Having devoted the last two posts to travel, why not follow up with a little pottery post. Arita is an town in Saga-prefecture, Kyushu, famous for its porcelain. The tradition of porcelain dates back to the 17th century and the Arita ware, particularly the blue and white porcelain, is a well known export product of Japan. I first heard of Arita porcelain from my dad many years ago, and him being an Arita aficionado I was so happy we could take my parents to Arita when they came to visit two years ago.
Since moving to Japan, we have been to Arita quite a few times, it is an easy drive, less than two hours, from where we live. One of the most surprising places to visit, must be Arita Porcelain Park and its full size replica of Zwinger Palace in Germany. Seeing a European palace in Japan takes a little time to get used to, and having seen the most amazingly unexpected things here in Japan, I have added this one to my list of favorites. At the Porcelain Park you can experience doing pottery or painting porcelain, and finding activities that equally suits a soon-to-be five-year old as well as his parents are always specially fun. During our latest visit, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, we enjoyed painting cups and bowls and left them there for glazing. Now we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our personalized Arita ware.
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