Art By Tali Landsman

A few days in Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan We walked down the spiral entrance path in the peace memorial hall in Nagasaki. The years were written on the walls around us,  2017, 2010, 2001, 1995, 1990.... We were counting the years backwards, Spiraling downwards, We were walking backwards in time.... Back from the present year of 2017,  Back to the year the sky over Nagasaki turned ash black.... Back to 1945.... A wall clock was frozen at the exact time of the blast. The time was 11:02am, August 9th, 1945. If only we could walk back in time so easily.... Just as we were walking down that spiral path... 1945 was the year the "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. "Fat Man" was the code name of the US Army for that bomb,  Because it was mean, big and fat. The atomic bomb that got dropped over Hiroshima, Was code named "Little Boy." Don't let the names mislead you. Many more died in the terrible bombing of Hiroshima, than they did in Nagasaki.  When we reached the ...

Visiting Ureshino Onsen, Kyushu, Japan When we looked into the idea of visiting the town of Ureshino Onsen during our two week trip around Kyushu, we were attracted by the soft, silky quality of the hot spring waters, and by the fact that the region is well known for its production of high quality green tea and porcelain pottery. But when we arrived in Ureshino Onsen, it quickly became apparent that this town is very different from other small Onsen towns. There is no lively Main Street with cafes and specialty shops, no shops selling local ceramics or snacks, nor anything to attract the foot traffic of eager tourists. In fact, we saw almost no other tourists in town, which we knew was impossible, judging from the large number of hotels and Ryokans around town. In fact, our hotel, the Hamilton Hotel Ureshino, asked us to change the time of our breakfast preference, since they were already full for the time we selected. Our hotel is a western style hotel with a colonial design...

          Visiting Kurokawa Onsen, Kyushu, Japan  It was a cold morning when we got off the bus at Kurokawa Onsen. The bus ride from Yufuin to Kurokawa Onsen had been a short, one and a half hour, pleasant drive through the green scenery of hills and rivers. The hilly village of Kurokawa Onsen intentionally has no big concrete hotels with hundreds of rooms, but only smaller Ryokans set along the river, surrounded by forests.   They have decided to preserve the feeling of a centuries-old Onsen town by carefully restricting any new buildings that are proposed.   There are a few short, steep and narrow streets lining the tiny village, and the morning mist was still blanketing the old guesthouses. We left our backpacks at the coin lockers next to the bus stop and went for a stroll around the village. There were only a handful of shops and a few small eateries, all of which were still closed. Most guests in this small hot springs town eat a...

Visiting The Onsen Towns Of Yufuin and Beppu, And The Stone Buddhas Of Usuki, Kyushu Island, Japan I love Japanese Onsen (hot springs) towns. Over the years, we must have visited dozens of different Onsen towns in Japan, and while similar in many ways, each town is quite unique. Their uniqueness comes from their history, the growing region and of course the landscape, which dictates the lay of the land and the villages. There are Onsen towns on the coastline bordering the blue sea, along winding rivers, on top of snowy mountains, in the middle of rice fields, and some surrounded by lush green hills. The similarities are in the ways you spend your time while you are visiting an Onsen town. For the most part, you enjoy sightseeing during the day, and bathe in the hot springs and taste the local specialities in the afternoons and evening.  Yufuin is a charming Onsen village. It is small, with a 1.5 km-long main road that is filled with lovely little shops, cafes, shops s...