Hello everyone! My name is Noel (most left) and I’m currently in Japan as an Language Learning student.
On Friday August 11th, 2023 (also known as Mountain Day!) I was luckily able to take part in a short tour around the liveliest part of Kofu! Thanks to the Kofu City Hall, we were able to get a guided tour through Maizuru Castle Park and the Jewelry Museum!
I’ve been living in Kofu for over a year now and had no idea how much history there was to the castle grounds! These stone walls have over four hundred years of history to them!
Did you know that there are two connected walls that have about a one hundred year difference between when they were erected? The way that you can tell is how the rocks are placed!
It’s also not clear if the castle itself was ever completed. Researchers have been investigating but it’s still unknown...
They monitor the walls for any and all movement. Japan has many earthquakes everyday and even though they may be small, they do have an effect on buildings as old as these!
Moving on to the Jewelry Museum, we were able to see all the different kinds of rocks and gemstones from both Japan and all around the world! Pictures are not allowed inside but it was definitely a sight to see. On display is a step-by-step creation on how they create a decoration and/or accessory from the rock itself. At the end of the route, they also have a video of this process! Starting from what the creator wants out of the gemstone to how it’s grinded down to the finished product. As well as another video that shows a more in-depth process making of how a stone is shaped, grinded, and smoothed.
We also had the chance to create our own necklaces! We created necklaces with our initals from scratch! They have the Latin alphabet molds so no need to worry about thinking what it would be in Japanese. The whole process itself didn’t take too long at all and it’s worth all the time and effort seeing something that you made come out of a mini-kiln!
They do groups of four per session but our group was six so the instructor had us all together. We tried to make it as easy as we could for her but of course it was a bit confusing. But thanks to her wonderful instructions, none of our letters broke! She said that it’s very common to have a small end break off (which is easily fixed!!) but we were all lucky enough to not break them and only need a small crack or two repaired!
Lastly, we disbanded and had our free-time! Kofu’s Summer Festival also coincided with the tour and most of us headed back towards the Castle Park to watch all the events on the main stage and eat at the stalls!
Unfortunately, last year we were unable to have a summer festival due to the remnants of COVID-19, but thankfully this year the whole town was able to enjoy themselves!
There were many events throughout the day and many, many food stalls to eat at! To say that it was lively and exciting would be to put it lightly!
And what would be a Japanese Summer Festival if not for fireworks? Of course to close out the night, there was a short fireworks show to wrap it all up.
If you have the chance to visit Kofu, I recommend adding these places to your list! These Japanese summers are hot and humid so please make sure to drink lots of water and enjoy your time!!
Click here for the report in Japanese!
