{"id":11422,"date":"2026-04-17T03:28:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/?p=11422"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:39:27","slug":"japan-2026-day-2-imari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/?p=11422","title":{"rendered":"Japan 2026: Day 2 (Imari)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I traveled to Imari. It\u2019s a very small town. I didn\u2019t really have lunch, but I’ve been eating a lot lately so it\u2019s not like I\u2019m going to waste away.<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve seen most of the things in Nagasaki that I want to see but I like the place and I\u2019ll definitely go again.<\/p>\n

I decided to try the western breakfast at the same restaurant because I’ve had the Japanese breakfast at the restaurant at least three times already. As you can see, it\u2019s still kind of Japanese. How often do you see picked vegetables and stewed tomato something-or-another in a western breakfast? Maybe it\u2019s more European than American. The rest is my own fault: the salad, croissant, and coffee are from the buffet. I\u2019m used to doughy flat croissants but this one was crisp and flaky.<\/p>\n

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Then I checked the train schedule and saw if I just left a little earlier I\u2019d make it to Imari before lunch instead of after. I had a non-reserved seat ticket which meant I could leave whenever I wanted. Even after buying a coffee at Mickey D\u2019s, I made it to the train platform a half hour early and was first in line. It wasn\u2019t crowded so there was no problem.<\/p>\n

I make fun of the Kyushu shinkansen all the time because it is a little weird and doesn\u2019t go that far. It was supposed to connect Fukuoka and Nagasaki but Saga Prefecture in between thinks no one will stop there and won\u2019t allow them to connect the two ends.<\/p>\n

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At the end of the line (in the middle of nowhere) I transferred to the Huis Ten Bosch line which I think also goes to Sasebo, but I only rode it one stop to Arita.<\/p>\n

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Then I got on the Matsuura Railway which was two cars with a diesel engine and ran like a bus. That is, you get in towards the rear, take a ticket (or scan your IC card) on the way in, and then pay according to the distance you traveled when you get off. Being the sticks, the train only comes once an hour. I guess Google Maps doesn\u2019t like lettting you backtrack, so it told me to get off in the middle of EBFE and wondered if I was just going to a farmer\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I think it was closer to go to the station and backtrack.<\/p>\n

I left my bags at the hotel and headed off to see Imari. The front desk told me I should go to Okawachiyama, where the potters historically had their kilns. I only had 15 minutes to make it to the bus, which runs once every two hours. Okawachiyama was a nice little town in the hills, only a 15 minute bus ride away, so I bet a taxi would\u2019ve been affordable (if there are any taxis here).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Did I mention the hills? It\u2019s pretty steep. Lots of pottery stores and my sister suggested I buy a mug. The cheapest mug I liked was about $60US so I punted. (The cheapest one I saw was probably $40.) So much beautiful porcelain wasted on me there. Anyone have a million yen for a vase?<\/p>\n

I guess this is a waterway and not a stream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And a spillway or a water diverter?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t take any pictures of the pottery because most of the displays were in stores and not galleries. I\u2019m filling in by showing pictures of the creek.<\/p>\n

I tried looking for the shrine built in a cave but I went the wrong way (as usual) and ended up at the cemetery. It\u2019s not in the guide book but there was a sign that said there were many Korean potters who were brought to Japan and never got to go home. There\u2019s a monument to them made up of their gravestones in a mound. I didn\u2019t think it would be respectful to take a picture. Sorry. I found a picture online so there are pictures of it.<\/p>\n

I had a few minutes to kill before the next bus so I got a my usual sightseeing lunch: soft ice cream. It was out of one of those machines that uses a pod and you make your own cone. I should not be trusted with a soft ice cream machine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh, I got some tea as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I caught the bus back and did the tour of the town. There\u2019s a very small pottery gallery at the station with several pieces of Edo era pottery. The information bureau also suggested the Silk Road exhibit and the merchant house next door to it.<\/p>\n

The Silk Road exhibit is in an old house. The first floor is a pottery store (of course) and the second floor had a few displays. There was also a larger area next to the displays where you could paint your own porcelainware.<\/p>\n

The merchant house was more fun. If you follow Japanese history you know how the rulers liked controlling things. People weren\u2019t allowed to just go to the pottery studios in Okawachiyama but were made to buy things from the merchant in town. The lady there was super nice and explained the whole thing to me, showing me all the rooms.<\/p>\n

I took a picture of both buildings and they\u2019re the smaller ones in the middle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My last stop was Imari shrine and on the way there were ceramic tiles on the walls. As you\u2019d expect, there\u2019s ceramics everywhere. The most interesting ceramics were at the ends of the bridges.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There were way more porcelain figures at the ends of the bridges but I\u2019m not really a pottery guy so I only took a couple of pictures. Plus one of these roosters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What I thought was the shrine was just the bottom of the steps to the shrine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The shrine itself was quite peaceful and no one was there! Usually there\u2019s people selling fortunes and amulets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I walked back to the hotel and they recommended two places for Imari beef but one no longer serves dinner. The only choice was a cafe that serves Imari beef hamburger steak. I know it\u2019s kind of a waste to grind up good beef but it was very tasty. But I started off with a lemon squash, which I hadn\u2019t had in years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just building up the suspense.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes you get some odd flavors with hamburgers but this one was just perfect.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had what I hope is my last disaster of the day \u2014 when I tried to pay for dinner I couldn\u2019t find my wallet! I\u2019ve pulled this stunt before. Since I pay for most things with the Suica app on my phone (a substitute for the IC transit card) I didn\u2019t realize my wallet was in one of my bags back at the hotel. I rushed back to get the wallet and came back and paid. Phew. They were super nice about it.<\/p>\n

The convenience store wasn’t on the route back to the hotel so I looked for some more Wilkinson fizzy water at a Daiso. No dice, but there was a MaxValu supermarket next door. And they had another flavor I hadn\u2019t seen before! Checking out was kind of a nightmare. Self-checkout with lots of Japanese to read on the screens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a big bath on the third floor of the hotel so I\u2019m going to head up in a bit. I hope I\u2019m done with all my mistakes for the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I traveled to Imari. It\u2019s a very small town. I didn\u2019t really have lunch, but I’ve been eating a lot lately so it\u2019s not like I\u2019m going to waste away. I think I\u2019ve seen most of the things in Nagasaki that I want to see but I like the place and I\u2019ll definitely go again. I decided to try the western breakfast at the same restaurant because I’ve had the Japanese breakfast at the restaurant at least three times already. As you can see, it\u2019s still kind of Japanese. How often do you see picked vegetables and stewed tomato something-or-another in a western breakfast? Maybe it\u2019s more European than … Continue reading Japan 2026: Day 2 (Imari)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11732,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11422\/revisions\/11732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8u.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}