clever lord had dug inside the castle fortifications to withstand sieges. This courtyard featured some lovely trees in a variety of hues, a small garden, and a lot of gravel. After some photography, we began our approach to the castle. The stairs looked a bit tricky so we bundled Locutus back into the carrier and set out on our path.

 
The path took us along side one wall to a set of flagstone stairs. Even here, the inner walls were about 30 feet high, sloping gradually from sheer-precipice to really-sheer-precipice. The stone steps led us up one level to the top of the wall and… from the outer courtyard, you can kind of see the castle, but only the top. The inner wall is rather tall and masks a lot of the visibility. It turns out, it also hides another set of walls. Which, in turn, hide another set of walls and then…a small orchard, neatly placed beneath another set of walls. And all of this is accessible by a nice, open-air stone corridor and more-than-adequate firing lanes.

The final set of castle walls was about 60 to 80 feet tall, featured some wooden fortifications built atop the walls (complete with the usual assortment of murder holes and arrow slits that any well-to-do castle attacker would expect to see), and yet another long set of stairs up to…

Hah! Fooled you! That’s still outer castle wall you saw before. And the wooden building was just the final outer fortifications (now a gift shop!). Good guys are so dumb.

But congratulations! You made it this far, so you can see the actual castle! It’s another 80 feet directly above you! If you just follow this tunnel through the inner wall here and…more murder holes! I can’t believe you fell for that!

But seriously, if you come up these open stairs you’ll get to the courtyard. And now! There! The castle! And it’s run out of walls. It’s your lucky day!

And it was our lucky day, too! Because shortly after we arrived at the summit of Castle Kill-a-ma-bob, they announced that they were doing a historical samurai show. We thought, cool! That sounds like when our friends would dress up in fur hats and dingy coats and stand around in Fort Langley telling people about how cold it was and how to best depopulate entire species in the process of staying warm.

Instead, they put on samurai armour, broke out some kendo and instructed us on historical happenings while beating up bad guys. Then! Then! After finishing the first account of someone dumb enough to think storming the castle was a good idea (yet obviously charming enough to convince other people to come along!) they paused the history lesson and did a dance routine.

It. Was. Awesome.

I mean, they had me at the hackin’ history lesson; the katana-twirling soft-shoe made my eyes misty. The whole demonstration went on for about an hour. But we couldn’t really understand any of it, so after the second history lesson started we let Locutus loose to roam the yard. We let him hold court until he started to get tired.

We wrangled him back into the carrier to explore the castle. I’m not sure when the reconstruction took place because a lot of the inside did not appear to be ferro-concrete reconstruction, which is normal for castles rebuilt in the last century. I have an internet. I could probably look this stuff up. But so do you. And so can you. So stop interrupting my narration.

The museum had some cool stuff: a wooden model of the castle used during the reconstruction process, bits of old things, family history tidbits, and pointy bits of metal. The material was well represented in multiple languages.

The views from atop the castle were spectacular (terrifying) and they even had some of the windows open (more terrifying!) which I was brave enough to lean out of (not even close!) and snap some photos without dropping my camera (totally didn’t drop it!). The castle also featured a photographic list of all the castles in Japan! We’ve been to…maybe six? Only thirty five left to go!

Monday November 19th, we sprang for some box seats (you would have seen us on Sunday night in Canada). Unfortunately, they were on the same side as the internet feed camera is on, so you probably didn’t see us. You might have heard us cheering. Maybe. Probably not.

We got some great photos of the wrestlers and some video too. We’ve even tried to get some stuff particularly for our sumo loving friends. Hopefully we’ll get some time to get those posted/uploaded/emailed soon! And it was a good time to have those tickets as we saw some great sumo.

But this post isn’t really about that. It’s an update on the Sumo betting that Lance and I have going on. We realized we never actually posted which wrestlers we picked, so I thought I’d do that now quickly. So far our Locutus-wrangling time has been fairly evenly split.

Lance’s Picks (mostly based on the wrestlers he’s noticed/followed/liked, though not necessarily on those he thought might win):

• Satoyama
• Sagatsukasa
• Takamisakari
• Sotairyu
• Kotoyutaka
• Kotoyuki
• Tamaasuka
• Takanoyama
• Tenkaiho
• Tokushoryu

Since we’ve settled in to a quieter rhythm in Fukuoka, there aren’t as many sightseeing related things to share, so I thought I’d do up a quick post just about how Locutus is doing in Japan.

What some of you might not know is that Lance and Locutus caught a pretty rough cold shortly before we were supposed to go. Locutus’s cold symptoms had mostly cleared up, but since babies are susceptible to ear infections following colds, we were slightly concerned. So the Friday before we left, Grandma R took him to the doctor’s office as a walk-in. The doctor checked, saw that they were slightly red, but not enough to warrant antibiotics yet. So she instructed us to come back on Sunday (the first Sunday the clinic was open for walk-ins) to have them looked at again.

So off we went on Sunday. The doctor who saw us that day was very nice as well. He looked at his ears, saw some redness and some fluid and hemmed and hawed a bit. Locutus wasn’t cranky and hadn’t had a fever. Normally he’d tell us to wait a couple of days and come back if he seemed cranky or developed a fever. But we were about to hop on a plane to Japan. So he gave us a prescription for antibiotics that didn’t require refrigeration and instructions to use them if he seemed cranky or got feverish. Luckily Locutus has been totally fine so we haven’t had to use the medication at all – yay!

The plane ride was totally fine. We did give him a bit of Advil before taking off but totally forgot to for landing. He noticed the pressure in his ears, but we did some nursing and lots of miming of yawns and gulping to give him the idea.

He has been very good on train rides as well, though the long narrow aisle seems to be too inviting for him. He just can’t resist being on his feet and running up and down the entire time. It’s more tiring for Lance and I as we try to keep up with his energy level.

We’ve been trying to keep a mix of on the go sight-seeing activities, that keep him more-or-less confined in the carrier, and some relaxing wandering at places he can run around and explore. Japan is great for this since a lot of temples and castles have an area around them with flat wide-open spaces with little fences, stone walkways, trees, and temple stairs (we’ve been doing lots of stairs). He loves the sumo stadium too and actually claps when we go inside. I think it’s because of the many stairs he gets to climb and because there are so many people there who smile and wave at him. Even a few of the lower ranked rikishi (wrestlers) have been enchanted with him (and vice versa as well . . . he was so busy staring at one he almost walked into a wall – hehehe).

Food has been fairly easy to handle as well. I never made the connection beforehand, but we are in Japanese orange season, and guess where they come from??? Yup, Japan! Plus we’ve picked up some kiwi here. So he gets some fresh fruit every day. Yoghurt is readily available along with bread (though it’s mostly white bread). We can get cheese here but it’s either yucky processed stuff or super-expensive good stuff (like regular cheddar being $10 for a small cube). The most difficult thing for any of us is vegetables, but we try to get that at different restaurants and such. We’ve even had a bit of success with a few of the places offering a kids meal that he enjoys. Not necessarily the healthiest options, but not bad for vacation food either.

Locutus seems to have decided that he’d like the distinction of a few teeth that are ‘made in Japan.’ And boy are we glad that we brought along the Advil! We do feel a little guilty about the noise for our hotel neighbours when he does have a rough teething spell though. One neighbour in particular we gave a small peace offering to the morning following. We had heard him stumble in rather late and are pretty sure Locutus’s crying interrupted the few hours of sleep that he got.

He naturally gets lots and lots of attention from everyone everywhere we go. We’ve probably mentioned it before, but people here tend to bundle up ridiculously in colder weather. When we’re still wearing t-shirts, or a light jacket, they are parkas and wool scarves. As such, we’ve gotten lots of comments on how cold he must be. I did forget to bring along the gloves I bought for him, but I doubt that we’d have had much luck in getting him to wear them.

We didn’t bring many toys along to Japan. We had a couple of puppets, a book, and one ‘busy bag’ full of plastic lids. We haven’t really needed to break them out much at all. He manages to keep himself amply entertained playing with the hotel mugs, tea bags, various drawers, the small fridge, empty bottles, hot water kettle, and any bits of paper he can find. We also got a set of bottles from our first hotel with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from our first hotel that I brought along and that he’s been using as bath toys. They are the perfect size for his little hands to play with and since they are partially full they float at different levels.

Regulars at our sumo nights will be familiar with the unfortunately named Calpis Soda. For those not in the know, Calpis Soda is a beverage of Japanese origin. It is a calcium drink. And no matter how you try to pronounce it, it either ends up sounding like you’re saying cow piss, or that you’re saying cow piss with a French accent. Regardless, it is the drink equivalent to the center of a creamsicle and once you start drinking it, it’s impossible to stop until it’s all gone.

Not content with poorly named perfection, the Japanese decided to take Calpis soda to the next level: they added vodka.

Voila! Calpis Sour. I don’t know why it’s called Calpis Sour. It’s not sour at all. It tastes like the center of a creamsicle with the barest hint of vodka. But just like the original, once you start drinking it, it’s impossible to stop.

True love.

On the second or third day of sumo, we headed to our usual general admission seats (very top left corner of the TV screen, in case you’re wondering) only to find a group of very drunk, very rowdy men in our area. We joined them. They were all septuagenarians.

We like our sumo and we’re happy to cheer. They liked their shochu and were happy to share. And best of all, we all loved sumo and liked all the same fighters. Which is to say, they all cheered for whatever fighter I cheered for. It was synergy.

They were well into their drinks when we joined them. One gentleman had taken on the role of Master of the Cups, which involved making sure that his friends cups were never empty. Nor did they have to get up for a refill, because that would be potentially disastrous and/or crippling.

Locutus isn’t able to sit still through the entire day, of course. Jenn and I take it in turns to walk our son around the stadium. Often, strangers will grab our son and run off and sell him on the slave market because we’re in Asia and they do that in…wait, no. They hug him and coo at him. Because he’s adorable. And we’ve gotten very good at answering the same questions: how old he is, where he is from, and his propensity to endure slave shop labour conditions.

Okay, kidding! Kidding! They don’t ask us where he’s from. And it’s only the old ladies that insist on hugging him. But we’ve made friends with a great many regulars in the crowd and they all smile and wave as we pass by. And we make new friends every day.

But this story is about the drunk old men. The drunk old men took a particular shining to us. It may have been our adorable son. It may have been his very pretty mom. Or it may have been his dad cheering crazily for their national sport. Whatever the case, they began giving us gifts.

At first, it was the shared drinks. Then one fellow brought us some oranges and cakes. Another brought a can of pringles, some sumo cookies and fish snacks while Locutus and I walked up and down the stairs. There was congratulatory fish jerky when Ikioi won (GANBARE, IKIOI!). And on the way out one of the fellows insisted on giving Locutus some money for snacks.

Some of the free stuff Locutus has scored so far

I could barely understand anything they said because, hey, they were pretty drunk, and spoke fast, colloquial Japanese. Not my strong point. And they couldn’t understand anything I said because, hey, mediocre Japanese student! But in the end it didn’t matter one bit. We watched sumo together and cheered together and the language barrier wasn’t a barrier at all.

And you can TOTALLY hear us yelling madly during Ikioi’s match.

So we took our son to a bar our first night in Fukuoka. We were going to pass by, but the nice waitress stopped us and insisted we come inside. She broke out her best English: Chicken! Beef! Pork! Fish! and pointed at the menu in appropriate places. And we thought: okay! It was long past time that Locutus had a pub crawl.

The pub served Japanese style kebabs and other tapas foods. We settled into our table and Jenn ordered us some dinner while I wrangled Locutus. We haven’t taken Locutus out to many restaurants back home, and none since he was able to walk, so dining out has been a bit of an adventure. We quickly established a perimeter at the table of things Locutus could touch and things we didn’t want to pay for if broken.

We were a bit concerned that Locutus was going to be a bit to raucous for the pub, but we were quickly disabused of the notion. Not that Locutus wasn’t a pest. But rather, he was a rakish, adorable pest that some might call charming, and whose good looks and impish smile quickly charmed every lady in the restaurant. It was quickly apparent that everyone loved our son. So we passed him around the bar.

Hah! That’s how you give multiple grandma’s a heart attack! Just kidding, grandmas!

But seriously, we passed him around the bar. To one side, a mother and her daughter had just come from shopping. Locutus found the young girl rather pretty and so kept trying to steal her shopping bag while she was distracted. To our other side was a couple of ladies a bit older than us, who were actually practicing English lessons. One table beyond them was a mother and her son, who was a bit older than me. Everyone wanted to hold him. Locutus was happy to be held by everyone that was not a man.

Meanwhile, Jenn and I spent the evening chatting up our various neighbours in a mixture of broken English and broken Japanese. The food was pretty okay and the sake was not terrible, but the company was fabulous and we made several friends, if only for the evening.

Part of our decision to stay in Himeji was to break up the trip from Kyoto into two smaller trips. An unintended consequence was that Himeji is really only a sight-seeing stop-over between Kyoto and elsewhere and we weren’t able to get a seat on a train until much later than we planned. We did not arrive in Fukuoka until later in the afternoon, which was too late to buy general admission tickets. Instead, we watched the first day back at our hotel room, in high definition, with instant replay and commentary.

Statue in front of Hakata Station

Our first few days in Fukuoka mostly revolved around getting settled in the city. We selected a hotel near Hakata station, familiarized ourselves with the walk and transit options to the sumo stadium, and then stocked up on some sundry items like diapers.

The first couple days were cold and blustery in Fukuoka. We spent those days at the sumo stadium, cheering for our wrestlers while Locutus charmed the ladies. Locutus enjoys the sumo but he enjoys being the center of attention even more.

When not at sumo we’ve spent our time visiting the local shrines, or browsing the local shopping arcades. But this isn’t a post about Fukuoka, or the many stories therein. This is a post about Bing Weather.

Bing Weather is a feature in Windows 8. It ties local weather forecasts directly into your Windows Experience. Bing Weather sucks.

On our first full day in Fukuoka, Bing Weather called for cloudy with possible light showers. We were caught in a thunderstorm and torrential rains several blocks from our hotel. We went to sumo and when we came out, hours and hours later, the storm was raging on.

So when Bing guaranteed rain the following day, we decided we’d spend the day indoors watching more sumo. And beams of golden sunshine bathed the stadium interior with a gauzy, gilded light.
Clear with a mild chance of sprinkles turned out to mean blustery windstorm accompanied by brief deluges.

As I wandered Kumamoto Castle in shorts and t-shirt weather (forecast: 80% chance of rain, highs around 14C) I began to suspect that Bing Weather is really, really bad at its job.

Yup that’s a praying mantis. We didn’t end up going into the castle grounds this time around because it became apparent pretty quickly that the castle is under restoration right now. Luckily, they put up a screen showing you what it looks like underneath. It’s pretty impressive when it isn’t covered by a building.

Hey readers, now’s your chance to ask some questions of us. What do you want to know about our trip? Post a comment with your question and we’ll do our best to answer it ASAP.