Hello everyone!

It has been awfully quiet on the Beautiful Travel Hangover last week. I have been itching to write more posts about my trips to Osaka, Tokyo and Korea last winter vacation but.... I couldn't because I have been working on my website. Yes, you read that right! I finally bought my own domain and will be moving to my very own website that I have been building for the past week. It is difficult and a lot of work, but it is worth it because I have more freedom for making my website the way I want it and making more apprehensive and easier to navigate for my readers as well. I am really excited ! I hope to launch the website at the end of this week, but there is need for a lot of finetuning so I don't know when it will be done. Until then I will be working very hard to finish up and introduce you the new and improved Beautiful Travel Hangover! Keep your eye out for beautifultravelhangover.com :)

Hope to see you guys there soon!

A little preview of the website




I was having a small spring cleaning last week and when I went through all my documents and leaflets I came across leaflets about the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine. I took a look at them and realized I didn't even write a post about our trip there yet. So I will obviously be making a change to that today! Forgetful as I am I forgot my camera's memory card so until my friend lent me hers I couldn't take any photos of the first part of the trip. I will go back soon to make more photos though because I found a part-time job near the shrine and go there once a week now.

All credit to Leonemoff

I have mentioned Dazaifu shrine a few times before because it is a very big and famous shrine near Fukuoka city and it is one of the most famous touristic sightseeing sights in the area. It is especially beautiful in February when the plum blossoms are blooming. There are more than a thousand of these trees at Dazaifu so it is supposed to be very nice. I haven't personally been there in February but I did go to its slightly smaller brother in Kyoto called Kitano Tenmangu and I can vouch for the incredible beauty of the plum blossom (I even prefer it to cherry blossoms now).

All credit to CTG/SF

Dazaifu Tenmangu is a shrine established in the 7th century after the death of Suguwara no Michizane. Michizane was born in Kyoto into a family of scholars loyal to the emperor. He made it as Minister of Right of the emperor, one of the highest political positions at the royal house. But with the fall of the emperor and the strategic maneuverings of his rival he was demoted to a minor post in Dazaifu and exiled from Kyoto. After he was exiled and died in Dazaifu, the imperial court was struck by a series of disasters and the young emperor passed away. Because of this the imperial decided to build a shrine dedicated to Michizane to calm his vengeful spirit. This is the Kitano Tenmangu shrine I mentioned above. Another shrine was built where his remains lay, which is the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine.

By Kim

Must try snack; Umegae Mochi

Michizane was not only a politician and scholar, but he was an excellent poet as well. Here is a beautiful poem that shows his passion for plum blossoms:
When the east wind blows, flourish in full bloom, you, plum blossoms! Even though you lose your master, don't be oblivious to spring.
The Dazaifu shrine is not only famous for its connections with Michizane, there is also an unexpected connection with sumo. Hidden behind the shrine is a sumo stable! In Fukuoka there is a big official sumo tournament in November so you can take a look at the sumo wrestlers practicing from the beginning of November.

a little teaser of the Kitano Tenmangu plum blossoms

When we arrived there were already a group of people taking a look at the practice. These are very serious events though so you can not disturb them in any way. That's why they practice inside a stable and you are not allowed to go in. You can see the practice from the big windows. You should be quiet and not take any photos with a flash. It was my first time seeing a sumo practice and I have never seen a match on T.V. either so to see it in really life from the first time was really impressive. The sumo players really are big, it was so surprising. Especially when you compare them to the really skinny average Japanese person.

By Mareile
We were lucky enough to interview one of the top players. I guess it is hard to say no to a group of 50 foreign students ;) We could all ask him some questions and he was kind enough to answer to all our questions. To be honest, I don't remember what we asked him because it has already been a few months. If only I made notes or a video. Oh well, nothing to do about it. Anyway, while that guy was talking to us another one of the high ranking sumo wrestlers was making weird faces and gestures behind him so it was really hard to stay serious. He is a hilarious guy and I can't believe he is such a big celebrity or famous person in the sumo world. They were also nice enough to take time for their Japanese fans as well, especially the little ones.

If that is not one of the coolest group photos ever then I don't know what is
When that whole comedy show was over we had time to explore the area by ourselves and we were recommended to go to Komyozenji garden. It is located in a cute area with nice houses. The front garden is nice with a small stone garden but the rear garden is where the magic happens. You first take your shoes of when you go in and walk into this big open room with tatami mats, almost like you are visiting a traditional house, and then you walk onto this small balcony with a wondrous garden. At first it seems just like any garden, but you need to take your time to appreciate it. I think I sat down for at least half an hour just admiring the quiet and the lush trees. It truly was an oasis of peace. I might even say it is the nicest place in the Fukuoka area I have been to so far. Photos do not do the place any justice, believe me. We went there just before the leaves turned into bright autumn colors but I can only imagine how magical this place will be when it does have them in the middle of November.



Komyozenji stone garden


Komyozenji roof detail

Komyozenji zen garden

Komyozenji rear garden

Zen at Komyozenji rear garden

If you go to Fukuoka then Dazaifu is a no-brainer that you should definitely visit. And if you have the time you should try Komyozenji as well for a true experience Japanese beauty and zen.


Last time I wrote about the the first day of our Nagasaki school trip and today I want to continue by telling about our second day. This is mostly about the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum which is quite a popular tourist destination, so it might be an interesting read for people considering to visit this museum or the one in Hiroshima (which I have yet to visit).

The next day it was time to rise and shine early in the morning (as always), and I really wonder how some of the guys got up that went drinking until deep in the night. Anyway, I was really excited to go to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. This might sound weird, but I have always been interested in WOII events and stories and I was just really curious to see who they had set the museum up and what kind of stories they would be portraying there.


By my friend Kim

As you can imagine it is a museum with a lot of impact. It starts off with a dark room that replicated the scenery of a broken church facade and other broken buildings while displaying some horrific movies and photos, which sets an eerie tone for the rest of the museum. After that comes a more factual part with information about the Fat Boy (the atomic bomb), how it works, what happened during and after the explosion and what king of material damaged it did. You then move on the the immediate and long term effects of these bombs and the radiation. The part that I stuck to the longest time was the part with stories, quotes, pictures and movies of survivors. It is just so tough to swallow, but so important to see how horrible a thing this is and why we should prevent something like this from happening again. I think it would be good for everyone to be confronted with these stories and information and to start contemplating about what it is to be living in a world of relative peace at the moment and what we humans do to each other.





Anyway, near the museum is a Peace Park so we went there after the museum. While you walk to the peace park you actually walk past the 'Hypocenter park' where the hypocenter of the atomic was. That feels very strange. The peace park itself is build to commemorate the 10.000 citizens that died because of the bomb. There are several statues and a big fountain in the park, the most famous 'Peace Statue' (which looks like some kind of Greek god to me). I was discussing with my friend about war, peace and suffering because this place really makes you contemplate you know. Other than that, there is not much to see in the park to be honest.




For lunch we ate a place which felt like a massive tourist trap to me haha. We had to wait downstairs until the tables were all set, and downstairs happened to be a tourist shop with many local Japanese foods. In Nagasaki's case the most famous one is a cake originated in Portugal called Castella. Anyway, these shops are a dime in dozen in Japan because Japanese love buying souvenirs. Or rather it is expected of them to buy souvenirs (usually food) even when they are just on a day trip or weekend trip. So to cater to this massive buying of souvenirs there are many of them. There is even one in my local shopping mall where no tourist would ever come (I think).




But I digress. We were tempted with samples of food but then it was time to eat our Chinese-inspired lunch. Nagasaki has always had good relations with China and even the Netherlands and did a lot of trading with these countries. That's why there are a lot of foreign influences in Nagasaki, like the Portugal cakes, Dutch traders' island Dejima, Christian churches and Chinese (fusion) food. So our lunch was one of the fusion foods found in Nagasaki. The food was even placed on one of those Chinese spinning tables.


By Kim

When lunch was finished we moved on to Glover Garden. It is near the Oranda Zaka, or Dutch Slope, and is a very lovely European style house surrounded by a huge garden on top of one of the hills in Nagasaki. The house was built by a Scottish merchant and is another great example of foreign elements in Nagasaki. It offers a gorgeous view of Nagasaki Harbor and the garden itself has a lot of flowers and greenery, and it reminded me a little bit of the garden my grandparents used to have. But Japanese elements aren't missing either because there is a big koi pond and a statue of a woman in kimono. Just like any place in Japan they commercialized the place by building a little cafe and a tourist shop. The cafe is actually really nice because there are seats outside in the garden which is very unusual for Japan. I really miss the Dutch (or European in general) sidewalk cafes and patios, so I was surprised to see it here.




By Kim

After this day full of impressions it was time to head home and let everything sink in.

Have you ever been to an Atomic Bomb Museum? 
What did you think about it?
Last semester we took a lot of school trips with JTW around Kyushu to see and learn more about the area. The last trip that semester was to Nagasaki. I had been longing to go there because I wanted to visit the former Dutch traders island of Dejima and see some of the Dutch influences left around the city. Unfortunately we didn't go there.

Before we went to the city of Nagasaki we dropped by the Kyushu National Museum and later at Mifuneyama-rakuen. The National Museum of Kyushu is located in Dazaifu, near Fukuoka. The building is very big with striking architecture and when we were there a Balinese musical performance was being held in the spacious entrance hall. The permanent museum collection itself is not too big though. I don't think you will need a lot of time looking around. The collection is called a 'Cultural Exchange Exhibition' and is not just about Japanese or Kyushu history, but the history of Asian cultural exchange. The interesting parts for me were the Dutch collection, the 'Hidden Christians' (kakure kirishitan) artifacts and a Chinese painting which had the same set up as one of the paintings we studied for the East-Asian Arts course back in Leuven. Sadly I forgot my camera during this trip so I only had my iPhone at disposal. So I am also using some pictures taking by my friend Kim :)

By Kim

As I said the collection isn't too big so within an hour we had seen everything and headed to our next destination Mifuneyama Rakuen. It is a big 'stroll garden' designed by a painter from Kyoto and completed in 1845. It has gorgeous views with every season or every month offering a unique view. It is supposed to have beautiful autumn foliage, but sadly when we were there most leaves had already fallen down. It is still a nice garden with a small mountain and many azalea bushes, so I can imagine how impressive it most be when these are in bloom (which is actually around the time that I am writing/posting this article). How I wish I could go there right now to see the azaleas. I have fallen in love with those flowers since I first saw them blooming a few weeks ago. I saw them for the first time in my live and can't get over how bright and colorful they are.


A bare garden without the autumn leaves or spring/summer flowers.

Still found some red leaves!







So the garden was really nice but it just wasn't the right timing to go because there was no autumn leaves and no flowers blooming either. Instead we just fooled around, chatted and took a lot of photos. When we were finished I really wanted to buy a hot chocolate at the little coffee stand outside the garden, but when we got back it was already closed. Too bad. But it was time to head to our inn. The Nakamasu ryokan we were staying at was really luxurious with big rooms, onsen in the building and a luxurious dinner. I can't believe we only paid 300 yen for this trip. JTW sometimes really amazes me. The funny thing is that the outside didn't look like a ryokan at all, and the hallways and stairs looked like they had had their best times, but the rooms, the onsen and the dinner were so nice.

By Kim

By Kim




After the amazing dinner some people went to soak in the hot springs. I went out to buy some drinks and snacks and decided to take a nice warm soak in our big private bath to eliminate the winter cold from my body. To city of Takeo where to ryokan is located isn't to big but there was a gorgeous illuminated red gate and some other nice views which made a stroll around the city a good idea. I decided to skip because I wanted to stay warm and cosy inside. When everybody did their strolls, took a bath and put on a yukata we all gathered in one of the guys' rooms to play games and drink together. It was such a fun and cosy night, and a nice way to enjoy our last trip of the first semester.

Next time I will be sharing part two of this post which is about us actually going to Nagasaki where we visited the Atomic Bomb Museum and Glover Garden.
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