Now for some real talent

This gorgeous pot, probably priceless, is just standing around (in a glass case) on the sidewalk in Fukuoka. I thought I had taken a photo of the plaque about it where it said how old it is, but apparently not, or it didn't turn out. At any rate, it's over 800 years old. The pink flower is just a reflection on the glass from a fountain behind it.

In the 1590s, one shogun, Hideyoshi, decided to conquer China by way of Korea, which was the usual way that was done. At that time Chinese ceramics were in style with the wealthy--and very expensive--but Japanese potters didn't know how to make them. Since he was there already, Hideyoshi abducted and otherwise "encouraged" huge numbers of Korean potters to emigrate to Japan. So many that his motives regarding that war are in doubt. Did he want China, or did he want ceramics? At any rate, they ended calling that the Ceramic Wars.

One of those potters, Yi Sam-pyeong (his Korean name) a.k.a. Kanagae Sanpe (his Japanese name) discovered the materials to make ceramics (kaolin) in Arita, near Saga, so Japanese ceramics have their birthplace in those little towns between Fukuoka and Kumamoto.

Fireworks celebration in the Yahoo! Dome (includes singing)

I was just looking at the videos I took while I was in Japan, and I only wish I had taken a lot more. There were a lot of times I wished I could capture the sound of a place, and a few I remembered that I could. This one gives you an idea of what it's like when a Japanese baseball team wins.

Making pots

When she started planning the wedding, Yuki asked me what I wanted to do in Japan and one thing was to take a class with a traditional potter. This turned out to be one of the best things we did, and everyone enjoyed it. I think Tom and Koichi (Yuki's brother) look cute in aprons--which Yuki had the foresight to round up for all of us.
This is our teacher. His studio was a horrible mess, but he seemed to produce a lot of pots.
It turned out I do not suck at this endeavor. The four pots in the foreground are the ones I made and the teacher seemed honestly shocked at how good they were. Really! He went on and on about it. He couldn't believe the only things I've ever made were a poland china pig when I was in grade school and a donkey a few months ago at Anne Bullock's studio. Obviously that was quite flattering. We left the pots there for him to fire and glaze and Yuki will send them to us in a month or so.

Miyuki Bridge

I love this little bridge across the Kumamoto-jo (castle) moat. It's so picturesque and peaceful, almost rural-looking, then it plops you in downtown Kumamoto. I spent a half day sitting on the wall above the moat, sketching. Not that the sketches were worth keeping. This sign tells more about the bridge.

The moat and the steep slope leading to it, and thence to the castle, used to be one of the main entrances for samurai, who lived at the foot of the castle hill, to come to work in the morning. Back then the slope was much more steep, the bridge wasn't there (I guess there must have been a drawbridge or something) and there were guards, etc., so you probably had to be pretty fit just to get up the hill--especially wearing all that armor.

I liked to imagine hung-over samurai carrying their bento boxes to work in the morning. The sign below explains more about the slope.

The way the city was laid out, the closer you lived to the castle, the higher up you were in the pecking order. Downtown stayed near the castle, so all the tiny streets around where we stayed were really ancient, though generally the buildings were not.

Monkey, monk, money questions I can't answer

They still use monkeys as entertainers in Japan, which is sad. This guy was in the Hawks Center Mall, which is right outside the Yahoo! Dome in Fukuoka. I'm not sure how busking or street entertaining works in Japan. The only two we saw had signs prominently displayed saying they had been approved by the local merchants, so there's a process, but it is uncommon. I didn't notice a place to throw money, either, but I may have missed it. I saw this monk or nun outside a subway entrance near our hotel in Kumamoto. I mean, I think she was a monk or nun, as she was dressed differently than I ever saw anyone else dress, and she was chanting and begging with a bowl, but I guess she could just have been eccentric and broke. I never saw anyone else begging, but I did see homeless people and their dwellings. Nothing like as many as are in the Bay Area, but far more than you see here (essentially none).

He's big (and sometimes simultaneously very small) in Japan

I saw more than 1000 Buddha statues my first half day in Japan alone, and saw a few thousand more in the course of the trip. There are almost as many Buddhist and Shinto shrines as there are convenience stores--and there is a convenience store on almost every block. The first few days you say, "Look, a temple/shrine! Let's go see the ancient buildings and buddhas and lions!" But it wears off. We did see some really neat ones, though and I only took about a thousand photos of them. I liked this guy a lot, but I don't know why he has another Buddha in his belly.

And then again, lost in translation

Yeah, I had to really stretch my imagination to come up with that headline, but in making elements of our culture, their own, the Japanese sometimes seem to miss the point. Cheerleaders at baseball games, for example--though who knows, this one may boomerang back to us.

Sweet little embroidered flowers on cowboy shirts, however, will not. At least, not in Oregon. (You may have to click on the photo and look at it full size to seem them.)

Finally, we have Japanese toilets, about which there is so much to say that it's likely I'll return to the subject. In case you have forgotten where you are, sometimes the toilet paper will tell you.

A shared language

I thought that news of Ichiro's popularity in Japan had been exaggerated, but it honestly is difficult to walk more than four or five blocks without seeing either a giant billboard of him like this one; or a poster of him selling something, usually beer; it is impossible to turn on the TV and watch for more than 5 to 10 minutes without seeing him; and there are entire travel agencies that appear to be devoted to nothing more than selling package deals to Mariners games. No pictures of Swiss mountains, the Grand Canyon, or Polynesian islands; just Ichiro and maybe the Space Needle. I think he's more popular than all the licensed Studio Ghibli (Totoro, etc.) and Disney characters rolled together

All the Seattle games are televised, as are those of any team that has Japanese players, so if I had time to watch, it would be easier for me to see the Mariners here than at home, since here they don't require special TV subscription. This country is seriously baseball crazy, and I love that.