Out n' About in Shiroishi

I live in Shiroishi town, a small farming and fishing community in southern Saga-ken. Until the January 1, 2005 consolidation of muncipalities (a.k.a. gappei) , my town was known as Ariake, a much nicer name I think. Besides, Shiroishi always smells like cow manure. But alas------- I too am now a resident of Shiroshi, a victim of Tokyo's drive for greater centralization of power. The long term plan is to merge, merge, merge: small towns (like my dear Ariake) join with surrounding towns, large towns merge to form cities, and prefectures merge to form states. If all goes as planned Saga-ken will only be a district within Kyushu and the already democratically challenged Japanese will have that much less direct representation in government. Anyone feel like a return to feudalism?

The upshot is that my town is now larger and has more attractions that I can take pride in. This post will include a few of these diamonds in the rough.

#1 Inasa Shrine
Maintained for generations by the Inasa family, this shrine is located on its namesake mountain, Inasa-yama. Though not as grand nor as famous as nearby Yoshinogari Shrine, Inasa Shrine is an unprententious and serene setting. Plain stone foundations (no cement), unpainted wood buildings, and 300 year old trees recall a Japan that is largely lost in the garish cityscapes of today's Tokyo and Osaka.

#2 Sakuranosato
A kilometer of cherry tree lined-road leads to this magnificent look point. The shores of Kumamoto and even Mt. Aso are visible on a clear day, and even hazy days provide a bird's eye view of the local estuary and mud flats on the shores of the Ariake Sea.

#3 Gata (Mud Flats) and Ariake Sea

As mentioned above, the shores of the Ariake Sea contain what's known as gata, literally meaning "more mud than water". Despite a rather putrid odor, the gata supports a variety of sea life, the most famous of which is mutsugoro, or mud-skipping fish (see below). Here's a link to an interesting piece on the mutsugoro and the threats facing it: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=17&ItemID=6465. Also, you can eat these things. They're very crunchy when grilled.