Winter Vacation 2016: Yufuin, Japan

The next morning, we pulled ourselves together and headed for brunch at Yoshizuka Unagiya (博多名代 吉塚うなぎ屋), which specializes in unagi (eel) dishes.  It was incredibly well seasoned and full of classically Japanese flavors.  The restaurant opens at 11AM, and while we couldn’t get a reservation, we were told that if we came and waited right when they opened, we could get a table.  When we arrived at 10:50, they were already open and had many tables seated!  We were able to get one right away at 11AM.

Eel and miso soup for breakfast. Really tasty!

Our bus to Yufuin left at 12:30, so we ended up timing things perfectly.  We had pre-purchased bus passes to use that allowed us to pre-reserve seats for all of our trips.  I highly recommend getting them, as they allow you to hop on and off the inner city buses as well all throughout the Northern Kyushu area!

What had been an overcast morning turned into a steady drizzle by the time we boarded out bus.  It made for a rather pretty ride though, creating rolling waves of mist and fog between mountain peaks.  I love the glimpses of traditional Japanese villages nestled into the crooks of mountains as well.

On the bus to Yufuin!

Winter Vacation 2016: Fukuoka, Japan

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.

On a local bus, heading downtown from the airport.

City Highlights: Shopping in Gwangju

While my switch from apparel design and production to linguistics and the ESL world may have seemed abrupt, I certainly haven't left the world of fashion entirely!  Shopping is still one of my favorite aspects of travel, and I love discovering the unique aesthetics and styles of each city and country I travel through.
Korea has been inching its way into the fashion spotlight over the last few years, especially in terms of street style.  While foreigners often think of Japan as being a more experimental and fashion-forward center of Asian street style, after traveling the two countries that doesn't seem to be the case.  Japanese subcultures and their extreme fashion are certainly more "out there" than Korean fashion, but when you look at the average Japanese street crowd, you'll find a lot of black, grey, and navy and the same dull business suits and skirts shuffling past.
Korea, on the other hand, has become extremely experimental.  Still conformist in the sense that trends are followed with a herd-like mentality, but the fashions that catch on here seem to be far more expressive and flamboyant.  For example, a current trend this past fall/winter 2015 has been cropped pants.  For Korean men, this is exhibited in the form of a very slim, tailored pant that ends short, just above the ankle, and is paired with either (often contrasting) socks or bare skin.  A more casual alternative is a cuffed skinny jean, achieving the same look.

A photo posted by @wanshiki on Oct 18, 2014 at 8:18pm PDT	A photo posted by Kyunghun Kim (@halopeoplekr) on Nov 2, 2015 at 3:16am PST
Three young Korean men showing the cropped pant look, featuring cuffed denim, bare ankles, sneakers, socks, and boots.	Five young Korean men showing the biggest trends for this fall: slim, tailored, cropped pants; wool overcoats in a variety of colors; sweaters layered over collared shirts, and bare ankles peeking out over leather dress shoes.

For women, the cropped pant trend manifests itself in the form of culottes, where the comes in a wider variety of patterns and colors. Koreans aren't afraid to incorporate these trends into their work wardrobes, and many professionals can be seen with fun pops of color, patterns, and on-trend tailoring influencing even the most conservative of business dress.

A photo posted by SOL-SOL Street (@solsolstreet) on Oct 26, 2015 at 12:29am PDT	A photo posted by Korea Street Fashion (@realstreet1) on Oct 20, 2015 at 7:32pm PDT
A woman at Seoul Fashion Week shows off her boldly patterned culottes (cropped, wide-leg pants) and a chunky knit sweater.	A young professional shows how bold fashion has pushed business wear in Korea. Note the unique cut to her button down shirt; loud, printed skirt; and bold accessory choices.

With Koreans quickly embracing fashion as a form of self-expression and stepping out of the old shadows of conformity, shopping in Korea is more exciting than ever.  While there are a plethora of resources and shopping guides available for Seoul and Busan, I didn't see too much out there for some of the other larger cities in Korea.  After living in Jeollanamdo for the last year and a half, I've become a frequent visitor (and shopper) in the downtown Chungjangro (충장로) area of Gwangju (광주).  I recently went and visited my 12 favorite shops in the area, which I have marked out on the map below: