This semester in Japanese culture class we went to various places for various different Japanese culture-related activities. All of the places we went to were all very interesting and fun activities. For this blog post, I’ll talk about my favourite ones.

The first one I’ll talk about is the Suntory Beer Factory. This was located a fair bit outside of Kumamoto City by bus. Once we arrived we waited in the lobby a bit for a tour ahead of us to finish, and then we started our tour of the factory. 

The tour itself was really interesting; we saw some interesting machinery as well as the entire process of making beer; it was really quite fascinating. After the tour, we were able to visit the beer tasting room at the factory to try some of the beer we had just seen being made.

Next up is our trip to the Japanese countryside to visit a pottery maker. This again was quite a long bus ride, but was well worth it as we not only got to make our own pieces of pottery, but we saw some amazing scenery along the way. Once we arrived we had to walk for about 15 or 20 minutes to get to the house where the pottery shop was located since it was a tucked away in the mountains.

 

Once there, we were taken into the pottery shop and were given a demonstration by the pottery master on basic techniques we would be using to make our own creations.

After that, everyone set about their business and started creating their own things.

Time seemed to go by quickly, and soon enough it was time for us to head back to the bus and return home. It was truly an amazing experience, not to mention fun!

Lastly, but surely not least of all, was our trip to the rural town of Yamaga. Specifically, we were here to visit a traditional Japanese theatre called Yachioza. 

I’ve never been to such a place before, nor had I heard much about it before either, but having visited one now I can say with certainty that I am thoroughly glad I had the opportunity to visit one; it was truly a beautiful place. The ceiling was made from various large tiles with traditional Japanese paintings.

This was by far my favourite part of the theatre. While there we were also treated to a tour of the facility, and we got to see how things work in the background when plays are taking place. For example, underneath the stage there is a trap door they use to make characters suddenly appear out of nowhere, pretty neat!

Overall, the Japanese Culture class here at KGU has been an amazing experience, and I am so glad I have had the opportunity to take the class and experience many different aspects of the amazing culture in Japan.