Hey guys.
I was recently invited down to Kumamoto Prefecture.
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It was my first time being down in that area.
It's down near the bottom of Japan.
Put a little map here so you can get an idea.
It's quite a quick plane ride from Tokyo actually.
I think it was just over two hours.
I got invited there to do a volunteer workshop actually.
I'll tell you a little bit about that
near the end of the video.
I was invited to Mashiki Town which
is the area of Kumamoto that was worst hit
by the earthquake that occurred last year April.
Over 200 people lost their lives
and thousands of people had to evacuate
their homes because their homes
were either completely destroyed
or the damage that was caused to
them was too much to where it wasn't safe
for them to live there anymore.
I was given a little tour of the town
and we drove around.
All the debris had been cleared up.
But there were so many empty lots
where there used to be a house.
It was just such a weird feeling.
I've never seen anything like that before.
There would be a perfectly good house
and then another perfectly good house here,
but in between would just be a flat, empty lot
without absolutely nothing left.
That was all throughout the town.
Every other house would be an empty lot.
I was also taken to a famous tourist spot
in Mashiki Town called Shioi Suigen.
They had the most beautiful water.
It's this little temple.
Then there's this pond right under
the temple area filled with koi fish.
The water is just so clear and so clean.
There's a little stream running down into the pond.
I tasted a bit of the water and it was
just so delicious.
Apparently people would bring their water bottles there
and fill them up and drink that water.
It's just coming fresh down from the mountains.
It was really really nice.
That whole shrine had been completely destroyed
in the earthquake.
Lots of the debris was left as it had fallen.
The torii gate, the entrance to the shrine,
the stone torii gate was just fallen
and lying across the pond area.
The stairs were destroyed.
You couldn't go up the stairs to see
the shrine anymore.
Here's some more clips from Shioi Suigen
so you can see the extent of the damage
but also how beautiful the place is
and I really really hope that they
can gather the funds to restore it
because it was just such an amazing spot.
This gray area beside the jinja here.
You can kind of see that this is where
the earth split during the earthquake.
That's why there was such large damage.
It looks like this tree that was
in front here completely fell over.
That's a big tree.
The jinja itself was apparently rebuilt
just a few years before the earthquake.
It was quite a sturdy structure
and that's why it made it through the earthquake all right.
I spotted some big koi.
Wow.
Wow, white one.
The water's so clean.
Look at how big it is.
After we finished our tour of the town
I was taken for lunch at this local mom and pop restaurant.
They were so sweet and the food
was really delicious.
We're at a local restaurant right now
and we're gonna grab some lunch.
I'm going to get the yasai teishoku
Apparently this is Kumamoto thing
to do is to put somen in your miso soup.
I got the yasai itame with rice,
pickles, miso soup with the noodles in it.
This is gobo salad.
Gobo is a root.
It's called burdock root in English.
It's really delicious.
If you come to Japan, and you have
a chance to eat it, please do.
The noodles go actually well with the miso soup.
I really like that.
It's a great idea.
But their shop was not the original shop.
It had been destroyed in the earthquake
and they were now renting a building
and working out of that.
There were I believe four other businesses as well
in that parking lot area that were doing
the same thing.
After lunch we went around and visited
the other shops and we got to know
the people there.
They have really interesting hanko.
They're hidden inside of sushi.
I've never seen anything like that before.
That's so cool.
I think that would be so hilarious
if you pulled out your hanko at the bank
and it was sushi.
Toshimaya, they are selling drones
and radio helicopters and planes.
Look at this helicopter.
Apparently it has a 50cc engine inside.
That could power a small bike.
It's so small.
Next we're gonna pop into a chiropractic
and massage business.
Really, really welcoming and friendly
and they were so happy to tell me
about their story and the experience
they had in the earthquake
and how they're trying to get back
up on their feet now.
I just really hope if any of you guys
are down in the Kumamoto area
that you make a stop at Mashiki Town
and you pop into these stores
and you help them out a little by buying something
or even just going in and saying hi to them
and telling them you saw them in my video.
I think they would be so happy.
After that we went a little further up
the street around the corner to a famous local Manjyuu shop.
Takana is like the meibutsu of Kumamoto,
one of the foods they're famous for.
Manjyuu are usually sweet, but this shop
has a Takana Manjyuu which should
be kind of salty.
I'm super excited for this Takana Manjyuu.
I have never heard of anything like this.
I love Takana and I love Manjyuu.
So those two things together sounds very intriguing.
Wow it's very big.
It's salty, this is so weird.
It reminds me of like a vegetable version of nikuman.
It's kind of spicy.
It's a little spicy, but not too much.
I really like it.
If you happen to be in Mashiki Town
stop by this place and grab one
of these Takana Manjuu because
I'm pretty sure you won't find anything like this
somewhere else.
Then we had gotten a recommendation
from one of the other shop owners
to visit this Futomaki sushi shop.
Futoi means fat in and Maki means roll.
So it's like a huge roll of sushi.
Then after all that we went to the city hall
where I would be giving the workshop.
But the city hall was also not
the original city hall.
It had been damaged and everybody
had been moved to a building
that they were renting for now
while that gets fixed.
We went to the room and we set it all up.
What the workshop was is that I
would be teaching the local people
of Mashiki Town how to make YouTube videos
of their favorite spots around the town
so that they could upload them
and kind of encourage more tourism
in the area to kind of help build
up their economy again so they'll
have enough money flowing to fix things up.
Lots of different people came.
There were young students and business men
and I just had such a great time.
Members from city hall came to see
what was going on.
Everyone was really excited about the idea.
We had so much fun.
At the end of the workshop everybody
showed their final product, their videos to us.
They did such a great job.
If you would like to see all the videos
that they made in the workshop,
I will link them all down below.
Please go leave them comments
and give them thumbs up.
I know it would make them so happy.
That was my experience in Mashiki Town in Kumamoto.
I hope you guys enjoyed watching this video.
I really had a lovely time there.
The people were so sweet and I just felt
so welcomed and it was just such
a heart warming experience to see
how they all keep such a positive attitude
and they're so cheerful even though
they've been through so much this past year and a half.
I really really hope the best for them
and I again encourage you all to go visit them
and support them and say hi.
I know they would be so happy
to see you guys and invite you into their shop.
Thanks so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video please give
it a thumbs up and subscribe.
I will see you guys again soon.
Bye.
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