I took a little adventure, finally getting out of Fukuoka after many trips this year just to there, down to Kumamoto Prefecture to visit my Japanese Facebook friend who’s been studying in the U.S. for several years.  I’ve been meaning to explore Kyushu more, sadly having only been to Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Omura, Sasebo, Saga, and Saza, all of which constitute the north-western region of the main island.

Kumamoto Prefecture, located in the southern-middle-western region of Kyushu, is best known to me as the home of the famous Mount Aso, a large mountain that draws many Japanese people to its natural hot springs.  However, since I decided to skip out on Mt. Aso on this quick trip, really the area I explored was Yatsushiro — The part of southern Kumamoto around my friend’s hometown.

Oddly enough, although it’s on the mainland, his little town is actually more rural than where I live back on the island.  His mum’s beautiful house is part of a little community set right next to some large rice fields, but also near a highway built in recent years.  To get there, I took the bullet train from Fukuoka to its last stop before the section between Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures where there’s no bullet train available, and he picked me up from there in his mum’s SUV.

Rice fields and mountains, not a surprise but always a beauty.

The largest garage I've seen in Japan, part of a newly built home.

My friend took me to the local mall back near the train station and to Joyful, a sort of Japanese version of Applebees, for lunch.  One of the more interesting stores, one of those gadgets and gear you never need but could have a million of, where I saw a certain character-brand that reminded me of someone else…

Riraku-kuma, the relaxing bear who shows no care.

This guy has the cutest mum ever, who always seems to be smiling with a good attitude.  However, his snappy way of talking with her reminded me of home… Ha.

They took me out to dinner at a local place in the next town, and we had a little trouble finding the restaurant which turned out to be right next to its parking lot.  The difficult part was discovering that it was more like a regular house than any other restaurant I’ve been to in Japan.  There we had many delights, and I even tried pig’s feet for the first time — But it’s not for my taste.  It’s basically like biting into a big chunk of fat.  The rest was delicious, though.

When I arrived at the house originally, his mother was meeting with a sort of consultant to price out catering for the impending funeral reception for his grandmother.  Actually, her health seems to be unexpectedly but happily improving, though I hear she is also sadly suffering from some Alzheimer’s symptoms as well.

Funerals are apparently extremely expensive in Japan, running possibly about an average of USD$20,000~40,000.

We took the dog for a couple walks during my overnight and part of the next day stay, so I witnessed some more of the area and its coast.  I really wanted to check out the nearby beach, but it was really host and sunny so it wasn’t the best time for him.

The sea near my friend's neighbourhood.

He drove me around the very mountainous area, thankfully not filled with the narrow and windy roads like we have on my little island but rather a nice highway that runs through twenty three-something tunnels.  There’s even a 6km-long one.

We visited, on what was a very hot and humid although cloudy day, the perfect place to go: A network of almost refrigerator-cool walking tunnels excavated under a mountain.  Apparently the rock within is estimated to be 350 million years old.

Entering the depths... It reminded me of touring Okinawa's army tunnels.

It was mighty dark here and there.

This creepy looking rock is said to be at least one million years old.

Besides that, I pretty much just headed back to the island that weekend to save some cash.  I want to visit Kumamoto again to see Mt. Aso and other things, but this was a nice little trip.

Some highlights and notes:

• He bought his mum a home pachinko machine, a huge thing on order.
• His mum’s house was gorgeous, with an ornate family shrine.
• His elementary and junior high schools were within a short walk.
• Toll roads are super expensive in Japan: USD$8.50 for a short distance.
• Picking vegetables in their family garden was so reminiscent of home.
• His mum made a traditional Japanese breakfast and it was so good!