Flying Koi and Shochu Dreams

This past weekend, Manami and I hit completely opposite ends of Kumamoto Prefecture on consecutive days. Saturday, we headed for the small hamlet of Tsuetate, north of Mt. Aso on the border of Oita Prefecture. It is here that they have a special festival every year. Over 3,500 Koi flags/wind socks are strung up over the river and flown for a few weeks. Manami and I picked up Jamie and we headed for the town to check out the Koi. This is what we saw:


Sunday, we picked up Joe early and headed for the town of Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto's 3rd or 4th biggest city, near the border of Kagoshima Prefecture. There was a Shochu (Rice-brewed Liquor of Southern Japan) Festival. We walked around and only found two booths providing free samples. Slightly disappointed, we headed for the source: the Shochu brewery. We walked to the nearby Sengetsu (a popular local brand) factory for a short tour. At the end of the tour, we sat down at a table with about 10 different branded bottles sitting on the table and another 10 on shelves on the wall. Over the next 2 hours, Joe and I proceeded to try nearly all 20 brands and ranked them accordingly. Finally, we had our fill and selected the winner. We stumbled out and searched for discount yaki tori, yaki ika and okonomiyaki on a stick as the festival was shutting down. Thanks to Manami, our safety driver, we arrived back in Kumamoto where we gorged on a pot of Somen noodles. It was a delicious Sunday.