[ JAPAN ] An Unexpected Journey in Yame, Japan.

July 26, 2017

"This is my first time in Japan, and surprisingly, I fall in love with the least expected place I went. "

I started my journey from Fukuoka, Japan. I booked a cheap flight from Incheon ( South Korea ) to Fukuoka ( Japan ). At first, I didn't know what I should do in Fukuoka until I found 'Kurume Kasuri'. It's a traditional Japanese method of dying thread naturally and make it a piece of fabric. ( Will write about this soon, probably ).

And because I wanted to see Kurume Kasuri, I have to find an accommodation nearby. After talking with Mae Moriyama, the wife of Moriyama Kasuri Kobo owner through facebook, I found that there's no such thing as cheap accommodation in Kurume area.

Kurume area is a little bit far from Fukuoka city. It was about 1,5 hours from the airport to Kurume without traffic jam.

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So, I finally found a nice Japanese traditional house through airbnb. It's not so close from Moriyama's workshop. It's located in another area called Yame but Yame and Kurume are still in the same prefecture which is Fukuoka. It offers a Japanese village life in which I was interested to experience. I also decided to stay there because the owner can speak English well and from his airbnb profile, I found that he had traveled outside Japan for 6.5 years.

The house viewed from the right back side.

As discussed before, Jiro, the owner of the airbnb picked me up at Moriyama's workshop. I paid 2000 Yen for this because it took around 1 hour drive from Jiro's house. Yes, it's far! But it was worth! Even on our way to his house, my eyes were refreshed by the beautiful natural scenery a long the way.

Jiro asked me if we can stopped by at some places, I said, "Yes, sure! Why not?".
First we stopped on a hill to see a beautiful scenery of tea plantation. Then to an old shinto shrine and a green tea factory. It's actually a very good way to make the one hour trip feel less boring.

As we arrived in his house, I met Jiro's friends who temporary worked in the green tea factory. They were, apparently, drinking green tea or so called 'ocha' in Japanese. Yame is actually one of the famous green tea producer in Japan. So since I arrived, I hardly ever drink water. Yap, I drank ocha all the time!

Their first impression were actually : why do this Indonesian girl stay here if she only want to see Kurume Kasuri. Hahaha! Yes, I didn't know why too. But perhaps because I'd rather pay around 1000 Yen and stay two nights in a Japanese traditional house + experience the local culture in the Japanese village than staying in a nice hotel down there in the city for only one night.

After sitting a while and enjoying the peacefulness in this old traditional Japanese house, Jiro invited me to walk around with his friends.

Tatsu holding a Japanese ginger

We walked and look around the house. Since I came from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, I always waiting for this moment. The moment when I can see, feel, and interact with nature.

At that moment, I felt so blessed to be able to experienced a piece of Japanese beautiful nature. I didn't expect to be in Yame and see all of these things before. I only booked this airbnb because it was the cheapest I could find and planned to only sleep there. But in fact, I have done more than just sleeping ( Well, in fact I couldn't really sleep at night because the door in my room was transparent so I could see the living room very clearly ).

The next morning Jiro cooked fried soba ( noodle ) for our breakfast. The system here is food sharing for 500 Yen per day for 3 meals. It was actually very very cheap compare if you buy pre-cooked meal in the convenient store.

Our breakfast situation

On that day, I planned to just enjoy the peacefulness inside the house. I don't know why but this house makes me felt so peaceful ( except during the night, because I couldn't sleep :( ). So I decided to just sat in the living room and did my postponed works. Because of the surrounding, I finished my works without any pressure. Totally different if I try to do it inside my house in Jakarta while I can hear hundreds of cars passing by and my eyes cracked because of the air conditioner.

My workspace for a day

The rest of the day, I just kept enjoying the fresh air and fell a sleep while enjoying the view. Sounds perfect, isn't it?

At night I was talking with Jiro from the political condition in Indonesia and Japan until some social problems like why young people don't want to live in the rural area.

I was also inspired by the program that Jiro and his friends want to make. They are trying to persuade young people from the city to go back to the rural area and try to tell them that just like in the city, there are so many things that they can do in the rural area too.

This is also my inner concern about what happen in my country. A lot of young people moved to Jakarta and try to find a job while the number of young people in the rural area starting to decrease. This is actually what makes it even harder for the Government to develop the rural area.

The following day, I had to sadly pack my stuffs and say good bye to all the goodness there. Yes, I'm moving to Osaka. I left the house around 9:30 AM and Jiro took me to some places around.

The oldest tea tree in Yame.

We went hiking to a hill where there is a statue of Eirin Suzui, a zen priest who brought tea to Yame.

our morning view was covered with mist

Then we visited Jiro's friend house to rest for a while and then continue to the city. Jiro dropped me at the train station ( in which I don't know the name of the station until now ) so that I could go to Hakata station, place where I took my night bus to Osaka.

It was such an amazing 3 days journey in Yame. I didn't expect that I will love this place as much as I do now. As I said before, I was only planning to sleep there because it was the cheapest accommodation I could find but in fact I have gained so much more than I expected.