Day 4: Kagoshima

Day 4: Kagoshima

Weather: Perfect in the morning, just a touch too warm (mid 70s) in the afternoon while we’re in the Open-air sculpture park

Pictorial Pop Quiz #3: What is this? How was it used?

Pictorial Pop Quiz #4: What is this? How was it used?

Up early again, a pre-breakfast coffee (real, dripped by DB) and the last of the Bacchus roll (tasted better today, more like an Arizmendi wolverine), 

 

Bacchus on the bottom?

followed by an early morning soak:

Breakfast at 7:30:

While the picture is blurry (sorry), you get the idea: there’s a lot of food on the table, and then they bring dessert (yep, for breakfast; not in the picture). THB did not eat the wet towel, otherwise pretty much everything else disappeared in under 45 minutes (including the dessert).

A once-a-year parade/festival in Kagoshima, honoring their 1000 years ago ancestors that got struck down by the Sun God (or possibly, by the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu). Lots of pictures, there weren’t many onlookers beyond the participants and their families and friends.

Note the Buddha's influence as well

Firing off real cap guns

Life imitating homage

The shoes come home to roost?

From here, we venture to the reason THB and DB are here, to visit the Kirishima Open-air Museum (aka, a sculpture park). First, in the cafe: a lunch of pasta  (the other choice was curry and rice) for the four of us, with drinks, $35. Admission to the museum is also around $35 for four. 

There are around 23 or 24 pieces in the Open-air portion of the museum, a number of them multi-piece. Here goes:

A Yayoi Kusama piece at the entrance

And another just inside

Start of a Hebrew prayer 

A James Turrell knockoff?

Indoors, the permanent collection has been put away and there are a million small toys in various arrangements (think of the display of 100 years’ worth of beach trash pick-up). In fact, the outdoors and indoors displays are kids-under-5 friendly.

Back to the ryokan for another soak, this time in water that smells slightly sulfuric:

And then it is time for dinner, even better than last night, with a few less courses:

-        Aperitif of 3% alcoholic sweet wine

-        Steamed fish and turnips with entails and roe of Ayu sweet fish

-  Mixed appetizer of two large pieces of mackerel, grunt fish sushi, boiled Japanese chestnut, braised duck breast, softly boiled octopus, gingko nuts, grilled scallop with dried mullet roe

-        Sashimi of flounder or some other fish with both eyes on same side

-        Mashed shrimp and fish ball with Mastsutake mushroom

-        Grill yourself steak, potato, carrot and aspagus

-        Sorbet: Kabatsu citrus

-        Hot pot (shabu) with Kagoshima pork (black pig sliced very thin) and onions with

Pictorial Pop Quiz # 3 Answer: Local black vinegar (actually more a pink/orange color. We also had the vinegar mixed with carrot juice as the breakfast aperitif

-        Japanese chestnut rice

-        Seasonal fruit and jellies (with more of the vinegar!)

-        Sake and draft beer and many different teas

Pictorial Pop Quiz # 4 Answer: Shincha, the local green tea (served at dinner and breakfast

And, finally, the last soak of the day (first two pics are how it looks during the day):

It is an outdoor tub, by reservation only and you're in the trees with the rushing water down below...it's dark at night!!

Book Review: The Wallcreeper, Nell Zink (novel): The plot: young, hot woman (narrator) marries guy working on stealth health project after very short romance, moves to Europe, engages in environmental activism, husband dies. THB does not think that this accurately represents what this short book is about. There’s birding, philosophy of open marriage, female sexual expression, Germanic male heaviness, and death. Maybe this isn’t what the book is about either? Recommended