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...for today's the day the gaijin go randomly out for a stroll.
I only found out there were some woods round the back of the university a
few days ago, so this afternoon me and Ellie (who's just returned from
back-packing around Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara) went to explore them.
They're actually really nice, and quite extensive. At first, they look
very Japanese, because there's bamboo growing everywhere. But as we
ascended up a big hill, the landscape began to look more and more like an
English landscape (although not a Welsh landscape, according to
Welsh-raised Ellie - not enough evergreen). Before we knew it, we'd
actually climbed quite high up, and we were overlooking the whole city.
After a while, we came across a gorgeous little summerhouse, which we've
decided we'll have to visit again sometime and have a picnic. Ellie also
discovered a broomstick (traditional straw broomsticks are very
commonplace in Japan), so of course witch impersonations ensued.
We also found two tiny little shrines dedicated to the Mountain Gods,
where people had obviously worked hard to keep swept from fallen leaves,
and to place new flowers as offerings. We left a few coins for the gods,
but honestly, I really don't know what a god would want with a couple of
yen.
But funniest of all (well, for me), was the discovery from one of the
billboards that one of the birds native to Kumamoto has the Latin name Turdus
pallidus. I was delighted.
As we tried to return back (which was a little tricky, as we'd forgotten
the way), we came across...another cemetery. A big one. I was narked - if
only I'd've known earlier, I'd've been able to take photos of it for my
film. A cemetery in the middle of the woods - would have made some
wonderful pics. Ah well, I know for next time.
To our surprise, when we found our way out of the woods, we emerged right
by the Kaikan, which was handy!
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