With
winter camp finished, winter vacation periods for foreign English teachers have
begun! For the first part of my trip, I
made a trip back to Japan. Last year my
friend Rory and I went to the Kansai region of Japan to visit the old capital
city of Kyoto and the food mecca Osaka.
This year, J and I made a trip to the Kyushu island region where we
experienced Japanese onsen (hot
spring) culture.
Even
though it was only 4 days, our trip took us to three different cities and
dipped into three different prefectures: Fukuoka City in Fukuoka Prefecture,
Yufuin in Oita Prefecture, and Kurokawa Onsen in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Our
first stop in Fukuoka City reminded me so much of why I love Japan. There’s something about the analog-esque feel
of this country that I really love, from the bus stations to the cars on the
streets to the local fashion. You can frequently
spot western influences throughout, though they seem as if they’ve been taken
from 1970’s North America and England and have since grown into something
uniquely Japanese.
After
arriving at the airport, I quickly grabbed a (highly-anticipated) hot royal
milk tea from the convenience store before we hopped our bus into the city. Once downtown near Tenjin (天神), it was a short eight minute walk to
our hotel where we were right on time for check-in.
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| On a local bus, heading downtown from the airport. |
