A visit to Hagi

Last Friday I went to Hagi with Lindsay; we've ben planning this trip for a while now, originally Jim, my roomate and other coworker, was going to come too, but his upcoming trip back to America unfortunately overoccupied him. We set out at the ungodly hour of eight-thirty in the morning so we could get there by noon. This was not very enjoyable, nor easy, as we had had a nicely boisterous bounenkai the night before. Upon arrival in Yamaguchi city we changed from the uncomfortable and reasonably crowded local train to being the only passengers on a richly upholstered bus. After a pleasant and nap-filled journey through the beautiful countryside we arrived in Hagi. I was immediately taken with the city, aside from its pottery, historical significance and abundance of temples, it had forest covered hills. I felt like I was back in Bellingham, it was beautiful. If there was a Nova branch in Hagi, I wouldn't have to think about transferring. We had ramen for lunch, then struck out for the castle, pausing at temples along the way. Walking down the beach we found ourselves observing rugby practice in the bitter cold and wind. I admire the teams dedication, but envy them none.
After collecting some seashells, we reached the end of the beach and the castle wall - all that's now left after the castle was destroyed as a symbol of feudalism at the start of the Meiji Restoration. I was amazed though, that they had a photograph of the castle before it was torn down in 1874. I suppose we all know that photography has been around much longer than the turn of the twentieth century, but it never seems to click until you see really old photos. Even with just walls and a moat (two acually), the castle was still quite impressive, and the walls were good for looking out from. From there it was a look at the castle shrine and a hike to the top of the mountain (read hill) where there was a view and more ruins. The climb, while short (the hill is 730m high), proved good exercise. It was worth it though, the view from the top was amazing.
After leaving the castle we went into the old samurai neighborhood and saw some medieval walls and bought some pottery. Hagi is known across Japan for its pottery, hagi-yaki, and thus has, it seems, more pottery stores than bathrooms. The one we chose was a nice little corner store which also contained the owners residence on the upper floor. It was a nice balance between the giant tourist oriented stores by the castle and the gallery style stores in the shopping district. As we walked in the owner served us tea and candy and made some small talk. I think that's one of the best sales tactics if you own a small shop: serve your customers food and thereby guilt them into buying. It worked.
We walked back into town and had an hour to kill before we met our friend for dinner, so we had a cup of coffee and wandered while talking about how cold and tired and hungry we were. When our friend finally got ahold of us we meandered to an upscal izakaya where we had, of course, a great variety of food. Among the things I'd never tried beofre were raw fish liver (great texture. terrible taste) and freshly made, still bubbling tofu (tofu texture, no taste). After this, our day was over. We were tired and full and it was time to go home.