Is that polar bear eating shaved ice?

Foot spa + volcano

Those fifteen minutes were faultless. As I lay back on my elbows watching this enormous mountain effortlessly churn out tons of ash and smoke while Roland and I looked on from a peak further away, I could feel the memory cement its way into my heart. This was however merely the cherry on top of the sweet bowl of shaved ice, as our little adventure started a few days earlier, just as the sun was slowly starting to rise over a glittering Beppu bay.      

With Darth Vader directing us via GPS we hit the scenic route hard as we made our way to Kagoshima via Kumamoto. Growing up with a speed demon for a mother who tolerated only the direst of bathroom breaks has obviously left some scar tissue that manifests itself in compelling me to stop and look at damn near everything I spy with my little eye. We checked out some cute/creepy topiary, walked over the five beautiful bridges of Amakusa and spent the rest of the day giggling at some unfortunate felines at a place called Cuddly Dominion. 

Just look at that face!

A stamp showing some of the bridges.

After brushing off some cat café fur we headed to our on route accommodation that was situated in a town called Minamata. I am always fascinated when history takes a little time off from chilling in the past to pop up in my immediate eye line. This time around it was my ecology textbooks that turned corporeal in front of my face as I looked out at the real versions of pictures I had studied so many years ago. You see our stop over for the evening is known for experiencing one of the world’s most devastating environmental disasters. The town is best known for the time when a local chemical plant dumped untreated wastewater into Minamata bay, causing its citizens to contract a deadly neurological disease (now known as Minamata disease) caused by mercury poisoning. The extremely sad story does have a somewhat happy ending for the people now living in the town as it is one of the frontrunners in environmental living.    

So once we had a good nights sleep and finished a very Japanese breakfast of rice, salad (I am still not on board with this Japan) and two types of fish we made our way to one of the most beautiful parks I have seen to date. The park dedicated to those who died from Minamata disease was beyond words. We saw huge open lawns where some senior citizens were playing with a traditional Japanese top that you maneuver around your head with the help of some string, there were kids playing with pretty music making installations or splashing in the free pool, a bamboo forest showcasing varieties found all over the world and a duck / koi pond that begged for a picnic by its shore. 

Heavy top spinning about your person, not dangerous at all.

 After appreciating the subtleties nature had to offer we were now more in the mood for some fire and brimstone and as such hopped onto a ferry heading for Sakurajima. As we drove all around the island we spent some time soaking our weary metatarsal bones in the free foot onsen and lazily watched a freaking volcano erupt!

Once we had showered away some of the ash that had collected in our eyes and hair (making use of the hotel`s shampoo bar to choose our favorite hair care products), we went hunting for some black pig. Kagoshima, like most other prefectures has a signature dish and I had no beef with the delicious, gamey pork spareribs that we managed to track down. We also turned a corner, while exploring the town, only to find a polar bear eating some shaved ice. The huge stuffed mascot of Shirokuma (white bear) Kakigori (shaved ice with condensed milk and in this case fruit) tempted us to try a treat that has been enjoyed in Kagoshima since the Edo period.

 

Shampoo bar :D

    

With our three day weekend running out of steam, Roland and I jumped in our little car, turned onto the express way and started planning our next trip as Sakurajima sent up one last plume of smoke to reflect in our rear view mirror.

Earwax and green apple beans

“We all have two lives. The second one starts when we realize that we only have one.” 
 

While I have only recently stumbled onto this quote by Tom Hiddleston, the sentiment contained in it has been kicking my ass into all kinds of fun for a good few years now. I realized a while back that I have a finite number of flights around our sun and as such decided to wring as much enjoyment out of this trip as my environment would allow. It is also due to this little revelation that I no longer have guilty pleasures. This does not mean that I no longer get embarrassed when I accidently tell my teacher that I am boobs (oppai) instead of full (ippai) or that I do not know how terrible my reality TV shows are or how nerdy playing with Star Wars toys at 30 seems to a more cultured crowd, it just means that I like what I like and I really like Harry Potter.

And so it was that I tucked this little philosophy into the pocket of my Hermione Granger shirt and set off to the Harry Potter exhibit currently stationed in Tokyo. I was pleased to see that I was not the oldest fan waiting in line, as a man of about 70 or more, was standing all by himself in front of me, waiting to get his Hogwarts on. 

The mist they pumped in smelled like lazer-tag and dreams.

As soon as you enter the exhibit hall the atmosphere starts seeping out of the walls. That quintessential tune starts taking you back to your childhood, as what you thought were movie posters, turn into moving images from all the films. An effervescent guide pops the sorting hat on a few young, Japanese fans` heads and announces which house they will be representing. Then when your eyes cannot get any shinier the wall opens up to reveal the Hogwarts express, hissing steam and leading you to thousands of props used throughout all eight movies. 

I stared at every stitch covering Snape`s robes and had my face inches away from Marauders maps and potions textbooks. The detail was staggering and everything from watching Voldemort`s costume billow in the breeze to throwing a quaffle through a hoop was genuinely fun. Roland eventually seduced me away from all the displays with talk of chocolate frogs from the gift shop and so we eventually made our way out of the building carrying some candy and a new Gryffindor scarf. 

My sweet, sweet swag.

Next we hurried over to J-world in Ikebukuro to see some of our favorite Shonen Jump related anime characters. All the big players like One Piece, Dragon Ball Z and Naruto were present and while anime hipsters often frown at the mention of these titles, they are still among Roland and my favorite shows. The ambiance created by the colorful décor and theme songs playing in all the respective areas had us reminiscing about college days where we and all our house mates would sit glued to the screen when the announcer said `tiiiimmmmeee foooor Dragon baaaaaaall Zzzzzzzz` instead of studying.   

Naruto Area

Some of these were a little too real for my taste.

That night while I sat on the hotel bed laughing at Roland as he spat out a vomit flavored `Bertie Botts every flavor bean` trying not to do the same with the earwax flavor I had just popped in my mouth, I could not be more satisfied with my trip, filled to the brim with not-so-guilty pleasures. I have a feeling that I will have a fair bit in common with the old man I met earlier that day, in that if I am lucky enough to reach 70 or more, I will probably still be visiting anime attractions and rereading Harry Potter for the 200^th time.  

 

One camp, two camp, hobo-stew camp

There are only so many first-world luxuries a girl born amongst the rolling plains and unending coastline of the Eastern Cape can handle before she starts yearning for a crackling fire and soft grass between her toes. She inevitably forgets that Japan does not do lawns or warm Indian oceans and starts surfing the internet for her next camping conquest.

I experience something akin to lacunar amnesia every time my brain glosses over hours of packing the car, all manner of creepy crawlies and squat toilets and highlights only the pretty sunsets, making smores and eating meat for every meal. Roland and I have been fortunate enough to make some excellent camping companions as well as some friends who are easily peer pressured into cabins and tents when they would much rather sleep under hotel sheets, while living in Japan. It is with these fine fellows that we set off to Miyazaki every few months, to swim, surf and have our ankles pockmarked by mosquitoes.

One camp

I love a good bargain! It is one of the few traits I got from my father (yeah, thanks dad for giving me talking too much and a love of shopping but keeping being good at every sport ever created to yourself) and so it was that when Roland and I found out we would be staying at the campsite of our choice for free we could not fill the cooler fast enough. Even though it happened to be off season, the camp manager was kind enough to turn on the water and electricity for us but did not open the showers leaving Roland and I no other option but to go onsen at the beautiful hot spring overlooking the sea every evening…….oh no, not majestic sea views while relaxing in warm water!  

View from the onsen

The riverside campsite was gorgeous and came with a few surprises the first night. We had a crazy Dutch co-camper who kept calling me `Frederika` and his dog `Happy` for company and a kind Japanese couple who kept giving us free food and showed us how to eat the local grapefruits (hyuganatsu). The secret is to eat the white part you would usually ignore as it is fluffy and sweet.

Hyuganatsu

We drove into Miyazaki city the next day to buy some super rare haloumi and feta-cheese, see some amazing friends, visit an art instillation and view a breathtaking temple hiding in a cave…..but mostly it was for the cheese.  

The last evening however we spent all alone, in a dark forest, utterly convinced that the black cat sneaking around was a demon and that this time we definitely saw slender-man, no really this time it was not the exact same tree stump from before. Even Roland walked rather briskly every time he went to the bathroom and back. 

While our first foray into camping this season was fun, our second kicked it up quite a notch.   

Two camp

At first the temperate Japanese spring was being pretty kind to us travelers from a foreign prefecture. It blew enough of a breeze over the ocean for the boys to enjoy as good a surfing session as relative newcomers to the sport can hope for and whipped up enough waves to pummel those of us not surfing, in the face a few hundred times. It was cool enough to still wear jeans as we ate cheese wrapped in bacon and roosterkoek straight from the fire and was just sunny enough to make us think that we were in the clear before heading home the next day.

Roosterkoek (Bread made on the grill)

There are few feelings as wonderful as snuggling warm under the covers while you hear the rain gently tapping against the walls of your tent and then few feelings as depressing as slowly coming to the realization that not only will you be running Kenyan sprinter style to the bathroom in a few minutes but that later you get to pack up a tent in the pouring rain.  

Before all the rain there was surfing

While impersonating drowned rodents, Roland and I battled our sopping wet tent into the car and did damage control when we landed back in Hiji. At one point while I was inside the outstretched tent, now covering our kitchen floor and spilling over the counters, out into the hall, I just threw down the towel I was drying with and lay down in frustration while Roland laugh/cried as he wrestled with our electric fan. Somehow through the swearing and gnashing of teeth the tent ended up mold-free for future trips.    

As we were barely out of the rainy season for our next adventure we traded a cabin for our usual canvas and headed to Survival Island. 

Hobo-stew camp

I felt like Jane Goodall as I dramatically threw my backpack over the edge of our chartered vessel and struck a heroic pose in my khaki shorts, as I drifted ever closer to a deserted island overrun by wild creatures and covered in undiscovered caves. Well truth be told, we could see the mainland from where we were staying and if we did not think jellyfish were gross, could probably swim there. The wildest creatures we encountered were the five billion mosquitoes that vampired their way across our soft skin and the caves were very much discovered. All of this did not however dampen our adventurous spirit and we still had some remarkable moments to take back home.

No one is going to take away the feeling of floating in the sea as we watched huge thunder clouds burst into lightning strikes over the mountains on the mainland or the fright we all felt when a huge tree crashed onto the path we were planning on using to get back to our cabin. We may not have foraged for our own food but eating a whole chicken stuffed with a can of beer, or grilled cheese sandwiches accompanied with tomato bisque is far better for sure and even though we had a great time mocking one of our friends when the only ingredients we saw him take out for his meal slot were a can of spam and some mangoes we were shut down when he provided an array of cooked meats and roast duck, finished with some fruit salad for dessert.      

Hobo-stew before

Hobo-stew after

Yes the cabin was hot and the showers glacial and yes some of the bites on my ankles still itch but I will forever be grateful that every now and then life affords me such wonderful adventures with such ridiculously amazing people in such awe-inspiring places.