Yamaguchi Prefecture: Camellia Forest

After exploring the caves in Akiyoshidai, the gang and I grabbed lunch at a cute cafe. To our surprise, when we picked up a newspaper to pass the time while eating, we found out that there was a camellia festival going on nearby that day! We couldn't resist a side trip.

Unfortunately for us, it was still too cold for most of the blossoms to have bloomed, but I was enchanted by the bare trees' twisting branches and dappled sunlight on the ground.

Yamaguchi Prefecture: Akiyoshidai Cave

Over the long weekend, I had a neat opportunity to take a road trip to Yamaguchi Prefecture thanks to my friend, Satoru San.  We stayed with one of his friends from university (the lovely Shoko) and spent all of Sunday and Monday sightseeing. 

Going into our road trip, I didn't know much about Yamaguchi ken, but I had heard it was famous for fugu (pufferfish) and handmade pottery. What more do you need?

Our first stop was Akiyoshidai National Park, where we explored this cave and had a lovely afternoon checking out strange rock formations. My personal favorite, the "rice terrace," is pictured above. 

I'm a sucker for a fun nature adventure. Running around trying to get a good photo of all the strange naturally formed shapes was my bread and butter.

Outside the cave

Running For Ex-Pats

Both times I've lived abroad (in Hong Kong and in Kadogawa), I've become incredibly overwhelmed and sort of had a period of self-imposed isolation. It's hard to say why this happens. There's something about moving abroad and overhauling my life that makes me sort of lose it.

I get moody. I listen to podcasts all day because I like the sound of someone's voice in my ear. I cook a lot. I do things alone and think a lot and write excessively emotional prose in my journals.

And I run. I run a lot. There's something healing about exercise I think, something nice about getting up early and having a reason to go outside, to look out at the world instead of just peering inwards at your own thoughts. I think it's good for me, but also sometimes I feel as if my running is just a symptom of a larger existential crisis.

When I don't know what I'm doing, when everything feels big and I feel small, I put on tennis shoes and go out for a run.

Fukuoka ONTAQ 2016

Living in rural Japan is great. Untouched nature, monkey sightings, friendly townsfolk and fresh vegetables at the vegetable stand, we've got it all.

However, I don't think it would be wrong to say that sometimes I feel a little uninspired by the lack of a creative community here.

So when Alex told me about a music festival in Fukuoka this weekend, I was so down. I'm always ready to jump on an opportunity to see people making art. It's inspiring!

The festival, ONTAQ 2016, was a two day extravaganza that had bands playing all over Tenjin. I'm not a music festival expert, but I was informed that the style was a little bit like South by Southwest, with different acts concurrently playing at different venues.

Leading up to the actual date, Alex had been researching the bands and sending me recommendations. I think when I listened to most of the bands on Youtube, I didn't get a clear sense of what their shows would be like, but seeing them live was a totally different experience.

Every show was so fun and the musicians were so passionate, and just so excited to be doing what they were doing. I even got to talk to a few of the bands after their shows! Ugh, they were all so cool.

 I ended up seeing about eleven bands each do thirty minute sets, everything from an incredible singer-songwriter (日食なつこ）, to a couple of super fun pop punk/garage rock bands (EVERLONG, セプテンバーミー), and then some stuff that honestly I can't even describe (0.8秒と衝撃). Running around the city, watching people get really into the music, dreaming about being a cool front lady for a Japanese punk band-- I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

If you're interested, here are links to the other bands I was able to see. They were all amazing!

The Forever Young

PORFIDIO

MELLOWSHIP

ポルカドットステイングレイ

RADIOTS

Revision of Sence

Bermuda Sankaku

a crow is white

If you want to check out all the artists who played at ONTAQ, here's the artist roster. If you'll be living in Japan around March next year, I definitely recommend this festival. It was about 3000円　per day, and totally worth it.

Now excuse me while I sing garbled Japanese into my hairbrush.