Wanderlust UK – September 2019

130 wanderlust.co.uk September 2019

The wild side

(top to bottom)

Nabegataki Falls

drops down like silk;

Kumamoto's

loveable mascot,

Kumamon

KUMAMOTO

VOLCANOES

& BEARS

My final stop had arrived:

Kumamoto, on Kyushu's west

coast, home to the black and

white Kumamoto Castle. In

2016, Kumamoto suffered

a magnitude 7.3 earthquake,

causing tragic damage across

the prefecture. But the local

people are resilient, and within

three years the only visible sign

that remains of the earthquake

is the scaffolding that clings

to the castle keep.

As I strolled the pretty city,

stopping for tea in Suizenji

Garden, I became increasingly

aware of Kumamoto’s

confusingly loveable mascot:

the black bear, Kumamon, whose

a room full of adoring fans

(children and adults alike), his

enormous tummy swaying to the

tune of mon, mon, mon,

Kumamon. I found myself

humming it for the rest of the

day – even as I drove to

Kumamoto's serene volcanic

caldera, Mount Aso.

Aso is only 90 minutes from

the city but it feels a world apart:

a landscape of lime green hills,

steaming volcanoes and forests

too thick to penetrate. I first

stopped at Nabegataki Falls –

a silken wave of a waterfall, with

a dark cave behind the water

that you can walk through –

before heading to Aso’s main

draw: Mount Nakadake, the

largest active volcano in Japan.

There’s currently a 1km

exclusion zone around the peak

due to its toxic gas, but not if you

take to the sky. I climbed into a

helicopter and was whisked

above the caldera, Nakadake’s

crater bubbling and smoking like

a giant witch's cauldron below.

My final evening was spent

in the hot spring town of

Kurokawa, where I’d met the eye

of the old lady in the bath.

Soaking there, the firefly

dancing above me, it occurred to

me that I’d learnt far more about

Japan in this one week than I had

when I’d spent a fortnight in

Tokyo the year before.

Japan’s big cities are worth

visiting for lots of reasons, but

if you want to experience a taste

of real Japan,you should head

to the places that other

travellers don't go. In these rural,

little-visited regions, what you

see isn’t there for show: it’s just

everyday life.

red-cheeked face plasters

everything from taxis to bags of

rice. Created in 2010 to attract

visitors to the prefecture,

Kumamon has taken Japan by

storm. I eagerly crowded into

Kumamon Square – his so-called

‘office’ – to watch him perform

his famous ‘Kumamon dance’ to