Day 4 Strangers So Kind in Tsuchikawa, Kagoshima
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After the onsen and dinner was a hut in a park for the evening. Wow, can you believe this monument was just sitting there empty in a beautiful park with flowers and other hand-made monuments? My laundry got even more wet by the morning since it rained overnight, but the sunshine in the morning and drying on the back of my bike did the trick.
I’d bought mitarashi dango the day before. It’s little mochi’s on a stick, with sweet sauce on it. This was one of my favorite sweets when I was growing up (it still is my fav), and I had this as a part of my breakfast in sunshine in this beautiful park.
I found a giant Ponyo monument in the park. It took me a few seconds to figure out what it was. Ponyo is a character from Hayao Miyazaki’s film that I love, love, love! If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. Here’s the movie trailer:
I don’t know why, but everything is huge around here. I found a giant Snoopy in the hills after some back-breaking hills. Sakura has found another friend in the hills of Nagashima.
What was more amazing than the giant Ponyo and Snoopy was my lunch. I had the best uni (sea urchin) bowl that I’d ever had in my life, here Nagashima. It said that it was only available between January and March. I’d made it just in time, yesss!
Tako (octopus) and mountain veggies were also delicious!
Miso soup with shimeji mushrooms. Miso soup in this Amakusa area has been out of this world. They use the dashi stock that they cook red snapper with for some other dish. That dashi flavor made my eyes wide open as I had my first sip, and then closed, followed by the long, “Mmmmmmmmmm.”
This is called rakkyo, it’s pickled scallion bulb. It’s got a quite intense sweet and sour flavor and the texture is crunchy. It’s a good, addicting flavor and feeling.
Someone had lots of beer and decided to make a giant beer can swordfish. I’ve got to say, whoever made it did a darn good job.
A sacred torii on a rock in the sea. It’s a Shinto symbol you see as a gate to a shrine. This particular one was on a rock out in the water. This kind of calm, serene scenery appears quite often in Japan. You can see people’s appreciation for gods in nature all around.
This is called Ningyo Iwa, which means doll rock.
Looks like he is staring at the sun. What looks like a necklace around his neck is called shimenawa, which is a braided rice straw rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. This rock was sitting quietly and beautifully in the shining water.
After seeing the Ningyo Iwa, Sakura wanted a little rest on the hill. She had to go up lots of hills today.
As we went up and down the hills, it was getting dark, but we weren’t getting to the town we thought we were arriving. I went to a small shop which was the only thing open within the 10km radius on this Sunday to ask if there was an onsen, a place to eat or sleep nearby. This was in a small little village called Tsuchikawa in Kagoshima Prefecture. The shop lady said there was an onsen 7km ahead, but it was after a big hill, and now it was getting really dark in the mountains. I was getting a little worried. We hadn’t eaten for a while, and going up another hill at that point wasn’t an option any more.
Her husband popped his head out of the house, which was just behind the counter. He said he had a messy, but an empty old honke (main house) just down the road that we could sleep in. I was so thankful to this couple in this shop, and was amazed with their kindness for us complete strangers with a helmet and a turban on.
Their kindness did not stop there. They made onigiri for us for dinner. I was so hungry that I ate them before taking the picture…my bad. Above is what was left when I noticed I should’ve taken a photo. The two onigiri was made with white rice, and had umeboshi (sour pickled plums) in them. They not only tasted good, but I could just feel their love. Their old house down the road was a big, old Japanese house with tatami mats, with a warm kotatsu (a heated table with blanket on), TV, and everything else we needed. The man told us to use anything we wanted, and said good night.
What a nice ending to an already nice day. The way people talk in Kagoshima is so warm and kind of cute. Their accent is different from where I’m from, even though it’s not that far away. The couple talked slowly with this Kagoshima accent when I was tired and hungry, and made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.
About the Author: Sachi
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