Local Warming

   It was so warm yesterday--27℃--that my wife and I decided to take the boys to the beach. Only three weeks earlier we had done the very same thing, thinking it would probably be our last visit of the year. Thanks to global warming, or perhaps local warming, it wasn't. And, it may possibly won't be our last.

   According to the news, the arrival of the autumn hews, what the Japanese call kōyō (紅葉, lit. "red leaves"), is now fifteen days later than it used to be fifty years ago. Thanks to this warming trend, we are now able to come to the beach eight months of the year, something that is both pleasant and terrifying at the same time. 

   Better late than never.

Yusentei

   Yûsentei (友泉亭) is an oft overlooked, though more than worth-its-while sightseeing spot in Fukuoka City. Originally built in 1754 as the second home for Kuroda Tsugutaka, the 6th feudal lord of the Kuroda Han (present-day Fukuoka). Yûsentei, which features a subdued, yet beautiful garden, was named after a poem by Kuze Michinatsu in which the coolness of the spring water in the summer and the cloistered life at the house is depicted. The residence was designated a ‘Site of Scenic Beauty’ in 1998 and has since been open to the public. A short drive or bus-ride south of Ropponmatsu, it is a must-see in autumn.