From Oct. 19 to 24, my siblings Pete, Paul, Penny and I — together with our mom — were in Fukuoka, Japan. The vacation was years in the planning because it took a while to convince mom to brave the airport chaos and get on a plane once again. It was our first trip abroad together since the global COVID lockdown in March 2020.
Since then, mom has refused to travel abroad because of all the requirements and the fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Being a senior citizen, she is quite vulnerable. Our persistence finally paid off when she agreed to the trip a few months ago. Her only request was that it be a leisure trip with no schedule to keep. She just wanted to hang out with her four children, and this was, of course, fine with us.
We decided to return to Fukuoka (which we last visited in February 2018) because it is quieter and more laid-back compared to Tokyo and Osaka. Penny’s in-laws also happen to have an apartment there that they generously let us use for our visit. It was like we were kids again, all under one roof, but this time, it was our turn to serve mom.
We arrived in Fukuoka late Saturday afternoon, so we basically just unpacked our things in the apartment and went to the neighborhood grocery store to buy food and supplies for our stay. On the way back, we bought chicken karaage from a popular stall for dinner and salad and rice to go with it. By 9 p.m., we called it a night since we were all tired, having woken up before dawn that day to make it to our 9:50 a.m. PAL flight.
The next day, Sunday, we went to Canal City mall for the tender Ikinari steak, which was melt-in-your-mouth perfection that we all enjoyed. To burn the calories we had “collected” from lunch, we explored the mall. While mom and I visited the shops that sold cute trinkets and clothes, my brothers and Penny spent their time in the Bandai Namco toy store.
Bandai is Japan’s top toy maker, like Mattel is to the USA, and being in the huge store was a nostalgia feast for Pete and Paul, who ogled not only at the crazy detailed (and expensive) robots from their childhood like Voltes V and Mazinger Z, but also more contemporary crazes like One Piece and Haikyu. Penny, on the other hand, spent her time there in the huge Gashapon section, looking for collectibles for her kids.
After a couple of hours at the mall, we went home so mom could rest a bit before we headed out for the 4 p.m. English Mass at Our Lady of Victory Daemyo Catholic Church. As expected, we saw many Filipinos in the beautiful church. Even before we entered, I was telling mom that we were sure to see Pinoys there. It’s just a given that whenever you are abroad, you will see Filipinos in an English Mass not only as churchgoers but as lectors, readers and even singers in the choir.
One of the highlights of our trip was our visit to the teamLab Forest attraction. It is a new kind of interactive museum where digital art/animation is projected on the walls, floor and even on curved, non-flat surfaces such as soft stepping stones, all to give you the magical feeling of walking in a huge fantasy forest at night.
It was Penny who recommended it since she visited the teamLab attraction in Osaka with her kids, who enjoyed it immensely. Because we believed that the video projections would make her dizzy, mom stayed in the apartment while we explored the teamLab Forest. Walking through the huge exhibit space, you’d see life-sized, whimsical two-dimensional projections of lions, panthers, and elephants made of flowers and rainbow light moving around you as relaxing and soothing new age music played from invisible speakers.
You’d glance at the floor and see a 10-foot whale swimming beneath your feet, and giant, glow-in-the dark lizards approaching you if you stayed rooted to the same spot long enough. In another room, you could experience what it was like to be inside a gigantic kaleidoscope, thanks to a tunnel filled with mirrors and colorful lights. Beyond a hidden door, you’d emerge in another area whose floor was filled with giant, speckled colored mushrooms that you could use as stepping stones to get to another room. These weren’t ordinary stepping stones though, as they would change color and emit a musical sound when you stepped on them. Every minute we spent in the teamLab Forest was picture perfect, and it took quite a bit of self-control to resist taking photos and videos of everything we saw. If ever you and your kids are in a city that has a teamLab attraction, by all means, bring them to this uniquely exploratory and jaw-dropping immersive experience.
Another highlight was Midori No Oto Itoshima, a real forest some 30 minutes away by car from downtown Fukuoka that has bamboo, cedar and pine trees that are tall, thick and lush. There is also a bakeshop at the foot of the forest that sells quiches, sandwiches and cookies for hikers, and even foldable chairs (free of charge) that can be borrowed by those who trek through the forest. Once you make your way up, there are multiple lounging areas perched many meters above the forest floor where you can set up chairs in your chosen spot while enjoying your refreshments and engaging in “muni-muni” time. Because mom was afraid to go on the forest trail and climb over mossy paths, she opted to stay behind in the view deck near the reception area, where visitors have a magnificent bird’s eye view of the mountainous area.
We siblings followed the nature trail for about a hundred meters or so to see what we could, and what we did experience was lovely for the nature lovers we all are. For one, the view decks’ locations high above the ground allowed us to have a glimpse of life in the trees. It was like being one of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys living in the Never Tree or an Ewok from the “Star Wars” movies. Penny said that if we had gone even deeper into the forest, there would have been spots where we could have observed foxes and even owls in their natural habitat.
She also reported that there was a koi pond somewhere further inside teeming with colorful fish. And though we spent only an hour there (visitors are allowed to stay a maximum of three hours), what we did see of the calm and serene surroundings was perfect for city folk like us who are periodically in need of the “natural high” that only Mother Nature can provide.
When I asked mom to name the part of the trip she enjoyed most, without batting an eyelash, she replied that the best time for her were the nights we stayed in the apartment and Penny, and I cooked dinner. One evening, we made sinigang na salmon, another night we grilled wagyu steaks with buttered mushrooms that my mom and brothers devoured in a few minutes. We then sat in front of the TV and enjoyed a couple of episodes of “Monk,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” and “Lavender Fields” on Netflix. For mom, the best and happiest time is simply when she’s surrounded by her children.