18 January 2012
An island in the west
Posted by Roland under: JET .
At some point I assume someone is going to come all the way out here to visit and when they do, I want to make sure I limit the amount of questions related to how much this isn’t what they expected when they were thinking about Japan. I’m talking about those who are firmly in the Japan = Tokyo futuristic city camp (I’m really hoping there’s no one in the Japan = still has plenty of samurai camp).
A handy dandy map, for those so interested:
Amakusa is part of Kumamoto Prefecture, about 1.5 to 2 hours west of Kumamoto City, the closest large city. That should be a sign when the closest large city is that far away. Amakusa is actually on its own separate island from the Kyushu mainland, so in order to get to Amakusa, you have to cross five bridges, which have been actually turned into a semi sightseeing spot for travelers coming into the area. However, unlike a lot of Japan, Amakusa is not accessible by train. The closest train station is about an hour away, at which point you’ll have to bus/car/ferry over into Amakusa proper.
The current Amakusa city is actually made up of a lot of independent towns and villages that combined into one city a few years ago due to dwindling population. They were formerly independent areas under the label “Amakusa District”, but a recent push in Japan nationwide has been to consolidate smaller areas into one larger entity. So the majority of the island of Amakusa banded together to form the Amakusa City, which would now be the legal name for all their territory. However, the Amakusa District name lives on in one holdout that didn’t merge with the rest of the island, although it is now legally a district with one town to its name.
I personally live in Ariake, one of the old towns in the Amakusa District, now part of the overall Amakusa City. All the old names from before live on in peoples’ address and it is common to say what part of Amakusa you are from as a way to identify yourself. The center of Amakusa, Hondo, also serves as the logistical center of Amakusa, most people live there as well as it being home to the Amakusa government offices and most shopping/restaurants.
Ariake is 15 minutes away from Hondo but most of Ariake is just housing. There are a small number of restaurants and if there’s shopping to be had, I don’t know where to find it. Ariake’s claim to fame has always been its octopus however, to that effect, there’s a large octopus monument near a rest area called Ripple Land. Ripple Land actually serves as a popular place in the summer, when people come to visit Ariake’s beaches (one of the highlights of the area) as it provides convenient parking in addition to a good restaurant/gift shop/onsen.
But Ariake is more or less just a suburb. It’s where a lot of people live and they do their eating/shopping/traveling somewhere else. However, I think it does have the best of both worlds when it comes to nature, Ariake is right along part of the Amakusa coast which lends itself to great views of the sea. On clear days, you can even see across the sea to Mount Unzen and Nagasaki prefecture. On the other side, if you drive away from the coast and just a little bit inland, you can find some pretty amazing mountains as well, with lots of greenery to go with it. There’s a lot of farmland to be had in Ariake as well, so it’s a common sight to see large swaths of fields right under large mountains.
It’s a quiet life here. If I just stay in Ariake, there’s not much for me to do besides go to school and come back home. Going to Hondo does provide some change as it is the place to go in Amakusa for pretty much anything, but the selections/options are small. For even the smallest taste of a big city, Kumamoto City is the place to go. But with it being quite the drive away, it’s not a place I can just drop by for a quick dinner. Going out to Kumamoto City almost turns into a day trip just to be worthwhile.
That being said, most of Japan is the quiet farmland you may have seen in Totoro, for example. Tokyo kind of places get all the love when you’re outside of Japan, but once you get in, you find there’s more nature to be found than wall to wall skyscrapers. There’s a time and place for big city life, but I’m enjoying myself in the small town atmosphere right now on the island of Amakusa.