【Kyushu・Fukuoka-Travel Guide③】

I've lived in the city of Kurume for over ten years, and today I went and visited three of the city's different spots Although I've lived in the city for quite a while now, today I went to see some of the city's more traditional places It was great because I got the chance to learn a whole lot I learned about Kurume's textiles industry, for example As well as its sake breweries, and more! So if this sounds interesting to you be sure to check it out for yourself Right now I'm having Showa Ramen.

The noodles are your standard firm “kata-men” noodles It's really good The pork bone broth soup is really tasty Now I'm having Reiwa Ramen It tastes a bit different It has a somewhat lighter flavor The Showa Ramen has a stronger flavor It's really good I think other women would probably like this one better, too Apparently in Kurume people drink the soup broth first andthen eat the ramen noodles One of this restaurant's employees taught me that just nowso I want to try eating it once more the right way Oh, this tastes good when added to the soup Let's give this a try It's takana (mustard leaf) It's so spicy Really spicy Recommended dishes:Offal & Pig's Feet ・Drink the soup from the bottom・Eat the noodles after first having three spoonfuls of soup.

・The restaurant owner has eaten ramen every day for the past 46 years・True ramen doesn't make you fat (because it is made with bone broth and not meat fat) This restaurant specializes in pig's feet and offal and they are very popular menu items.

Let's give them a try! The offal doesn't have any unpleasant smell and tastes delicious I really think everyone should try this It tastes really good when you put vinegar soy sauce on itIt isn't greasy at all Kurume's Sui Shrine has two “komainu” lion dogs These komainu are the guardians of sound health.

If you have a pain anywhere in the body, pet the part of the komainu that hurts So if your head hurts pet its head, or if your foot hurts pet its foot This here is a kappa.

They are said to ward off evil and bring good fortune.

I think I'll buy one This here is Kurume ramen for sale And there's wine here Wine And over here they've got Japanese paper.

They even have large-sized Japanese paper.

This is a famouslocal product Definitely come check it out if you're into this kind of thing Here there are plenty of Kurume's local products for sale Things such as vinegar and other condiments But the most famous local product from Kurume is…Kurume's one of a kind Textiles! “Kurume-gasuri” is basically a hand-woven cloth They are really famous These were woven many years ago These are all handlooms This well-known local product has a long history.

Kurume is famous for it It must take a lot of time and effort to get this far along It's really amazing Most textiles like this from Kurume are dyed Dyed by hand The “shichifukujin” (Seven Gods of Fortune) are kind of like the Eight Immortals in China I got to try weaving This is really interesting The pattern is coming out One more time! Baby wine Let's try some It is really easy to drink This is the most you've smiled all day! Even children could drink this And it's a cute light pink color Its alcohol content is a bit higher than beer Maybe like chuhai I think I'll buy some to take home It's really good It is really popular among women and people who don't drink much alcohol If you recommend it to someone who really likes alcohol or an older persona whole bottle would probably be gone within a day You can taste any of these wines This wine has about 3% alcohol content Blueberry wine Tastes like blueberry juice It tastes like juice but it's alcoholic This is non-alcoholic amazake This taste brings me back Here are pictures of the amaou strawberries being prepared There's also amanatsu oranges, peaches and Japanese plums Japanese persimmons, kiwis All made into wine There are plenty of strawberries, peaches and Japanese plums here, and they are all made into wine There's such a wide selection of products here We store wine in these 1 sho bottles These are from 1979 The first wine ever made using the Kyoho variety of grape in 1973 is kept here in this cage This is the first wine made 47 years ago This is the oldest wine made from Kyoho grapes not only in Japan but worldwide This tool was on display in a winery in Europe where I had gone to study winemaking andwas given to me when I came back to Japan This tool is said to date back some 150 years ago in Europe This is a tool used for making wine some 150 years ago.

It's really well preserved The 18th century… Grape picking is in August There is also an orchard over there filled with Kyoho grapes Just one part, just this corner, is reserved for regular wine-making grapes These are the typical grapes used in making wine I bought some to take home as a souvenir This one's for celebrating World famous This sake can be found at Michelin three-star sake breweries Junmai ginjo sake… This is junmai (pure rice) sake You can drink Japanese sake hot, too For women we'd recommend umeshu plum wine, a Kyoho grape and plum wine blend, or a plum wine which is a little lighter This one is a little differentThis sake was made using the sake-making methods of the Genroku period Regular sake is clear, but this has an amber color and tastes more like Shaoxing wine or sherry This Hakata Nerizake sake from the Muromachi period has a sweet and sour flavor It is only 3% alcohol so it's a great choice for people who don't normally drink alcohol This supposedly tastes similar to China's Shaoxing wine Let's try some Wow, it really does taste like Shaoxing wine It's exactly the same So this is the Kyoho grape and plum blend It really is sweet Very easy to drink The Kyoho grapes make this plum wine even easier to drink It's very fruity and delicious.

Here give it a try This is your standard, and very popular, junmai sake It won a gold prize sake award Now a very interesting sake is this white wine-like sake here This sake was made with the yeast Saccharomyces Sake Yabe (the name “Yabe” comes from the nameof the man who discovered this yeast, Kikuji Yabe) which was first used to show that Japanese sake can be made with yeast Its name “debut” reflects this sake-making debut This was made at a winery This is normally made at a sake brewery but this was made at a winery What's the difference? If you drink it you'll notice that while it clearly is Japanese sake, it is also definitely somewhat wine-like I'll just help myself…it's self-serve This is Japanese sake, but it definitely does have that extra something This is junmai muroka genshu (pure, unfiltered and undiluted) sake I've never seen this before It tastes like shochu Yeah, that's sake The white one was pasteurized twice as is usual This is a muroka nama genshu sake.

This means a type of sake that is unfiltered, unpasteurized and undiluted This is one from last year and one from this year In this 1 sho bottle is hiya-oroshi sake.

This kind of sake is only pasteurized once This is this year's new “Fukuro Koboshi”.