Mountain Day

Thursday, August 11th was a new Japanese holiday, instated quite recently and called Mountain Day. Some other Nakatsu JETs and I took this opportunity to take a trip to the local mountain (where else?), Hachimenzan. We drove, but apparently some people in the group had biked up the mountain in the past!

We made our way up from the parking point to a peace park somewhat near the base of the mountain. There were small shrines and a little stream. We then took a path over to a big open field with a sort of amphitheater set up at the front. Continuing on, we ended up at the mountain restaurant, where we met up with a JET from neighboring Bungotakada and her visiting parents for lunch. I had cold soba (zarusoba) and it was delicious!

After lunch, a few of us had tasty green tea soft serve (of course) and we all trooped down a little farther to the site of a World War II fighter jet that crashed nearby. It was perfectly preserved, and although you couldn't go in the tiny cockpit, you could take some steps up to see it from the outside. Following that, we headed back to the cars and made our way back to town for some green tea specialty drinks at the local Chiki Tea. Chiki Tea is run by two Americans (?) who are very friendly and have been living in Japan for quite a long time. At least, the woman has; I'm not sure about the man. They also have an adorable dog that's part dingo!

After Chiki Tea, a few of us decided to go check out Nakatsu Castle. I don't know much of the history of it, but F, one of the New Zealander ALTs, studied ancient history and has more of a mind for that sort of thing. Plus, he got a history book from his predecessor that detailed all sorts of stuff about the castle. Sadly, the only thing I remember is that he said Japanese castles weren't meant to be hard to get into, but they were meant to be fought inside. Maybe hard to get out of?? I'm clearly terrible at this remembering thing.

We couldn't go inside the castle because it was after hours, but we were able to get little good luck fortunes from an automated little puppet inside a glass box. He pretended to go get the fortune inside a replica of a shrine and then wheeled back out to deposit it in a box for us to take it out of. I got good luck! I don't think anyone in our group got bad luck. Maybe just "small" good luck though.

All in all, Mountain Day was a success and I'm glad we made our way partway up the mountain! Also, there is a hot spring nearby and we went on a later date, so I'll be sure to post about that!