Betsy and Chris come to visit

I almost died twice the other day. Once was in Hell with Chris Clearfield as we squatted beside two Oni who were guarding a cold pool of water and the other time was on the Oita Expressway along a stretch of road that looked like Hell because of dense fog and strangely colored lights lining the road. But I’m getting ahead of myself…let me start at the beginning.

Betsy Herzog, my dear friend who graduated from UNC and now lives as a first year JET in Okayama-ken, came down from concrete Honshu to rustic Kyushu with her friend Chris Clearfield who is traveling the world between degrees. Chris plans to go from Melbourne, Australia to Berlin, Germany in 300 days with Japan, Korea, China, and all those other countries between Asia and Europe as stops along the way. Japan is his second country and hosting him gave me a new perspective on my life here in Japan. Most of the time, I think of myself as an epic figure on a journey with all the people I meet and experiences I have as parts of my unfolding story. Having Chris intersect my story with his own journey changed this perspective, however, to be one where Chris is the epic traveler and I am the experience. From his point of view, I am a “stop” along his long excursion and thus I am part of Japan, part of his experience here. To relate this to classics, I felt that while I interacted with Chris, I changed from being Odysseus to being one of the characters Odysseus meets along his way home (but not Calypso or Polyphemus cause they have issues).

Anyway, as any good side character in an epic would do, I did my best to make Chris’ and Betsy’s time here memorable. Highlights included Ajimu’s famous “Hell and Heaven” site where visitors can journey through caves filled with ancient statues (Hell) and eventually make it up a lofty hill to a serene Buddha (Heaven). This is where Death first waved at us. While photographing a part of Hell, Chris and I were almost killed by the dreaded mukade—poisonous demon-wyrms that thirst for human blood! (truthfully, a mukade is a large poisonous centipede found in the inaka and being scared of them is okay). At first there was only one mukade slithering by on the low ceiling, but then I turned my head and saw four others clustered together about 2 inches from my face. I screamed, Chris screamed, and we both ran out of Hell (the best way to exit the underworld I think).





After recovering from the mukade attack, I took Betsy and Chris to the Ajimu waterfall where any weary or traumatized soul can find relief and rejuvenation. The waterfall lies off the main road a bit and up some hills and through a forest. Along the way, Betsy commented on how the mountainous scenery resembled parts of western North Carolina and together we both sighed a sigh of longing remembrance for our home. Once we reached the actual taki (waterfall) our hearts were lifted by the site of the cascading water and the splendor that is rural Japan.



Later that day, we all traveled down to fabled Usuki, a town on the other side of Oita-ken that was hosting a bamboo festival. The festival took place at night and involved hundreds—or maybe thousands!—of bamboo holders bearing the warm light of candles (like Japanese jack-o-lanterns!). The streets were lined with the bamboo candles and like all good Japanese festivals there was plenty of takoyaki and crepes to eat. The time escaped us amongst the pleasant atmosphere and eventually we head back to Ajimu via the expressway.




But the adventure had not yet come to an end.

On the way home, Betsy, Chris and I ran into Death again and this time he reached out and tried to snag my little car by its little cute bumper. Somewhere along the expressway, as the concrete and asphalt runs through the mountains and forests, we were met by thick, dense, life-taking fog. It was the thickest fog I have ever driven through but thankfully Japanese engineers had installed brightly colored lights along the side of the road to help illuminate the treacherous path. Unfortunately these lights made the nighttime fog look like a scene from “Hell’s Fun House” and threatened to drive us all back in fear. I pressed onward, however, and made it home safely (so calm down, mom) and upon entering the front door I promptly poured us all a glass of whiskey (just for our nerves).

All in all, Chris and Betsy’s visit made for a splendid time and I hope that when Chris writes his novel about his global travels that he will include a mentioning of me and the wonders of Oita-ken, Japan.