We went by bullet train from Hiroshima to Hakata, our first entry into Kyushu. Kyushu is also very proud of its own type of fatty, tender beef, so we had another yakiniku meal with it for lunch. After lunch, we were taken to the village of Okawachiyama near Arita, a region synonymous with Imari porcelain.
Seriously, this was a charming place, both for its lovely setting and its use of porcelain around the place to decorate it. It also has a memorial to the unknown Korean potters who formed the basis of the entire Arita porcelain industry
We bought lots and lots of pretties, which I think I will make the subject of a separate post. I couldn’t resist a celadon glaze hare, but found it hard to choose between two, one crouching, one sitting up. I bought the sitting one, had it wrapped and paid for it, and went back to our bus, which left shortly after that. But a few hundred metres down the road the bus stopped, and someone got on and spoke to Kyoko, who came to me and said, “Chris, did you buy a rabbit?”
I said I had, and she said that the lady had brought me the other one – as it was actually a pair, though I hadn’t realised it, and the person at the counter hadn’t either. The woman from the shop had run all the way after the bus to catch up with me! How’s that for customer service! So now I have two lovely Japanese hares, and another lovely memory to go with it 🙂
We then went to the Arita Ceramic Art Museum. Lovely stuff, but the big attraction was a clock with dolls that…did stuff. You can see the thrilling activity in the movie below
I preferred the unanimated ceramics, modern and older style
I do have a thing for Japanese rabbits 🙂
This is imari porcelain exported to England, ‘enhanced’ and then re-exported back to Japan, presumably as ‘English’ porcelain
These are reproductions of the figures in the clock. Sadly you couldn’t buy them in the shop, because they were fun
And then onto Nagasaki, and the next post!