Japan Trip - Day 3

So we woke up and decided to take a shot at the onsen. As I have a big "yakuza type" tattoo on my back (that is what my husband calls it and what average japanese people see it as) I cannot use most onsen but the hotel seemed rather calm and it was 6am so we just went with it. In the corridor we bumped into Yoko who came with me and explained how to behave in such places and how to use it properly. I discovered that I already knew everything i needed to know haha. I also do not feel comfortable undressing in front of other people but that couldn't be helped.
As expected nobody came in and i had a very relaxing time, it felt great!

After that, we went back and got ready for breakfast. Breakfast was japanese style so to some it might seem a bit odd. Again, the huge parade of plates.

This is actually not only traditionally japanese but also has a local feel to it.

We got in the car and started driving deeper into the japanese country side. There is almost nothing there and everything seems absolutely plain. The streets are mainly very narrow and the houses seem spacious and have that tradition japanese feel to them.
Finally we got to my husbands late grandmother's house. One of his uncles lives there now. We got in and everyone took their turn in the shrine to pray to her including myself. The house is pretty much what you see in the movies, sliding doors leading everywhere, cut wood carves and traditional paintings and photographs. It was very pretty, I really like it.

This is the room where the Buddhist altar is placed. I would call it a living room as well but japanese houses do not classify their rooms and divisions like we do. It's a room.

The entrance of the room. As you can see there's a ton of sliding doors everywhere.

These are a sort of doll collection. Every time a male boy is born someone buys a doll to celebrate this happy event. There are also some other items. The top right vase was a gift from my in laws wedding.

An indoor window with wooden carvings.

This is what the house looks like from the outside. You can see my husband's uncle carrying water that will be used to clean the grave later.

The small garden also has very pretty flowers. I'll just leave some photos.

Some pretty Kaede tree leaves, I love all the red trees you see in the scenery right now.

A gorgeous Tsubaki tree with a ton of flowers. We have these in portugal too, we call it "Camelia".

We then got out and left by foot, we were going to pay respect at the family grave. The place is filled with bamboo and its very clean and simple unlike what happens in cemeteries in Portugal. For instance if a grave is left abandoned here someone will still keep it clean so everything looks good altogether. I think that is amazing.

Everyone heading over to the family grave. My husband, mom and my beloved sister. Ah and dad in the back.

Bamboo, i just don't see it very often.

We left and spent some time indoors, sipping tea, eating snacks and just reminiscing over the "old days" while flipping over an album containing almost only my husband's childhood photos.

I really like that everyone has their name on the front door. I don't think anyone does that in my country other than country side villas sometimes being named after their owners like "Maria villa" or something.

Lovely tea cup with my favorite green tea and some adorable wrappings containing sweets.

It was now time to say goodbye and so we hit the road again. The area is really calm and all one can see are never ending fields. It is all also very flat, a lot flatter than at home.

Japanese country-side. Scenery after harvest season.

So... my father in law's hometown is special. It has got a very peculiar name. It has been called like this for a long long time, longer than the other place that goes by that name. My father in law was born in USA. Because they are quite aware of the funny factor there now is they made a stop at the local station.

Usa train station

We went to visit the Usa shrine which is actually one of the most famous Shinto shrines in Japan. On the way to the entrance I found this poster on one of the stalls that shows just how much they embrace the whole "thing".

Area map

Heading to it we had to cross a bridge, I came across a stall that had food for Koi fish and my husband got me a bag. One of the interesting things about it is that you can actually open the box take out a bag and just not put any money in there like you are supposed to... but this is Japan and its also a shrine and nobody will do such a thing. Isn't it amazing? I always think these things are amazing... anyway I looked down and GOSH what huge koi fish! I bet they would just detach your fingers from your hand in a couple of bites! So I just started throwing food. It was relaxing and fun.
Suddenly... an somewhat unexpected predator appeared... a duck. This duck just took off from its local group (which was pretty far away) and very quickly started stealing all the food we would throw at the fish!

We finally got over that moment and started going up through the gates and trees. I'll leave you with some photos.

Family portrait at the temple gate.

I love this photo.

Mom got a bit tired afterward since there were so many stairs.

Hyotan. You put in a paper with what you wish for inside and just hang it up there.

Ema hope plaques. It works just the same way. You buy one, write down what you wish for and hope that the deities will grant you your wish. There is often a drawing of the sign for that year on the other side, hence there being so many cute bunnies.

One of the altars at the shrine. Each one is dedicated to a specific deity. Dad made a monetary offer to the three and we praid at each one of them. Some bowing and clapping involved.

The tree of god. Touching it brings good fortune so I touched it like mad after taking this photo.

Very tall staircase a bit scary. Apparently it is often used as a training place /sports.

My fortune (Omikuji). Apparently I got a good one, yay!

I placed it next to the millions of papers placed there. I hope it works out.

O-sake, yes! Apparently sake makers send their sake as offerings ib those huge containers. There's also the name of money givers... some of them have given millions of yen.

Pretty random but I love the different designs on these depending on the area. I find them to be extremely pretty.

After this we got back in the car and headed over to Fukuoka. We went to visit my husbands grandmother (mother side) as she is currently ill. She hadn't seen him for a bit, living abroad seems quite painful for the whole family. She was adorable and she made me teary. I'm not going to go deeper into this.

We then left towards Fukuoka's main station, Hakata where we were meeting with a friend. Of course everyone else had to go back to Oji for work related reasons so we all went our separate way.
We still had a bit of time left so we put our bag in a locker and explored Hakama for a bit. The Christmas lights outside were rather pretty.

Main gate - Hakama city

Some christmas lights outside.

A closeup. So pretty!

Seriously all the stores look so amazing at Christmas time here, it makes me a bit sad because they're not even a mainly Christian country and they put my own country to shame in what concerns this.

We basically spent our spare time at the bookstore where i got a bit carried away and spent more on magazines than I ever did. I went to look for a magazine a girl in the pt doll communities asked for but couldn't find it.

And then we met with my dear friend, Pedro. I've known him for a long long time and then he came to study at my university and graduated in the same area as I did a year later. His goal was always to go and living in Japan so i'm really happy that he is currently living there.

haha this photo really captures his personality, I love it!

We had sushi at a pub. It was hard to pick a place to eat, geez. It was pretty average though. :P

I suppose i should be ashamed of myself but truth is I love awkwardness. They have a heart in their shop - scary. No amount of "" will make me think otherwise.

I missed him, you never know how much you miss someone until you see them again I suppose. I can't wait to see him again next time I'm here.

After that we just said goodbye with a lot of hugging involved of course and went to a nearby hotel to get some sleep. I also took a small shot of what i bought/got that day. I know you guys want to read about that too.

Mom gave me this,she knows i love school bags and since i can't buy a real one or do not have an actual use for one, she got me a mini version at the shrine.

Those are the magazines I got. I've got to admit that my favorite is the doll one. I know that it might not be good news for lolita but its true. Sorry lucy!

And that's it for day3, I hope you enjoyed reading about it. These take soooo long to write gosh. I'm already so far behind!
Love, J