Let’s start off with a quick introduction of who I am. My name is Ekaterina Buggenhout, known as Katja a BA3 student in 2022-2023 when I left to Japan for my exchange program. Now, where is Itoshima actually? Sounds like the middle of nowhere, really. It is. I’m not going to lie. It is a pensular of Fukuoka prefecture, surounded by ocean, filled with mountains, hills and wild boar, lots of frogs, crabs that appear from bushes and spiders that just chill in their spiderwebs and wait for something to meet their unfortunate end in the sticky webs for them to feed on. Itoshima is a pretty big location. It lies a good hour (and half, sometimes) by train and bus from the center of the city of Fukuoka namely Hakata. Surrounded by mountain and the smell of seawater, the University to which I went to lies. Kyushu University.
Kyushu University (Kyudai), Ito Campus specifically, is a fairly modern location as it the building was completed in 2018 (some parts in the West Zone are older as they have been there for over 30 years and renowed). When first arriving here, it was pitch dark outside as I arrived on April 9 2023 at 8PM at my dorm. It was only on April 10 that I was able to look around the campus in the full blaring sun cooking me alive (it was a solid 26°C outside that day and I was not prepared). But, it was the first time I could really take a solid look at where I was. And it surely is nice to look at. Although it sounds large when I speak of West Zone, East Zone, Center Zone and the many fields that belong to the campus, in addition even a large street that goes across the whole campus where the busses, cars, trucks and more pass on a daily basis. Across the campus is about a 30 minute walk, some say 40 minutes, it truly depends on the spead you walk. do note it is slightly uphill on some parts which also may slow you down. Those hills are in a sense similar to Blandijnberg, if you know what I mean. A familiar feeling, is what I'd call it.
Now that we know where Itoshima lies and where I was at exactly, let's turn this around to more of the things I did. I believe that is what you are most interested in either way.
COURSES
Of course, I was on an exchange program so I had to follow classes. Yes yes, not that fun, or that may be what you think. I must say that the classes there are quite chill compared to classes in Belgium. They were, in my opinion quite fun, well some of them may have been less fun but definitely not less informative. In Kyudai there are various programs you can follow as an exchange student for Japanese studies such as the JTW (undergraduate program for international students, very few Japanese students join this, I've only had 1 in my class), JACS (Japanese langauage course for international students), JTC (Japanese langauge course for primarely researchers or international students, but it's non-credited), IMAP (Master program for International master students that are fully registered in Kyudai, so not primarily for exchange students, but we have the privilege to be able to take those subjects) and more. But those are the ones I came in contact with, basically.
But since we are on the topic of courses. Let me talk about IMAP. It's a really nice master program at the university. But, since I am not a mater student, we still had the privilege to go with them on excursions! And let me tell you. It was quite chaotic but fun! We went to Nagasaki somewhere in May, on a hella rainy day. But it was worth it. We visited a few musea as well as the atomic bomb museum. Excursions are only a short day trip by bus so you can't really expect much. However, that doesn't take away the fun. Next up we went to Kumamoto castle (in the picture above) and then I also had the possibility to join other trips to Munakata for example in context of a two week intensive course on Shinto within Japan.
Overal. Worth it. I have no regrets to simply join those trips. I enjoyed my time, I learned new things and got to see a few locations around Kyushu for that.
Did I only visit those few locations? Oh trust me. I did not. I went to a whole lot of places, mostly around Fukuoka Prefecture as I simply wanted to explore the region more than travel to the massive touristy cities such as Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto. I did not set foot there. I did head up to Hiroshima. Let's check that out!
Hiroshima
I headed up to Hiroshima on May 27 till May 29, on my own. I booked a hotel (got a discount, thank you Agoda, a booking website) and decided to head by Shinkansen (bless you Aya for helping me buy a ticket). Finally, got all my stuff ready and headed up to Hakata, took the Shinkansen and off I went to Hiroshima from Fukuoka city. It took a few hours? Honestly, I don't even remember. It was quite a short trip to get there. And first I did was head up to the Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima castle and wandered around the city to just explore it by myself. I had my old Nikon D5200 I bought back in 2014 with me to Japan and it served me very well. I take too many pictures, and when I tell you my camera suffered the consequences of it, I promise you it did. Back to Hiroshima.
Honest opinion. I like Hiroshima as a city. It's a really nice, almost quiet city and I really like that. It's practical when it comes to public transportation (really easy!) and I don't know there was just something about the city that I just for some reason enjoyed so much. I only spent a few days there and I did not feel like I was out of place nor far away. A strange feeling, I must say.
I of course ate the Hiroshima okonomiyaki. And I heard from a lot of people that it is the best one and Osaka okonoimyaki definitely can't beat it. And I won't know. I only had Hiroshima okonomiyaki and it is good. That's my only statement.
What did I do on day 2 aside from literally wander the city and just enjoy it? I headed to Miyajima! You know, the floating torii. Very very famous. I won't say much about it, I bet you know everything. It's highly busy with tourists, too many people for me to navigate in. So what did I do? I headed to where there were no people. Tip. Go to the other side of the beach, there is a smaller torii on the shore and the positive thing is, literally no one goes there. Recomended location is the buddhist temple further on the mountain and the mountain trail that goes by it.You'll figure it out. It's a nice location, and not a lot of people went there when I went there so that was nice. That day also made me realise that I really don't like highly touristy spots because I like to be able to breathe. People in those locations apparently don't.
Enough ranting about what is nice or not about locations. Just visit Hiroshima if you have the chance and exprience it for yourself. I at least had no regrets going there and I'd love to head back there at some point. Put it on your list. And while y ou're at it, try and find locations people don't talk about in bigger cities and visit those too. I always find it more fun to just find locations no one really visits. I'd do anything to escape touristy spots and just get lost somewhere else, knowing I'd eventually find my way back to civilisation.
And that is exactly what I did on the third day. I headed to the Japanese garden, art museum and wandered around further north and hiked a mountain. As I did that. I basically did not see over 100 people that whole day. Compared to the few hundred perhaps thousand people the day before on Miyajima. Enough about Hiroshima, let's travel back to Fukuoka and get to know Fukuoka a little bit more. Starting off by a few pictures that may make you a little curious.
These are of course only a few pictures from Fukuoka prefecture only, some located in Itoshima, some in Fukuoka city. (More pictrues are found on Insagram: katja_tokyushu).
It is quite hard to summarize an experience of almost 6 months in just a few pictures and a text. But I’ll try my best to do so. Although, we may have had a rough start back in April 2023, the more time passed the more fun it got for myself. I got to explore a whole different part of the world, meet different people from around the world and most of all make wonderful memories. Whether I was walking around alone with my camera or my photographer buddy Wen/Shawn or Louis with whom I spent most of my time during lunches and dinners.
To some, Fukuoka may not sound as interesting unlike the neverending city of Tokyo, the old Kyoto and the streetlife of Osaka. But to me, whom had lived around there for nearly 6 months, it got a whole other meaning. Fukuoka is maybe nothing fancy like those major cities but it has gems unlike any other location. There are locations I don’t dare to speak of as I fear tourists will overflow them soon aftter. And I’m glad it is not too touristy. Most of the tourists you’ll see are Koreans, Chinese, Indians and less non-asian people. Still it is a big city, with a whole lot of people. However, it doesn’t feel that busy. It feels quite relaxed, nice, quiet most of the time. It doesn’t feel overwhelming, and it definitely is not an endless sea of buildings. If you stand on top of Hakata station you see the mountains surrounding the city and the ocean just there within reach. Truly a gorgeous sight I won’t forget. Food wise too, it is a great food city with food stalls nearly every night in Nakasu and other regions around the city and fireworks displays at different locations around the prefecture during the summer months up till September sometimes even October. I highly recommend to give Fukuoka a chance but also, don’t bring all the tourists there either!
Bye-bye Japan
Just like everything, things come to an end. After nearly 6 months my exchange came to an end. However, that also wasn't really the end, I felt like. In a sense I knew that one day I would return, just not soon, yet. Besides, all those memories I made there I can keep alive with me and in the pictures I took together with the notebook I put together with tickets from my trips and more.
It may not be soon that I'll meet the poeple I got to know again, nor will it be soon when I head back there and experience new things and new places I hadn't had the time to visit. But this experience was worth it. Whether I learned more and got any better at Japanese is something I have to still figure out. But honestly, whether I did or not, I can say that I have achieved one of my dreams in life. Which was going to Japan. And even more, I surpassed that dream. I lived there for nearly 6 months, I studied there, I traveled there alone, I made wonderful memories. I did. And you can do that too.
If you may be worried about going or not. Surely, the start will always be the hardest part. The ending, in my opinion depends ont he person, to me it was not that hard either as I knew it would have to end and I had things I needed to return to in Belgium, people I needed to return to.
But if you hesitate, I hope this blogpost may change your mind and you'd give this exchange a try. Don't get me wrong. It isn't always easy, it never will be. But one day you'll look back and tell yourself that you are glad you went through with it and did not give up. And I hope you too can make wonderful memories and live your dreams.
That's all for this blog with a little bit about smaller parts of Japan.
Thank you for reading.
- Ekaterina Buggenhout (Katja) Webmaster 2022-2023
PS: Feel free to ask any questions about the exchange program of UGent or follow this link to my explanation of the exchange program.