In reference to my last post, the second unique thing we did today was go to a Japanese baseball game. It was the SoftBank Hawks of Fukuoka versus the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. From Fukae, we took the commuter train back into Fukuoka. We walked from the stop to Hawk Town, a commercial area built around the Yahoo! Dome. We bought our tickets, which gave us access to open seating in the bleachers. The roof was closed over the Astroturf field due to slight drizzle outside. There was only a single large seating level that wrapped around the field, but there were three levels of luxury boxes. While waiting for the game to start, we watched batting practice, some mascot dances, some pop group act, and some other weird antics.

Even by the first pitch, the small stadium was probably only half full, but as the game progressed, most of the seats filled up. The bleaches became the most crowded of all. Not only the most crowded, but with the loudest and most-dedicated fans. Many of them stood the entire game and chanted and clapped to lead of about dozen conductors scattered around the length of the bleachers. There were giant flags, blaring music, chants, songs, and those annoying thundersticks. We happened to sit just in front of the single section dedicated to the visiting team. They too had a conductor and their red shirts contrasted with the sea of yellow and gray. I thought it was funny that even in cheering at a sports event, the Japanese were still orderly and ritualistic. Besides the sections of die-hard fans, the fans were pretty docile- just the opposite of Korean baseball fans and perhaps a telling difference between the cultures. When the hawks scored their lone run, I jumped up and cheered until I realized that nobody else was standing (and it was still close at that point in the game). Another interesting thing was the food vendors, who with coolers of ice cream or kegs of beer on their backs would run down each aisle to the bottom of the steps, turn to face the crowd, bow, and then begin walking back up the steps announcing their food or beverage.

As for the baseball itself, it was pretty good. Not MLB, but not Korean baseball either (I might add for those that cannot reconcile how I could write that Korean baseball was so sloppy and they ended up winning the Olympic gold medal in the sport. The reason lies in the fact, that they halted their professional season for the Olympics, so they had professionals playing other teams amateurs). Besides the DH, it was pretty fundamental baseball- stealing, bunting, hit and runs. The defense was clean and the hitting simple. And while we did only see one error, there were a few times that it didn’t seem that players went all out on plays. But this could have been more a function of playing on a Astroturf field than a characteristic of Japanese baseball. Lastly, the game was slow. Almost too slow. There was 2 minute 15 second time limit between innings, but it took ages between pitches. After two and a half hours, it was only the sixth inning, at which point Joylani and I had to leave to catch the last train back to Sendai. The Eagles were leading 6-1, so it wasn’t much of a game anyways. Nonetheless, it was a fun date and a great day overall.

Today was an atypical day, but we did two unique and unforgettable things. The first was visiting the village that my great grandfather is from. All I knew was that he was from a place called Fukae in Fukuoka-ken (ken = prefecture). We weren’t sure exactly where it was, but we took the two and a half hour train to Fukuoka City in hopes that we could find it. Once at Hakata station, we learned that it could be reached via commuter train. So we hopped on a train going west. The crowded train emptied as we got further and further from the city. Our train eventually emerged from underground as we reached the suburbs. Soon enough we were rolling through the rural countryside, interrupted every few minutes by small towns. The ride was beautiful as it took us through rice paddies, along the ocean, and towards the mountains. All told, it was about an hour when we pulled into the single platform Chikuzen-Fukae station. It was a rural little train station with a town on one side and mountains on the other. Amazingly, there was a English-labeled map of the area at the station. Knowing that my great grandfather’s family had a fish auction-house, we decided to head towards the beach, starting at the end labeled “Fukae Fishing Port.”

Fukae is an old-looking town

but still looks typically Japanese

After about fifteen-minute walk, we reached the port, which sat at the mouth of river and the ocean. Boats sat in the shallow water and mud. Arriving at midday, I wouldn’t have expected a fishing port to be very busy, but even so, it didn’t look like much. Either way, I’ve been told that nothing remains of the auction-house of my grandfather’s stories. From the beach, we continued south along the beach. It was a gray overcast day, but still warm. The water was fairly warm as well. Clam and oyster shells littered the grey sand. Joylani and I were the only ones on the entire beach except for a couple of solitary old men on walks.

The first thing that came across my mind as we walked the beach was, “What a beautiful place.” Small islets were scattered about the horizon. Clear water softly lapped at the dark sand. Shells crunched under our steps and behind us, fronting the beach, were just trees with mountains rising behind those. I think the mountains were the most beautiful aspect of the place. Joylani said Fukae reminded her of Hawaii. For a moment, I wondered why my great grandfather had left such a beautiful place to settle in Oakland. But if Fukae’s present size is any indication of its past size, it’s clear that there wouldn’t be much opportunity for a second son. But I still had questions. Why hadn’t he simply migrated within Japan? Why hadn’t he settled in any of the regions he worked en route to California, like Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest. I guess some questions can never be answered, but after glimpsing quaint picturesque little Fukae, I’m sure there were many times in Oakland that he dreamed of beautiful Fukae.

Another thing I thought a lot about as we walked were all my grandfather’s stories that were set in Fukae. Some were passed down from his father, but he has a few from his own boyhood visits to Fukae in the 1920s. The first thing I’m gonna ask my grandfather the next time I see him is how the heck he got to Fukae back then and how long did it take! Even today, its remote, so I can only imagine the means and route for a 1920s journey from Oakland to Fukae. Whatever the answer, I did think that it was pretty amazing that I was walking on a beach that my grandfather had visited as a boy. And for that matter, it was pretty amazing that I was visiting one of my ancestral homes. It was definitely a unique experience and not something you get to do everyday.

Tonight we had a fun dinner with one of Josh’s students, his wife (the student’s, not my brother’s), and sister-in-law. As we sat crossed-legged on the floor around a low table, we swapped stories and details about life in Japan and the US over little dishes that seemed to be of Italian persuasion under the influence of a Japanese chef. It was a good meal and good company. And, for the second time in Japan so far, we were asked if we are able to use chopsticks. As someone who has been using chopsticks since childhood, naturally I find this question strange. In my mind it’s like asking, do you know how to tie your shoes? But I suppose it is a fair question, considering that most of the population in the US regularly uses forks instead. Do you know how to use chopsticks?

These first two days in Japan have gone by really quickly. Joylani’s brother, Josh, met us at the train station in Sendai, the city where he teaches. He showed us around the small town during the afternoon and then we met up with some of his friends for dinner. We got around to exploring today, since josh works from noon ‘til ten. We hopped on the local shinkansen (bullet train), called the Tsubame Express, and headed south to Kagoshima city. I’m not sure how far it is, but the Tsubame gets up to about 260km/hr and it only takes 12 minutes. Kagoshima City is the capital of its namesake prefecture and is quite a pleasant city. It sits in a bay and is overlooked by the active Sakurajima volcano. We didn’t do too much there, other than stroll and observe the town. It was our first glimpse of real Japanese city, given that Josh’s town Sendai is only a 100,000 people and spread out over a large area.

Although we haven’t done too much yet, Japan is really interesting. Its my second time here, but there’s a lot of things that still seem new. The tiny cars, automated everything, and the ubiquitous vending machines that sell everything from sodas to beer to cigarettes to hot bowls of ramen. I do remember that Japan seemed like the future and it does even more so now. Its not futuristic in a Shanghai-funky-architecture sense, but in that everything is designed and done in an intelligent and orderly way. Our visa stamp was a barcode (and we’ve learned that the barcodes on everything from billboards to products can be photographed with your mobile phone and you’ll then be taken to that website!), saving a lot of work and waste. The trains run on-time down to the minute. People don’t litter and will carry their garbage until they can throw it away. I see people putting their cigarettes out on the ground, but then carrying the butt until they find a trash bin. I’ve even seen several people pick up scraps of litter randomly and throw it away. Perhaps its presumptuous for me to say that its like the future- perhaps things in the US will not be nicer in the future, but I hope so.

The other thing that’s quickly noticeable here is the ritualistic behavior of the people. The hellos, thank you’s, and goodbye’s everytime you walk into a store. It is highly systematic, yet in a friendly and polite way. Far from feeling like we’re interacting with robots, Japanese seem very friendly and helpful. I definitely feel that people here respect one another (train timeliness, litter, etiquette) and I think that’s where the extreme courtesy comes from, although we still aren’t attuned to it all yet.

Yesterday at noon we finally arrived at Josh’s, where he came to greet us at the Satsuma-Sendai train station in his good old Humboldt State t-shirt.  He lives literally a minute away from the station, which will be quite handy as Matt and I plan to make frequent use of our rail passes during our stay on Kyushu as we go on excursions during the day while Josh is out at work.  Luckily the trains are punctual and fast here, meaning that if we leave in the morning on a train across the island, we don’t really have to worry about not getting home again that night.  Unlike India, it is very abnormal for trains to be late in Japan.

Once at Josh’s apartment, which he had so lovingly cleaned for our visit, I pushed aside a pile of his dirty laundry to make room for our backpacks so that I could unpack a few things.  I dug around in Matt’s bag for a minute to find a particular item.  Proudly I presented him with a gift from home: an American football.  My brother grinned and went to work inflating it with a bicycle pump.  Matt and I freshened up and we all went for  a quick lunch before deciding to head to a nearby park for a game of catch.  Josh gave us a quick tour on the way there.  Sendai seems very small town—no big buildings, not a lot of traffic, and pretty mellow.  Consequently, there is not much to report on the tour.  Once we arrived at the park I was reminded that I am not very good with the football.  After a few earnest but unsuccessful attempts at teaching me the right technique from both Matt and Josh, I was content to sit on a bench and watch them play catch.

Afterwards, we headed to one of the larger grocery stores in town to get some ice-cream.  I have a thing for grocery stores: all that food, all those raw ingredients—so much potential.  Groceries change from country to country, and Japan’s seem to be pretty good.  Perhaps my perspective is biased since I also really like Japanese food, and Japanese groceries happen to carry all the right ingredients for making the aforementioned cuisine, in addition to offering plenty of pre-made foods.  My observations were confirmed the next day when Matt and I went to the Daiei in Kagoshima.  Daiei is a low-end department store, and the bottom two floors sell all kinds of edible goods.  Matt picked up some fresh mochi and I some other snacks for an on-the-go lunch.  And then we gawked for a few minutes over the bento box section.

It was essentially an open cooler, like the ones you would find in a market’s deli back in the US.  Only instead of soggy sandwiches and questionable looking salads, this cooler was filled with trays of sushi rolls, bowls of noodles and corresponding condiments, a variety of bento boxes, and, of course, sashimi which looked ravishing in the glow of Touched By An Angel-esque lighting shining down on it (oh wait, that was just in Matt’s head).  Since we are staying with my brother for a good amount of time (about a week and a half) and because the cost of our two rail passes has already put us over our daily budget, Matt and I are planning to make a majority of our meals while we’re here.  But it’s not just about saving money.  It’s about trying food.  We could go to a restaurant for Japanese food, but not all residents of Japan go out to eat every night, so why should we?  I’m excited to try more items from the grocery store than just the prepared items that we are usually relegated to buying for lack of a kitchen in which to cook the other items.  Not that the pre-made items are bad—the mochi here is onolicious!  Anyways, in conclusion: Japanese markets=A+

After saying goodbye to the Muth’s at the ferry terminal (they had kindly accompanied us there to make sure we had a smooth send-off), we went through customs and awaited to board the good ship Camilla, our ferry to Japan.  I wasn’t really looking forward to the night ahead.  I knew at least that this ferry had to be nicer than the ones we took in Indonesia, but that didn’t mean much.  My mind raced back to a memory from over a year ago when we took a Greek ferry from Athens to Chios…

We had bought the cheap tickets along with many other passengers and joined them in the main compartment.  It was a huge room that resembled the inside of a bus.  At first I didn’t know why so many seats were empty, but then as I watched a kid help his grandmother roll out a sheet and blanket I knew why.  Floor space was more valuable on this ferry than the chairs.  However, I wasn’t too keen to spread my clean little sleep sheet out on a floor of questionable hygienic standards and so I tried my best to curl up on my slightly reclining low-class ferry chair and endured a night of restless slumber.  The TV flickered in and out through the night with poorly produced programming, the bathrooms were like those at a ballpark—useable, not the worst, but best avoided, and I can’t quite remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure the lights stayed on throughout the night.

Back in Busan the gate to the dock had just been opened.  We were greeted by happy and politely bowing crew members who pointed us toward the stairs leading to our assigned seats.  The ferry seemed nice so far, but I had only seen the entrance and the stairwell.  Then Matt and I turned the corner into one of the lobby-cum-lounges.  Wow.  Things looked nice.  Really nice.  There were little tables with comfy seats clustered around them, a flat screen TV, and informational brochures at the concierge-like help desk.  Real art hung on the walls; there was even a little sculpture by the spiral staircase.  We took the stairs up to the next floor to our assigned seats.  We discovered that we hadn’t been assigned seats but rather a spacious compartment.  Three of the walls were lined with cubbies, the fourth had windows.  The small boxes near the entryway were for shoes, and along the other two sides giant cubbies, rather like small, doorless closets.  Each had a shelf, about chest-high for stowing luggage.  Beneath was a folded up mat and bedding.  Hooray!  We wouldn’t have to sleep sitting up.  This was definitely turning out to be the best ferry I had ever been on.  Matt and I claimed neighboring cubbies by heaving our backpacks up onto the shelves.  Then, since we were in Korea and headed to Japan and not worried about petty theft, left our bags behind to hang out in the lounge.

We chose a window-side table, next to the massage chairs, and enjoyed a first-rate view of Busan Harbor as we ate our dinner (kim-bap…what else?).  Afterwards, we took in a leisurely movie, Into the Wild, which Anderson had so kindly shared from his collection.  (Decent film, but I preferred the scenery to the actual story.)  Even though there was such a nice lounge, not very many passengers seemed to be passing through.  Those private cabins must have been nice!  At some point, we realized we had been on the boat for a few hours but had still not gone anywhere.  I guess we had to board so early because the terminal closed at a certain time.  So even though the boat didn’t physically leave Busan at any time near to 7:30pm (when we boarded), all passengers had to be in their place by about that time.  Whatever.  Unlike with other ferries, I didn’t care as this one was really nice.  I was enjoying the view, and besides, I rather liked being on the water without the whole rocking sensation of the open seas.

I should mention that this ferry also came equipped with a restaurant, arcade, lockers, gift shop, a public bath, and of course private cabins.  For us, the cheap tickets were plenty satisfactory, and around 11:00pm we headed to bed.  The main lights were switched-off in our cabin, but the green glow of the exit sign illuminated the room enough for us to find our way to our cubbies and unroll our beds for the night. Thankfully the room was only half full (only six other passengers), and no one was snoring too loudly.   After a pleasant night’s rest, we awoke early in the morning to classical music and a soft wake-up call.  At last we’d made it to Japan.

Our arrival is somewhat bittersweet as Japan will be our final destination in Asia.  However, both Matt and I are excited to be here as we have many special plans for this visit (the first for me and second for Matt) including: seeing my brother, hanging out with my uncle and his family, visiting with old family friends, and searching for the hometowns of our great-grandparents.  It goes without saying that we plan to eat some killer sushi as well.