Itami Airport wine and sake shops

Returning from a recent trip to Sydney, Australia, I passed through Itami Airport in Osaka. The airport has scores of attractive shops, but two booze shops especially caught my eye for their thoughtful and intense presentation.

The sake shop looks almost like a museum or art gallery with its bottles presented as precious artefacts.

However, the shop has a very practical aspect – for 100 yen, a vending machine will serve you a shot of one of about 40 different sakes from the Kansai region, which you can taste on the spot. That's the wall-sized machine on the left in the photo below.

The shop features many traditional elements such as the country farmhouse 'stairs n' storage' behind the counter, a serving lady in Japanese clothes, and the sake brewery's evergreen bush symbol hanging in the entrance.

The colourful menu board outside and the very well-stocked open fridge are more modern touches.

After hovering about pondering the joys of sake, I was then induced to think about wine, by Messrs. Gracias. Quite a broad swathe of travellers were likewise engaged.

At the back of the shop is a little counter serving a selection of wines and snacks. Two businessmen were twirling and sniffing at large glasses of red.

The wines come with a personal introduction and a photo of the vintner. This doesn't apply to all of them, but the shopkeeper has obviously made considerable effort to achieve reasonable coverage in this regard.

In some cases, the wine is even wired – this wine comes with dedicated QR-type code for wines. Download the app and point your smartphone at the picture of the grapes, and you could read about the wine on your phone.

The story-telling and social integration goes even further. The shopkeeper has carefully prepared a display that links the wine with a successful and trendy manga for adults. This creates a very engaging appeal.

Kokura Gion Daiko Festival

I was in Kokura for the last day of the Gion Daiko (Drum) Festival. Groups perform in various streets of the city with drums and small hand cymbals, while many of the public don yukata to watch them.

The Self Defence Force marching band was also getting about playing marching music on the move, and Japanese pop songs when they halted.

Even the very young take part in the drumming. They go at it until they flop.

A drama with drums and flutes is played out in the shrine inside the castle grounds.

Some groups depart from the castle pulling wheeled festival carts mounted with drums.

It's mostly girls and young ladies who wear yukata, but some stylish young men are seen wearing them too.

The drumming goes on constantly and can be heard everywhere.

Not all groups are the same. As soon as this group set up its drums and flags, a file of policemen appeared and surrounded them, gradually blocking them off from the audience. Presumably they are one of the 'antisocial elements', maybe be bosozoku or yakuza in training.

This group were pretty rockin'.

The drumming went on after dark. This crew was taking apart their wagon at 8pm before adjourning for drinks under a tree in the local park.

Around Kokura and Mojiko

At the end of a row of warehouses is a vision of Byzantium. Or maybe Venice. It turns out to be a very grandiose wedding establishment.

Tanga Market has some of the scruffiest shops I've ever seen. Next to this unappealing meat shop is an even more unappealing whale meat shop.

Some parts of Kokura are glamorous and new...

...others are not particularly glamorous or new.

Kokura seems to have more than its fair share of very naughty children. Well, it was very hot.

There's a lot of steel around Kokura. The Sumitomo steelworks raises its chimneys behind a heap of scrap metal.

In the docks areas, everything has its number. "Please tie up your ship, the No.18 I believe, at No. 46, and put your goods in Nos. 7 and 9".

And if your goods or ship should catch fire, here's the fireboat.

Kyushu Railway History Museum

I was wondering whether or not to visit the Kyushu Railway History Museum. But when I saw these posters outside Mojiko station, I made up my mind to go.

I wasn't disappointed. The whole museum was a celebration of metal and other materials in various finely crafted forms.

Kids seemed to like it. These wicked children were being positively encouraged by their grandmother, a wicked lady herself, to misbehave.

This particular type of train used to go past my house. It was a joy to see it again.

The Japanese have managed to connect railways with food in the form of the station lunch box (ekiben). Regional specialities and local ingredients are used, and the containers are typically works of art in themselves.