I was recently invited down to Kumamoto Prefecture.

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It was my first time being down in that area.

It's down near the bottom of Japan.

Put a little map here so you can get an idea.

It's quite a quick plane ride from Tokyo actually.

I think it was just over two hours.

I got invited there to do a volunteer workshop actually.

I'll tell you a little bit about that

near the end of the video.

I was invited to Mashiki Town which

is the area of Kumamoto that was worst hit

by the earthquake that occurred last year April.

Over 200 people lost their lives

and thousands of people had to evacuate

their homes because their homes

were either completely destroyed

or the damage that was caused to

them was too much to where it wasn't safe

for them to live there anymore.

I was given a little tour of the town

and we drove around.

All the debris had been cleared up.

But there were so many empty lots

where there used to be a house.

It was just such a weird feeling.

I've never seen anything like that before.

There would be a perfectly good house

and then another perfectly good house here,

but in between would just be a flat, empty lot

without absolutely nothing left.

That was all throughout the town.

Every other house would be an empty lot.

I was also taken to a famous tourist spot

in Mashiki Town called Shioi Suigen.

They had the most beautiful water.

It's this little temple.

Then there's this pond right under

the temple area filled with koi fish.

The water is just so clear and so clean.

There's a little stream running down into the pond.

I tasted a bit of the water and it was

just so delicious.

Apparently people would bring their water bottles there

and fill them up and drink that water.

It's just coming fresh down from the mountains.

It was really really nice.

That whole shrine had been completely destroyed

in the earthquake.

Lots of the debris was left as it had fallen.

The torii gate, the entrance to the shrine,

the stone torii gate was just fallen

and lying across the pond area.

The stairs were destroyed.

You couldn't go up the stairs to see

the shrine anymore.

Here's some more clips from Shioi Suigen

so you can see the extent of the damage

but also how beautiful the place is

and I really really hope that they

can gather the funds to restore it

because it was just such an amazing spot.

This gray area beside the jinja here.

You can kind of see that this is where

the earth split during the earthquake.

That's why there was such large damage.

It looks like this tree that was

in front here completely fell over.

That's a big tree.

The jinja itself was apparently rebuilt

just a few years before the earthquake.

It was quite a sturdy structure

and that's why it made it through the earthquake all right.

I spotted some big koi.

Wow.

Wow, white one.

The water's so clean.

Look at how big it is.

After we finished our tour of the town

I was taken for lunch at this local mom and pop restaurant.

They were so sweet and the food

was really delicious.

We're at a local restaurant right now

and we're gonna grab some lunch.

I'm going to get the yasai teishoku

Apparently this is Kumamoto thing

to do is to put somen in your miso soup.

I got the yasai itame with rice,

pickles, miso soup with the noodles in it.

This is gobo salad.

Gobo is a root.

It's called burdock root in English.

It's really delicious.

If you come to Japan, and you have

a chance to eat it, please do.

The noodles go actually well with the miso soup.

I really like that.

It's a great idea.

But their shop was not the original shop.

It had been destroyed in the earthquake

and they were now renting a building

and working out of that.

There were I believe four other businesses as well

in that parking lot area that were doing

the same thing.

After lunch we went around and visited

the other shops and we got to know

the people there.

They have really interesting hanko.

They're hidden inside of sushi.

I've never seen anything like that before.

That's so cool.

I think that would be so hilarious

if you pulled out your hanko at the bank

and it was sushi.

Toshimaya, they are selling drones

and radio helicopters and planes.

Look at this helicopter.

Apparently it has a 50cc engine inside.

That could power a small bike.

It's so small.

Next we're gonna pop into a chiropractic

and massage business.

Really, really welcoming and friendly

and they were so happy to tell me

about their story and the experience

they had in the earthquake

and how they're trying to get back

up on their feet now.

I just really hope if any of you guys

are down in the Kumamoto area

that you make a stop at Mashiki Town

and you pop into these stores

and you help them out a little by buying something

or even just going in and saying hi to them

and telling them you saw them in my video.

I think they would be so happy.

After that we went a little further up

the street around the corner to a famous local Manjyuu shop.

Takana is like the meibutsu of Kumamoto,

one of the foods they're famous for.

Manjyuu are usually sweet, but this shop

has a Takana Manjyuu which should

be kind of salty.

I'm super excited for this Takana Manjyuu.

I have never heard of anything like this.

I love Takana and I love Manjyuu.

So those two things together sounds very intriguing.

Wow it's very big.

It's salty, this is so weird.

It reminds me of like a vegetable version of nikuman.

It's kind of spicy.

It's a little spicy, but not too much.

I really like it.

If you happen to be in Mashiki Town

stop by this place and grab one

of these Takana Manjuu because

I'm pretty sure you won't find anything like this

somewhere else.

Then we had gotten a recommendation

from one of the other shop owners

to visit this Futomaki sushi shop.

Futoi means fat in and Maki means roll.

So it's like a huge roll of sushi.

Then after all that we went to the city hall

where I would be giving the workshop.

But the city hall was also not

the original city hall.

It had been damaged and everybody

had been moved to a building

that they were renting for now

while that gets fixed.

We went to the room and we set it all up.

What the workshop was is that I

would be teaching the local people

of Mashiki Town how to make YouTube videos

of their favorite spots around the town

so that they could upload them

and kind of encourage more tourism

in the area to kind of help build

up their economy again so they'll

have enough money flowing to fix things up.

Lots of different people came.

There were young students and business men

and I just had such a great time.

Members from city hall came to see

what was going on.

Everyone was really excited about the idea.

We had so much fun.

At the end of the workshop everybody

showed their final product, their videos to us.

They did such a great job.

If you would like to see all the videos

that they made in the workshop,

I will link them all down below.

Please go leave them comments

and give them thumbs up.

I know it would make them so happy.

That was my experience in Mashiki Town in Kumamoto.

I hope you guys enjoyed watching this video.

I really had a lovely time there.

The people were so sweet and I just felt

so welcomed and it was just such

a heart warming experience to see

how they all keep such a positive attitude

and they're so cheerful even though

they've been through so much this past year and a half.

I really really hope the best for them

and I again encourage you all to go visit them

and support them and say hi.

I know they would be so happy

to see you guys and invite you into their shop.

Thanks so much for watching.

If you enjoyed this video please give

it a thumbs up and subscribe.

I will see you guys again soon.

Bye.

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