Taking in Takeo- Shrine, Library, and Pottery Shops!

Bryan's deployment was delayed, so we get one more week together! At least it's an extension at home and not an extension at sea- we will take it!

Without much time to plan, I went through my "day trips" list, and together we decided to explore Takeo city, in the neighboring Saga Prefecture. We began our Veterans Day with the 45-minute drive to Takeo, where we headed straight to visit the Takeo Shrine. We stumbled upon this shrine just last week when we were looking for the parking lot for the Saga teamLab experience (read more about that in our previous blog post here!) We had heard that the 6th oldest tree in Japan is located at this shrine, and since we were back in the area, we figured it was worth a stop!

After climbing up many, many stairs we made it up to the shrine. The gravel area surrounding the temple was decorated with colorful umbrellas, making this shrine bright and cheerful! We also learned that this shrine is home to "yabusame," a style of Japanese archery, where arrows are shot at three targets while the archer gallops by on a horse. Pictured below, you can see a practice area with a circle ring, where visitors can pay ￥500 to practice their own hand at archery. The signs say that if you successfully shoot an arrow through the hoop, your wish is granted.

Just past the archery area, we followed a long path out to the "Ohkusu," the giant camphor tree that this shrine is known for. The Japan Environment Agency studied the tree and estimates it to be over 3,000 years old and the 6th oldest tree in Japan. (For comparison, the redwoods in California are estimated to be roughly 800 to 1,500 years old, with the oldest found tree in the forest being 2,000 years old.) This tree may look its age- with its hollow interior and thinning leaves- but it was magnificent.

Being completely hollow, the inside of the tree has been turned into a mini shrine, filled with small stone statues. While we were only able to get so close, you can tell by the size of the stairs just how massive this tree is! It's like Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life, but real!

As we made the walk back to the shrine, we couldn't help but notice the crazy roots of the bamboo that surrounded the path! I mean, look at it! The bamboo forest surrounding Ohkusu has helped protect it from the weather over the years. We were just appreciative of its coverage when it began sprinkling...the tall bamboo helped keep us dry as we made the walk back to the car!

On our walk back, we noticed "Meotohinoki," the married couple cypress trees near the parking lot. After translating some signage by the shrine, we learned that these two trees have been "joined by the power of God" below ground, as their roots have interwoven “to become one.” About halfway up the trunks, the two trees' limbs have grown together, literally merging into each other. It is said that couples pray for blessed and happy marriages at the foot of these trees, and then tie a bell to the central cord to represent their marriage. With a pause in rain, we settled to just take some pictures and then head back to the car!

Across the street from the shrine was the main attraction for today's outing- the Takeo City Library! God had his hand in the timing, because just the day before our outing, I received my official job offer for the Information Specialist role at Darby Elementary! Remember when I interviewed back in September? Yeah, the background check and paperwork just went through...but the good news is that I will officially start on December 6! Receiving the good news made today's library visit that much more special!

As you can tell from the photos below, I was stoked to visit my first Japanese library! Takeo City Library has become well known in the area for its beautiful design and modern concept. The main building contains the library collection, a complete bookstore, and a Starbucks. It's like Barnes and Noble and a library had a baby- and this is what it grew up to be!

We began our visit by getting seasonal drinks at Starbucks; Bryan opted for a gingerbread latte, and I got their advertised chocolate strawberry mocha. While I don't see how strawberries are Christmas-themed, the slice of spinach & bacon quiche we shared was to die for! While we sat on the bookstore side of the library and enjoyed our treats, I proceeded to pull out my library book and read while Bryan caught up with all the sports news on his phone. Who can picture a better way to spend the rainy day?

Nothing beats an afternoon with a good book in a library, with a cup of coffee in hand, alongside your best friend!

We began our exploration of the library by scouting out the bookstore area! What I found most interesting was the themed table displays that had a mix of books and themed items for sale, along with several library books available for checkout that went with the theme. My favorite themed table was advertising camping items- complete with camping books and various small camping gear items for sale! I couldn't get over #1 how cute this was, and #2 how the library combined the "store" aspect to still promote the library! Brilliant, I tell ya!

Eventually, the bookstore area merges into the library area. I am finally home!

Like a kid in a candy store, I was ecstatic to walk through the library and take notes! The place was gorgeous- tons of natural light, great signage, and the self-checkout stations were really high-tech! Don't ask me how it works, but people just had to stack the books below the monitor, and the system automatically knew what books were being checked out! People don't have to manually scan each book, it just magically knows what books were sitting on the desk!

While I couldn't read a single book on the shelves, Bryan and I did find the "foreign literature" section, where we spotted Stephen King's The Green Mile, and one of Margaret Atwood's novels. We made our way to the second story of the library, where I proceeded to take pictures of the bookstore below! Throughout the library, we spotted several built-in iPads that allowed people to search the library's catalog and find what they were looking for. Since we can't read Japanese, we just watched others do this from a distance. There were also larger screens built into the sides of bookcases that advertised upcoming events at the library. I just couldn't get over this place! It was so cool! A librarian's dream space!

Noticing I was losing Bryan's attention, we headed next door to the children's library. An entire building for kids. Y’all, I died!

Mirroring the adult library, there were several tiny desks for kids to sit and read hidden away in the bookcases. My favorite area was the massive tiered seating area with built-in bookcases that was carpeted! After taking off our shoes, we enjoyed flipping through some children's books and sitting on the carpeted area. We also found, tucked in the side of a large bookcase, a secret entrance to a tiny room filled with early chapter books! I'm telling you, this library was definitely designed with kids (and Bryan) in mind!

On the second floor of the children's library was a cafe, where parents could sit and eat lunch while their kids explored the library. There was also a small nook covered with doodles- some of which I recognized from children's books that were for sale next door in the library's bookstore. Each doodle was signed and dated, and I figured out that when an author and/or illustrator visits the library, they get to add their own doodle to the wall, along with their signature and date of visit! HOW FREAKING COOL.

When I got home, you know I did some research and here's what I learned about these Japanese children's authors. The first author/illustrator I recognized was Tomonori Taniguchi. First, his signature was in English, and second, his Santa illustration was easily recognized from the Christmas books for sale in the bookstore. He has visited the library three times since its opening in 2011, where he illustrated a monkey, the Santa, and a whale/chameleon doodle. I found that he's written a ton of children's books, and that many have been translated into Chinese and French but, unfortunately, not yet English. I now follow him on Instagram, where I learned that he does murals all over Asia! Now I have to use Google Translate every time I visit Instagram, but it's totally worth it. Fingers crossed I get to see some of his signature animal murals in future travels and maybe one day his books will be translated into English!

The only other author/illustrator from the wall I was able to locate was Tupera Tupera, the pseudonym for artist team Tatsuya Kameyama and Atsuko Nakagawa. Tupera Tupera has a few books that have been translated into English, but finding information about this duo was much more difficult. I eventually found the three books that match the carrot, panda and sperm (I mean ghost) wall illustrations. Unfortunately, none of those books have been translated into English, but there are a few for sale on Amazon!

The only other author's name in English was under the octopus, "The Cabin Company," and all I was able to find about them is a few of their books for sale on Amazon....so there's that. The rest of the authors on the wall signed their names in Japanese, so there's no hope for me.

One last thing about the children's library:

They had these "books" that weren't bound but instead resembled a stack of posters. One side had the book's colorful illustrations, and on the back of each illustration, contained the words for the story. Each "book" comes in a file folder and was designed so the reader could hold up the picture for children to look at, while the teacher/parent reads the book, which is conveniently written on the back of the cardstock!

Why haven't they done this in the states for elementary schools?!?! Maybe they have, and I just haven't learned that yet... Now I need to text Stacy and ask :) The things I need to know before I start my new job!

Anyway, I just couldn't get over these cool bookfolios! The library had at least 100 of them, and each story taught important lessons- the one below taught kids the importance of brushing their teeth every night before bed. I thought it was fitting!

After leaving heaven on earth, I mean the library, Bryan agreed to stop and visit some pottery shops in Hasami on the way home. While we knew the Arita area is known for its beautiful pottery, our budget for the day didn't include $60+ per plate, so we looked and very carefully touched the beautiful work.

We also eliminated the porcelain-painted bathroom decor from our future dream house options, even though Bryan thought the personal urinal added sophistication. Not our style.

At the end of the day, the pups were happy to have us home! We did miss our downstairs neighbor's dog's birthday party, but Blue was nice enough to save Hugo and Reynolds matching hats and pupcakes!

Til next time,

--Katie