There always seems to be something going on that I’m “missing”. When I was at the hotel in Ibusuki, there was a muffled announcement and I couldn’t make out the time or what it was for. I skipped the mystery event (honestly I was about to pass out). Today at the Kumamoto JR station they were selling round-trip train tickets to a fireworks show but it seemed like it would be another ordeal with crowds so I skipped that too. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I thought it would take too long to get from Kagoshima to Nagasaki so I planned a stopover in Kumamoto. I kind of like it here but I also am unclear on what there is to do. I started out with another interesting breakfast that’s the specialty of Amami-oshima, a kind of ochazuke that you assemble yourself:

Basically it all goes on top of the rice and you pour tea on it.

It was, as I expect from Kagoshima, great. I ended up with just about all of it in the ochazuke except for the benishoga pickled ginger. I think it overpowers the flavors so I only used half.

Then I started what I thought would be another long day of travel. I’m not much of a train otaku, but here’s a picture of the Kagoshima streetcar.

I got to the train station early because I was trying out the smartEX shinkansen tickets that allows the ticket to be put onto a Suica card rather than having to carry around a bunch of slips of paper. It could’ve been a disaster. It didn’t work and I had lots of help from the stationmaster who made me prove I actually had a ticket. Logging on was a chore and first I got this next screen. It started out at 7 minutes and took longer.

It all seemed to work out after a while but the stationmaster took my phone and did SOMETHING with it so he might’ve fixed things. But then I went back and asked why it didn’t tell me what my seat assignment was. Turns out the turnstile spit out a piece of paper that I missed and they had to pull it out of the gate mechanism for me. So much for avoiding fiddly bits of paper. At least getting the initial ticket was a lot quicker than standing in line at the Midori-no-madoguchi.

Turns out after all that the train was an express that skipped all the intermediate stations and only took 45 minutes. I dropped my bag off at the hotel and went back to the train station to consult the tourist information booth about what there is to do now. There are lots of big new buildings by the station that went up in the four years since I visited last. I guess the castle rebuilding continues apace but they still aren’t letting you see much. I found out there’s a garden that the local lord initially created as a tea garden. It doesn’t take long to see but it was worth it.

There used to be a Buddhist temple here. Now there’s a Shinto shrine and I guess it’s the season for kids to visit the temple for shichi-go-san. Basically it means lots of people in traditional dress getting their pictures taken.

There were also Shinto wedding pictures being taken but I didn’t want to intrude on that. Once again here’s proof that I’m no good at food pictures. I was already into eating my sweets and matcha before I remembered to take a picture. My sister gets lots of my pictures of half-eaten meals when I meant to send her pictures before I started. It’s always fun to have some traditional sweets at the garden.

Since I’m so good at doing things in the wrong order, I looked at the pamphlet describing the garden on the way out. It said the treasures of the shrine were displayed in November so I went around asking about it. I guess it’s not really that big a deal and they show them when they show them (not today). But there was a small exhibit of some yabusame mounted archery items and some artwork in a small building just off the parking lot. They had a display of rather ephemeral art – sand paintings that need to be protected from the wind.

And what they use to create the sand paintings:

By now you’ve probably noticed I missed lunch again. My back started to hurt so I went looking for the massage chain I frequent and there was one right at the station! My back still hurts but now my calves hurt as well. It’s getting better.

For dinner I was recommended a restaurant that serves horsemeat and I had some basashi (raw horsemeat). This cost as much as a regular dinner and was just about an appetizer.

Rather than eat more at this restaurant, I went to Mos Burger. Last year it was quite disappointing which seemed odd since it’s always been a reliable hamburger chain. I can report that it’s just as good as it used to be. It’s not everyone’s favorite, but the TabiEats guys agree that it’s their favorite. It’s my favorite as well.

And that’s about it for the day. I went shopping for some more cables and FamilyMart socks (whee).

The Route Inn chain where I’m staying is both underwhelming and better than a lot of hotels. The rooms are clean and larger than most and they usually have a large bath. It seems a little boring but it’s very good. I had a discussion with the front desk that made me sound like an idiot when I asked if it was summer or winter (no it’s fall they said). What I meant is whether the HVAC was set to summer or winter mode. It’s in winter mode even thought Kumamoto, to me, is the hottest place I’ve been so far and ideal summer weather for this Oregonian (in the mid 70’s Fahrenheit and humid). I have a hard time sleeping when it’s too warm so that isn’t going to help things.

Off to Nagasaki tomorrow which includes a ferry ride. More adventure!