November 1, 2021, began with a morning trip to Kasuga Shrine for a local shrine sale! located about 20 minutes from our home in Hario, Kasuga Shrine hosts a shrine sale twice a month as a fundraiser for the shrine's repair by selling local pottery right outside the gates! After hearing about this sale a few months back, I just knew I had to check it out! I texted Kaiti Castillo, and together we hit the road at 8:30 am with the hopes of getting the first pick at the pottery sale!
Lucky for us, we found parking pretty quickly and arrived right at 9 am- when we were told the sale began....but they were still setting up so we opted to walk around the area and explore. We found some cool rock relief sculptures, each with a plaque telling the story of a local myth. While Google Translate didn't offer the *best* translation, we got the gist of the stories along the walk!
Eventually, we made it back to the shrine sale, and began looking around! There was one main shopping area and together, Kaiti and I found several pieces of pottery each! We were pretty stoked to find some local treasures, and knowing we were supporting the repair of this Sasebo shrine made it all the more special!
While on our morning adventure, Kaiti mentioned an outdoor teamLab experience in Saga Prefecture that is preparing to close. Knowing we didn't have much time left to visit, I jumped at her offer to tag along that night! If you don't remember, Bryan and I visited teamLab: Forests in Fukuoka about a week before, and we really enjoyed the interactive art experience. There's no way we were going to miss out on another teamLab this close to home! Now my morning of shrine sale shopping turned into an afternoon trip with the Castillos to visit the temporary exhibit in Takeo, teamLab Saga: A Forest Where the gods Live. After a quick text to Bryan, I went online and pre-purchased our tickets!
We met the Castillos for dinner at a small restaurant, Gyoza Kaikan, where we chowed down on some delicious ramen and gyoza. During the past 5.5 months of living in Japan, I never tried a gyoza style that I haven't liked- and today was no different! Gyozas (pronounced "gee-oh-za") are steamed or fried dumplings traditionally stuffed with local vegetables and pork. Dip them in soy sauce, or whatever sauce the restaurant specializes in, and BAM- deliciousness. In the past, the gyoza we have tried have all been steamed gyoza, but tonight's restaurant specialized in a breaded, fried Gyoza. It didn't disappoint and Bryan and I happily ate our fill!
About 6:30 pm, we made our way to the Mifuneyama Rakuen, a 500,000 square meter park known for its garden-like atmosphere, located at the foot of Mt. Mifune. TeamLab partnered with the local park to create an outdoor art display that was designed to use "non-material digital technology to turn nature into art without harming it," and they did this by installing large LED lights, projectors, and speakers throughout this expansive park to create art using the natural surroundings. It sounds complicated, but it really was a light show highlighting nature at night.
Upon entering, we reached the first exhibit, where lime green lights were projected on the path, making it appear 2 dimensional. Pretty freaky! The next exhibit lit up a tree in a way that made it look like a dragon. Take a look at the last picture below to see if you can spot it!
As we continued walking, we reached a giant rock that had flowers projected on all sides. These flower arrangements merged together to look like animal silhouettes- reminding Bryan and I of the flower creatures in Fukuoka's teamLab!
As we continued walking, we reached an opening, where we could look out at the entire park and see a light show that lit up the side of Mt. Mifune. We stood there for a while just watching as the entire park changed colors in sync with the serene music that played softly from the hidden speaker system.
As we worked our way throughout the park, we got to "become" part of the show, as the bright lights bounced off us and illuminated the area. To really get the full experience, you can watch a short clip we took of the light show here:
The next exhibit we came upon was of a turquoise-projected waterfall on a giant vertical rock. This thing was several stories tall and quite amazing! It looked so real!
Here's a quick shot of the waterfall in motion:
As we continued our way through this expansive park, we walked through an area where all the trees were lit in white light. The trees themselves were funky-shaped, so the lighting really brought out the natural beauty-I guess that's what they were going for!
The next area was pitch black, other than this white-lit square, representing a door. As we walked through the door, the path led us to a cave with 500 carved statues of the Buddhist faith. Projected above the cave was a video of black calligraphy, appearing as if it was being written on the rocks.
Eventually, we reached our favorite exhibit that consisted of several rooms filled with these giant, hanging lightbulbs! The walls were all mirrored, so it seemed as if the lightbulbs continued on forever, and their constantly changing colors made for a perfect picture moment!
Here's a quick video of what it was like in the lightbulb room:
Inside the same building as the lightbulbs, was this huge, hanging square display that lit up to mimic a fire. This structure was hung from the ceiling and consisted of thousands of tiny LED light strips. This entire exhibit was sponsored by Volvo, so the exhibit seemed to have been (literally) crashed by the newest Volvo SUV. Great marketing, Volvo!
Quick little video so you get the idea of how cool these LED light strips were!
As we headed back towards the exit, we experienced the final exhibit, where koi fish were projected on the still water pond. These fish swam around the pond and seemed to interact with the real-life lilypads and rowboat in the water. From here, we were able to get puzzle-worthy pictures of Mt. Mifune and the rest of Mifuneyama Rakuen Park! Wow!
I love having friends that turn a simple morning shopping trip into a night trip of experiencing a high-tech, nature-focused light show! Who would've known!?!
Til next time!
--Katie
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