The following Saturday morning we planned to hit Kumamoto’s island chain of Amakusa. We had mentioned going to the beach to Krista and a few other friends and that they should join us on Saturday. The plan was to wake up and leave at 6:30AM, but after not getting back until after 11PM the previous night, we decided to change the plans, telling them to go ahead, and we would meet up with them later. Instead we had a nice lazy morning. Ian made bacon and eggs, and after breakfast we packed up (knowing that we wouldn’t be home until Wednesday) for the next leg of our adventure. We finally got away from the house about 11AM.
I forgot how many times we stopped between Yunomae and Amakusa. Instead of taking the expressway, I drove down the 219, a gorgeous mountain highway that parallels the Kuma River. Every few minutes Mommy would see something and want to pull over to take a picture. Our first planned stop was in Hitoyoshi. I had to stop by the bus station to see if I could get my bus ticket refunded. Originally when I came home, I was supposed to take the bus from Hitoyoshi to Fukuoka, but please remember that THAT was the day the heavens decided to open up and pour forth the most rain Kumamoto had seen in sixty years. Therefore, my bus was canceled. When I got back, I asked my supervisor if it was possible to get a refund, and she told me yes. I had absolutely no idea how to go about it, so I learned the word for refund (haraimodoshi), went up to the counter, gave the lady my ticket, and that said “haraimodoshi”. The lady, without even batting an eye, handed me back the 2,500 yen. Yay! 
Our next stop was along the 219 in Kuma-mura along the Kuma River. There’s a small drop off spot for rafters. It’s beautiful to go down to the river there because the water (generally…..although it wasn’t the day we went) is a clear blue-green color, and the mountains rise all around it (below). Just down the road we pulled over at the Kyusendo “Bat” Cave. While we didn’t go in, we were able to get awesome elevated pictures of the Kuma River and surrounding mountains. Mommy wanted to go into the gift shop, where she bought a few gifts for people. As we made our way to Yatsushiro, we pulled over a few more times to let Mommy snap some pictures. We even saw a couple of spots where landslides had happened around the same time I was trying to get home. One landslide completely buried a house and a car in mud, rocks, and trees. Someone’s whole life just smashed away…… 
Anyway on to happier thoughts….Ian was hankering for Mos Burger (a fast food burger joint), so we stopped in Yatsushiro for lunch (below, left). Mos Burger has the BEST teriyaki burger! Yum! After lunch, we got back on the scenic road to Amakusa, following the coastline for a bit. Despite the fact that we didn’t go there, we could see the coastline of Nagasaki Prefecture, which is just across the bay from Amakusa. Since there’s only one road in and out of Amakusa, we hit pretty significant bumper-to-bumper traffic in Kamiamakusa, which probably tacked on another good forty-five minutes to our journey. By the time we got to Rippleland, our beach, Krista and the gang were long gone. We had driven alllllllll day long to get to the beach, and I wanted so badly for Mommy to see the beauty of a Japanese beach, yet Rippleland (which was even recommended by a friend) was disappointing to say the least. I have two conditions for a beach: sand (no rocks) and a beach long enough to go for a walk along. This beach was a short man-made strip of land with trash scattered about and sticks, twigs, and other debris floating in the calm wave-less water. I was completely disappointed with the beach and utterly frustrated that we had driven all that way to go to that crummy beach when we could have gone to Aoshima, a gorgeous beach only two hours from us. Rippleland did have one thing going for it…..some pretty awesome sand sculptures (below, right). We heard from friends that about two weeks ago, sand sculptors came to the beach for a competition. Before we left, we took several sunset pictures, and although I don’t have any to post, they turned out really well!
On Saturday and Sunday nights, we stayed with our friend, Len, who graciously offered us his apartment. After the disappointing beach time, we drove to the largest city in Amakusa, Hondo, and stayed the night at his place.
Out of all of the places in Japan, Amakusa has one of the most Catholic-dense populations. Way back when, the Catholic missionaries were pushed farther and farther south, eventually ending up in Amakusa. They got pushed out of Amakusa as well and fled across the bay….which is why Nagasaki is another hot spot for Catholicism. This delighted Mommy to no end. 
Len invited us to go to Mass with him on Sunday morning, so we did. It was the “international” service, so half of the Mass was in English. It’s so much more enjoyable to go to Mass when we can understand what’s being said! (Side note—part of the wordings of Mass were changed in December for English speaking countries. Ian and I knew this, but it wasn’t until July when we were at home that we actually experienced it. While we started saying the words that we had spoken at every Mass since we were knee tall, everyone else was saying the CHANGED words. Nothing like feeling out of place….
) The priest, Father Watanabe, (below, left) actually spent a significant amount of time in the States, living in Kansas City for several years. His English was fantastic! After Mass, we were invited to the Japanese version of coffee and doughnuts in which we sat around chatting with other ALTs who attended Mass and parishioners who wanted to meet us. All of the ALTs were given homemade peach and date jam to take home as a “thank you” for attending Mass. How sweet!
Len and other Amakusa ALTs Zachary, Erik, and Nathan decided to join us for a day at the beach. We told them of our not-so-great experience at Rippleland beach, and Erik took it upon himself to be our personal tour guide for Amakusa. He suggested lunch at Blue Garden, which sits high up on a cliff overlooking the clear blue ocean (above, right). After lunch, we explored the rocky beach below (below, left), and eventually made our way to other touristy attractions like elephant rock…..a huge rock shaped like an elephant (below, right).
It was late afternoon when we finally (FINALLY!) made our way to the black sand beach in Ushibuka at the tip of Amakusa. It was so much different than the beach we like to go to in Aoshima. The beach was natural sand (unlike Rippleland), and instead of giant waves pummeling us as we swam like in Aoshima, the waves were so gradual and gentle, never breaking until they reached the beach. It was fabulous! Mommy was ridiculously excited about swimming in the Pacific Ocean…her first time (below, left)! Even though she was a little scared of getting out too far in the ocean, she came out with me as far as chest deep water. Even in that chest deep water, I could still see my feet below. It was THAT clear. We stayed there until sunset, once again getting great sunset pictures (below, right).
……..and that concluded our Amakusa stay! Next up…Kumamoto City, Takachiho Gorge, and Mt. Aso.
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