welcome to all those visiting via blog around the world! i am so excited to be sharing my part of the world with all of you!
first of all, i am not japanese, i'm american, but i have been living here for more than nine years. (i can hardly believe it myself!) seven of those years have been here in fukuoka-ken, on the island of kyushu.
japan is a fascinating, but sometimes frustrating place to live. my motivation to see japan came from the movie 'my neighbor totoro', which i thought was beautiful. if the japanese countryside was as beautiful in real life, then i had to see it!
the japanese countryside has not disappointed me, but the cities...i'm not so impressed. don't get me wrong, i love to visit fukuoka and kitakyushu, but i can't say the urban areas here are all that attractive. i have been very lucky to travel in japan, and see many beautiful areas. one is the takachiho gorge, in miyazaki-ken.
i also like to visit castles:
temples:
and shrines:
i also like torturing my children at odd festivals:
i get frustrated by my lack of japanese ability, i am not nearly as fluent as i should be for the amount of time i have lived here and studied the language. it's hard, but i am proud of the fact that i can buy groceries, take my children to the pediatrician and chat with my neighbors about nonsense. i am also sure that i will never really understand japanese people who are usually kind and polite, but can also be aloof and incredibly rude. it's amazing to see it in action sometimes!
japan is a land at the mercy of three tectonic plates, so there are a lot of earthquakes, hot springs and volcanoes! thankfully fukuoka rarely experiences earthquakes, and we don't have any volcanoes, but there are plenty of onsen, or hot spring baths. i never thought i'd be comfortable with public bathing, but i LOVE onsen. if you ever visit japan, be sure to try one. just be sure to wash and rinse before you get in the bath!
i have a couple of photos of volcanoes. first is mt. aso, the most active volcano in japan, which is in kumamoto:
and the other is sakura-jima, which is right next to the city of kagoshima!
the photo above was taken from a ferris wheel, which the japanese seem to love:
(sorry, i couldn't resist all the ferris wheel pics.)
well, i guess it's time to wrap this up. i hope you have enjoyed this trip as much as i have!
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68 comments:
I love love love the pictures and the video clips. Was that baby your child?? He didn't look too happy...And you know what made me laugh out loud is one of those last few pictures from the Ferris Wheel where you look down and see a little piece of Americana...THE BABIES R US STORE!!! That was just hilarious. Thanks for the tour!
Thanks so much for the tour. My mom lived in Japan in the 50's - and when her family moved back to the states, they brought so much stuff with them! In fact right now I am sitting in my dining room at the table they brought back. Next to the china cabinet that came, too. It's filled with all kinds of tea sets and chopsticks. We have ivory fans, leaf paintings, and all kinds of other things that I don't know the names of!
Have fun on your day of comment luv!
Beautiful pictures -- thanks for sharing -- stopping by from BATW to say hi!
Much Love
Anissa
This was a great tour... the pictures are wonderful! I think Japan is a fascinating country.
My family hosted an exchange student about 10 years ago (my sister actually went to Japan to live with her family for 6 weeks in the summer, then Izumi came here to live with us for 9 months!)
Hello from Idaho. Japan is a place I've never been but would love to. Especially that gorge!! WOW! I do love Japenese game shows on t.v. though. Hilarious. Thanks for sharing today.
Great blog! I love catching a glimpse of other cultures and places in the world!
hello from the gulf coast of mississippi! My husband has been to Japan several times on business and loves it there. He has brought me several neat little things... he always brings back the little toys that are attached to bottles of Coke and things like that for the kids. :)
He's experienced several of the earthquakes while there. He really stands out over there being 6'4". He gets a lot of attention... he has some of the best stories, LOL.
You are very blessed to be able to experience living there!
What fun to take a BATW trip around the world! Thanks for the lovely tour!!
Much aloha from Hawaii! Your photographs are so beautiful!
Thanks for the tour! I am here from Michigan. What beautiful pictures. Must say I laughed at the "baby torturing" video. You obviously have a great sense of humor. And what is with all the ferris wheels. How funny! I will need to come back another time and really read about your life. Thanks for giving us a peek.
-Sheryl
Fantastic tour, it's made me even more determined to plan a real trip to Japan not just a stopover in Tokyo on the way between UK and New Zealand. Enjoy your BATW day.
thank you domestic executive!
Hello from Arkansas!
Thanks for the beautiful tour!
Congrats on being featured today!! I just love all the pictures you shared with us. Especially the ferris wheel!
Beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous country with us. I hope you have a wonderful BATW day!
Thanks for the tour. We have friends working in Japan and we would love to visit! I am hoping to one day.
I am American and also live in a different country. I live in Hungary and I can totally relate about the language. I have lived here for 7 years and I should know the language better! But like you I can get by and that is a great feeling!
Thanks for sharing!!!
What a great tour! I think I would be just like you, and like the countryside best. If we can't torture our own children at festivals who can we torture? BAHAHAHAHAHA I think that's your right as mom!
Flew in From Denmark it was quite the long flight. I truly enjoyed reading about Japan again. I have the chance to visit 3 years ago. I was mainly in Osaka, but made in into the mountains and it was beautiful as well as Kyoto.
Arigato :)
Hi from Detroit! I used to say, "I would like to go to Japan." After your blog, I am saying, "I NEED to go to Japan." Your post was really a pleasure!
Wow what a great post. Great pictures. I really enjoyed my time here.
Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures! How beautiful! I had to share them with my kids b/c we are going to be studying Medieval Japan soon. What a treat for us! Thanks again.
Wow! I didn't realize how beautiful Japan is! Isn't it amazing how different cultures interact with each other, that they can be so kind and yet so aloof...
I love all the natural beauty. Japan just moved higher on my list of must see places!
Thanks for giving us the tour!
SO beautiful!!!! Stopping by from Kansas :)
Thank you for sharing all those photos of Japan! The landscape looks so different from ours, but it is so lovely. I don't even know how to describe my favorite photo -- a canyon, a garden, a rock wall? I'll just call it beautiful!
What wonderful pictures! It looks gorgeous :)
Thanks for the lovely tour.
wow! thanks so very much for sharing japan with us. the asian culture is so amazing, i'm sure that it has just got to be experienced to be believed. we had a japanese exchange student when i was in high school. that was so much fun and she brought us some pretty nigty gifts from japan too. :)
What a beautiful place to be. Thank you for letting us come over from BATW.
My kids love all the crazy movies from Japan. That My Neighbor Totoro is the craziest thing but they love it. I guess that I just do not get it.
Enjoy your day!!!!
Thanks for the tour. I love ferris wheels. I also loved your blog layout :)
wow! i love all of your pics! thanks for a fabulous tour! i've always wanted to visit, but now i want to more than ever!
(found you via BATW) :)
this looks amazing... my kids love totoro... i love totoro...
Wow! Thanks for this tour. What are you doing there? Is your husband's job in the military? I have a friend who lives in Okinawa. Sorry if I misspelled it.
Wow... thanks for the GREAT tour! I loved all the pictures. I honestly had no idea Japan was so beautiful! (visiting from L.A.)
Simply beautiful!
Hi from Massachusetts!
Thank you for sharing with us. I would love to see Japan someday. My husband agrees, but that may be primarily motivated by his Sushi addiction and the overwhelming desire to try Fugu.
Lovely tour! Beautiful countryside. I've heard a lot about Japan and seen many slides from dear missionary friends. When Meraleen returned home she would make us wonderful, authentic Japanese food ~ Yum!! and acquaint us with some different customs ~ very interesting. Greetings all the way from Edmonton, Canada.
Thanks for the great tour! I loved hearing about Japan. I'd say you are doing pretty well with your language! I hope you enjoy your BATW spotlight today!!
What a fantastic tour! I love that gorge- I've always wanted to visit Japan because of how gorgeous the land is. Thank you!
What a great tour! So, what's up with the Ferris Wheel fascination - lol - that's really kind of funny. The photos are amazingly wonderful!
Thanks for telling us about Japan. I know you have tons to share after 9 years. I read further down on your blog and saw words like "recycling" and "composting" and I knew I would like you. Glad to hear that is happening in Japan. Wish we could get Americans to recycle more. I'll come back. My daughter loves Japan. When she gets home from school I'll show her your blog.
Blessings, from Texas via BATW
I want to ride!
Japan is definitely one of those places I want to visit. Thanks for the tour!
Too bad that you're getting many of these comments while you're sleeping (at least I HOPE you're sleeping!).
Thanks for the tour!
What a great tour! Staci from Oklahoma here!!! Beautiful sites to see. Will you be there forever or do you plan to come home to the US? I'm still out on the public bathing thing :O Thanks again and enjoy your day in the spotlight!
Those were gorgeous pictures!! Thanks for the awesome tour!
Happy BATW day!!
Thank you so very much for the tour! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures! Happy BATW Day!
Visiting via BATW! Love the pics, thanks for hosting. You seem to have a very interesting little life there.
Congratulations on your BATW feature. I hope you enjoy your day in the sun.
Great pictures! Thanks for the tour of Japan:-)
Thank you for such a great tour and beautiful pictures!!!
Thank you for giving us this wonderful tour of Japan. I want to visit there one day also. Congratulations on the spotlight from BATW, I'm visiting from Georgia. I really like the scenery. Beautiful.
Hugs from Georgia,
Amy ;)
Happy BATW day Illahee!! Beautiful pictures and love the fact you can speak japanese enough to get around. I commend you on that. I enjoyed my tour of your adopted homeland. Take care.
What a great tour! My husband went to Japan on business about 6 years ago and loved it, he said he definitely would want to vacation there someday. Now I see why!
Congrats on being featured Illahee!!! I love the city scape so picturesque and you captured it stunningly well!!!
It is nice to see a fellow blogger friend in Japan be featured and appreciated!!
Sorry I am a little late on this tour! I love the pics!
Thanks for the snaps & the video! Great tour...I've been to Japan before, and it's just as I remembered it. BATW makes all this possible--isn't Debbie great?
Oh how fun! I've not been to Japan, but it's on my list for someday. I'm with you on enjoying the country more than the cities when I do travel (or live in general). The Ferris Wheels crack me up -- they remind me for Navy Pier in Chicago!
Beautiful pictures! I like your header, too. Very nice.
Greetings from California!
I loved the visit! What a neat place to visit. You are so brave to live in another country!
Visiting from BATW...thanks so much for the pictures and clip! Japan has always been a place I've wanted to visit. My dad spent time over there while he was in the Air Force in the 60s, and in college I worked with an amazing group of Japanese exchange students. Thanks again!
It must be amazing to live in a different culture for such a long period of time. A friend of mine is a professor in Japan and loves it. The country looks so beautiful. Thank you for the BATW tour!
Thanks for posting all of those pics! They are great!
What a great tour - Beautiful pics. I think it is impressive you can do all those thinsg -I am sure if it was me I woudl syill be learning a few words.
a day late and a dollar short. what can i say - i must have been flying in my time zone. anyway - i missed yesterdays' flight to Japan. Thanksfully, I was able to catch up. The pics are awesome. I have a wonderful Japanese friend as well as a Japanese aunt. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the hospitality, and also the aloofness. So weird!!! Anyway - thanks for sharing! mmm - now I have a craving for potstickers...
Tour was great! I lived in Japan in the 80's, and am going back next month for only my 2nd visit since I left! Hope my Japanese comes back!! I enjoy your blog. And thanks for introducing me to your world & a lot of your friends, too!
Stopping by via BATW. Sorry for being late! Thanks for the tour, what wonderful pictures. I'd love to ride that ferris wheel! Must have been quite the adjustment moving to another country.
Really great post, I would like to visit one day.
wow ! such a beautiful place. Wonder if I will have a chance to visits Japan someday * it must be fun ! *
Oh it's all so pretty!!!
Awesome tour, dude.
I know what you mean about the big cities in Japan! I lived in Japan for 10 years (4.5 years in Yokohama and the rest in the wonderful countryside of Nagano). I think my hair will turn gray overnight if I live in Tokyo!
Nice meeting you. I would like to participate in this too.:-)
I'm way late in coming along from BATW but I had to stop by because I've always wanted to visit Japan! The pictures of the countryside are just amazing. So interesting that the Japanese love Ferris Wheels. Who knew? Thanks for the tour!
Stopping by from BATW alittle Tardy on my visit! I have been avoiding the computer for awhile and am now trying to catch up! Thanks for sharing such great pictures of Japan. I got to visit once many years ago for a very short period of time. My brother-in-law and his wife and our niece is stationed in Japan right now and have been for almost 3 years now. Beautiful and interesting country!
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