You can view archived entries here. 05/15/03 Woohoo! Looks like I’m back on schedule and updating once a month. (Let’s see how long this can last.) Anywho, spring is on its way out – already – and summer is moving in. Unfortunately, summer doesn’t travel alone, so its bringing a lot of bugs and rain with it. At least the town is livening up and there are more activities going on now. Haiiii yaaaaa! No, I haven’t turned into the Karate Kid. Haiya is a kind of dance that the people on this island have been doing for thousands of years to celebrate the beginning of the fishing season. In fact, many scholars say that the Haiya is the forerunner of all Japanese dance. Imagine that! All the funky traditional moves done in this country may have come from this little middle-of-nowhere inaka. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to watch, and even some of the local foreigners participated. Not me, though. The Haiya festival is held every spring, when the wind changes or something like that. In fact, the name Haiya means ‘southern wind.’ Nowadays, they hold a parade around central Ushibuka 牛深市　(officially the smallest city in Japan) and different groups of people parade through the streets, each doing a slightly different variation on the dance. Being a parade, there are also floats, but unlike those in America, people throw rice cakes (mochi) from them instead of candy. Miyazaki 宮崎県 A couple of weekends ago, Carrie, Sonya and I finally got around to seeing Miyazaki. Still a little jetlagged from an emergency trip back to the States a few days before, I drove the lot of us over to the mainland for an extended weekend “mini-break,” as the Brits call it… We made our first stop in Yabe town to see this famous bridge/aqueduct called Tsujunkyou. The bridge, which is still functional to this day, was an important part of a local irrigation system that delivered water from a nearby reservoir to farmlands in the area. The bridge itself has a “safety valve” in the middle, which is now opened regularly for the viewing pleasure of tourists. This picture depicts the tail-end of the flow (as I was actually on the bridge while it was going full-force). Hope you can see it . That night, we stopped in Takachiho 高千穂. It was here that, according to myth, the sun goddess Amaterasu locked herself up in a cave, depriving the world of light. It wasn’t until Ame-no-Uzume, a lesser goddess, performed a dance so humorous that she lured the goddess out through curiosity. This story has been passed down through the generations via a series of masked dances performed here in Takachiho. There are some 33 or so mythological dances, but only 4 are performed regularly. These we saw that night at the town’s Shrine. After a nice night’s sleep at a minshuku, we headed for Takachiho gorge (left). An incredibly beautiful place to begin with, this gorge also supposedly houses the cave in which the Sun Goddess hid during her … whatever. You can also find the Devil’s Power Rock here, which is depicted here on the right. … And you thought the root of all evil was money. Pac-SUN Aahhhh. The beach at last. After our jaunt in the mountains, we decided it was time to see some seashore. We went east to Hyuuga City 日向市, which we found to be a surfer’s paradise. This beach (can’t remember the name) is one of many up and down Hyuuga-Nada　日向灘 (the sea of Hyuuga) that are renound for their warm waters and good waves. We dipped our feet (after scalding them on the hot sand) and got a little sunburnt – fitting, since Hyuuga means both “sun-basking”…and “Land of the Rising Sun.” Miyazaki City From Hyuuga, we headed south to Miyazaki City, a place known for its importance during early Japanese History. There we stayed at the small but tranquil Odosou ryokan for only 8,000 Yen per person including breakfast (well-priced for lodging of this type). … I think the lady there only charged us 7,000, though, since they weren’t very busy. Anyway, the next day we went and saw the Heiwadai Park, a peace park built shortly before WWII. There’s a 36-meter tall tower that distinguishes the park from afar, but even more interesting is the garden of excavated ancient haniwa figures. Originally found in nearby burial mounds, these earthenware figures depict humans, horses, chickens, dogs, etc. They’re surprisingly cute, too. … like prehistoric anime or something. Of course, we couldn’t leave the before seeing the Miyazaki Jinguu Shrine. After all, it is here that the legendary first Emperor (known as Kamuyamatoiharehiko no Mikoto, or simply Emperor Jimmu) was supposed to have a residence, and now the shrine here is dedicated to the semimythical ruler and his parents. Our last stop before heading home was the island south of Miyazaki city called Aoshima (“blue island”), known for the unusual rock formations surrounding it. This geographical oddity, called “The Devil’s Washboard,” was formed in the sea and then drifted towards the mainland … a … really long time ago. There are no warmer waters in Japan other than Okinawa than there are here, due to currents, and a shrine dedicated to the deity of relationships can be found on the far end of the island. Well, that about wraps it up. Until next time, ja ne.