Visiting Kitakyushu

We flew to Kyushu, the most westerly of Japan's four main islands, to visit our friends Mizuho and Naoto Ozaki. They visited us in Tokyo in September and in Seattle in May. Mizuho even visited Seattle with her parents and cousin in March. It was our turn to travel.

Ozakis live in Kitakyushu, across the Kanmon Strait from Honshu, Tokyo's island. We've always felt at home in Kitakyushu, not just because of Ozakis' warm hospitality, but like Seattle, it is between the sea and the green mountains.

Puffer Fish But what Kitakyushu has that Seattle doesn't have is fugu! Fugu is the Japanese name for puffer fish.

Fugu is famous for being lethal when eaten, if not prepared correctly. With total confidence we sat down to Mizuho's beautiful plate of fugu sashimi, sliced so thin the plate can be seen through it.


Of course, the Japanese use fugu in many forms. One of our favorites was a nightcap of toasted fugu fin in warm sake. Really flavorful!

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Despite (or perhaps because of) its reputation as a killer, fugu has become an icon of the area. From the man-hole covers to the fish market lights, they are portrayed as puffed up and cute, not dangerous.

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These two little guys now blow around on the floor in our Perth apartment like pets.

Waterfront We walked both sides of the Kanmon strait (and under it!) and met this boy who had just caught a large octopus. He may have hopes that it will become Kitakyushu's new icon, but it will definitely become supper.


All Puffed Up Mizuho and Naoto took us to visit many wonderful old temples in nearby Dazaifu City. They had nothing to do with fugu, but they were full of kids all puffed up and celebrating Shichi-Go-San, 7-5-3.

Odd numbers being lucky, it is traditional to dress your kids in classic kimono at the ages of three, five and seven, and take them to the temple to pray that they will grow up healthy and happy. That's the party line. The real deal is that you dress your adorable kids in classic kimono and take them to the temple where you and every enchanted passerby takes photos of them.

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Temple Gardens Almost as good as the kids at the temples -- and way more understated -- were the temple gardens. Of course, we loved them, and have limited ourselves to these three photos.




Well ... four.


Old and New Kitakyushu is a good mix of old and new. The Kokura Castle on the left is a 1959 reconstruction of the 1602 samurai castle. The buildings in the background are modern castles of commerce.


Like many cities they kept their old train station. Unlike most, it's still their main station, and it is charming.


Facing Off At Kokura Castle, L matches roars with one of their famous tigers. Send in your votes for which one is most ferocious. (Current and former grad students are ineligible.)



Poster Postscript During our visit to the beautiful, new Kyushu National Museum we saw a special exhibit on the life of Sugawara Michizane (845-903) known as "Tenjin." He was a scholar and poet associated with a temple in Dazaifu, and now students go there to pray before exams. The show advertised with this lovely poster, which L wanted as a souvenir. They were not for sale, but they were posted everywhere, and he was going to steal one. Mizuho had another idea. She called the Museum and asked for one, which they sent, saving him from a life of crime. What a friend!