Visiting Yame tea farm, Fukuoka

Before going to the wisteria flower tunnel in Kurogi, we went to the Yame Central Tea Field.
Yamecha (八女茶) is produced in Yame and surrounding areas, and is a tea known throughout Japan.

About 3 km further up the road from the cooperative office, you can find a parking lot and an observation deck. From here, you can see the big green tea garden on a hillside and even the Ariake Sea and the Shimabara Peninsula on clear day.

The tea picking season will be coming soon.

Seeing the wisteria flower tunnel in Kurogi, Fukuoka

On April 19, we went to see the Kurogi wisteria festival in Yame, Fukuoka. Today was a nice weather, so we had decided to take a drive to see wisteria in full bloom in the Susanoo-jinja (素盞嗚神社) Shinto shrine. The shrine's tree tunnels are approaching full bloom, with over 80% of the flowers already open. We've enjoyed the wisteria festival.

I bought a pretty dog doll at Nagasaki Chinatown

We arrived at Nagasaki Chinatown around 4:30. First we went to Min-Min boutique shop to buy Chinese dolls. When we went into the shop, the boy said "We'll close the shop at 5 o'clock today so please buy it in a hurry".  

There were many stuffed toys of this year's zodiac "dog" in the shop, but I couldn't find anything to buy. I just bought one red doll. I got a gold pig piggy bank too.

Just finished the Nagasaki Lantern Festival on March 4, they still have colorful lanterns in the street.

Hanami at Minami Park, Fukuoka

On March 31, we went to Minami Park for hanami (花見, cherry blossom viewing parties). This year, hanami parties about 10 days earlier than usual. Here's cherry trees in full bloom. People enjoy having hanami parties under the cherry blossoms.