- I'm Sonnie.

- And today we're at Dazaifu station

in Fukuoka Prefecture

and we are heading to the museum today.

And the museum is somewhere

that we have lived really close to for a long time

and neither of us have actually

taken the time to go and see what it's all about.

- I didn't know you haven't been there either.

- I haven't. No.

- That's cool.

- I've seen the outside of it

and I haven't gone inside of it.

So, today we're gonna take a walk through Dazaifu.

We're gonna see what's going on

and then we're gonna check out the museum

and maybe even pop by somewhere

for like a cute little lunch on the way back.

So from the station you go straight

and you're gonna hit the main road,

(bright upbeat music)

and main road leads both to the Daizifu Tenmangu Shrine

and the museum.

Have you been to the shrine before?

- I've been to the shrine once before.

And it was really cool and really beautiful.

- Uh hmm.

This area is really like,

I don't know. It's nice.

It feels like you've just gone back in time.

- It's very historic.

- So, we're about to go across this bridge

that like this famous red bridge

that leads to Dazaifu Shrine.

But did you know that there's like this rumor

that if you cross this bridge

with your lover,

they say that like if you stop half way,

then it's bad luck

and you'll probably break up.

- Oh no.

I did not know that.

- I'm glad we aren't married.

We did it.

- Yay.

- [Micaela] So the museum is from here,

we go this way.

- After living in Fukuoka,

which is the biggest city I've personally lived in,

it's really nice to get out here

and just be surrounded by the greenery here.

It's just really beautiful

and it makes me feel like--

- Invigorated. Revived.

- Yes, revived is the perfect word.

- [Micaela] There's a little theme park over here for kids

and it's playing theme park music

that just kinda echoes through the forest

and through everything.

- And you feel through your soul.

- [Micaela] Yeah.

- And you feel like it's going to change

into a minor chord

- [Micaela] Yeah. And then everything

is gonna go terribly wrong,

like are you afraid of the dark

or like goosebumps or something.

- Oh my god.

- [Micaela] Ahhh.

Oh my god, those escalators huge.

- [Sonnie] Yeah. Did you know I'm scared of escalators?

- [Micaela] Are you really?

- [Sonnie] Yeah. So you can't touch me.

- [Micaela] Okay.

Sonnie is a little bit afraid of escalators.

And like in the background we can hear the theme park music,

like just outside the door. (laughs loudly)

You know something bad is about to happen.

You see this?

We're gong down the rainbow tunnel.

This is actually really cool.

- [Sonnie] Mario Kart. It's the rainbow bridge.

- And you thought museums were boring.

No. - Shame on you.

Shame. - I don't know.

I think I thought museums were boring.

But I'm actually enjoying this quite.

- [Sonnie] But we're not technically in the museum yet.

- I know.

I think like I never go to museums

because I have the impression that museums

and libraries and art galleries are boring.

- You're naming some of my favorite places to go

(both laughs loudly)

- It's just like,

I don't know,

like a preconceived notion that I have

- Yeah.

- But, now that I'm here,

I feel like this is actually really cool.

I mean we're not even there yet

but I'm having fun.

(bright music)

Wow. This place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be.

I've seen photos before

but seeing it in comparison

to like how little the people are,

ohh what a gorgeous reflective surface.

You could see all of the forest that surrounds the museum

reflected in the windows of the museum.

So, right next to the museum

is this restaurant, Green House,

which is like a giant open restaurant space.

You wanna try eating here?

- Ahhh, yes. 'cause that looks amazing.

- [Micaela] Oh my gosh.

Actually, yes.

- [Sonnie] I really like that they have

the allergy information.

- [Micaela] Actually, yeah.

- [Sonnie] One really clear, you know,

so you don't have to be really nervous about eating here.

- [Micaela] That's actually a really good point.

They have a lot of itoshima produce on their menu,

which means that they're using local ingredients,

which is always good.

Green House is a restaurant run by New Otani,

which is a Japan-based high end hotel chain.

Located right outside of the museum,

surrounded by a nice green forest,

this is a fairly quiet place to enjoy a nice meal,

away from the chaos of the main roads.

They serve both Japanese and Western style foods,

making it very tourist friendly.

Once you're inside the museum,

head to the ticket kiosk

from the main floor to purchase your tickets.

One ticket is 430 yen per person.

All right.

- We're going up another escalator.

(Micaela giggles loudly)

- Sonnie's favorite.

Sonnie really doesn't like escalators,

which I should have thought about

before I asked her to come to the museum

that is like 90% escalators.

- It would be worth it.

- All right, so now we have our tickets,

we are heading up to the fourth floor.

It's another very long escalator

and we're going to check out the monthly exhibition.

But first, I've heard that there's a place up here

where you could borrow English guidance audio,

which would be very helpful for us

because we don't really know what we're doing.

After setting up our audio guides,

we headed into the exhibition area

and headed straight to the Sarasa exhibition.

This is a textile display

that explains how traditional Japanese fabrics,

known as Sarasa,

actually originated in India.

It was interesting to see how the textile patterns change

into uniquely Japanese patterns and styles

throughout the years.

All the exhibits have translations in four languages,

Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

- [Micaela] There are a few interactive exhibits as well,

which are a lot of fun when you're visiting with friends.

Back on the first floor,

there's a gift shop

and another interactive area

that touches on cultural inventions from across Asia,

which we had a lot of fun in.

(xylophone music)

I'm a musical genius.

(both laughs loudly)

All right, that was a lot of fun.

Sonnie really likes museums.

That's what I've learned to day.

(Sonnie laughs loudly)

because I like go around and look

and I'm like, hmmm, very good, nice display,

all is well,

and Sonnie is like telling me the history of everything

and how it's all connected and what.

It's cool.

- And theories.

- I think in the end I didn't even the need the audio guide

because having Sonnie with me is just as useful.

(laughs loudly)

Yeah. Well this is a really cool place.

I'm really impressed by the scale

and I've never been here before.

I'd always see photos of the oustide

and I knew it was the big building

with the reflective outside windows

but then once I got here

I was really blown away by the scale of the entire thing

and then even like on the first floor inside,

we've got this huge,

high rise roof,

structures, - Ceilings.

- Ceilings,

that's the word.

Yeah.

A whole Yamakasa float display

built in the background,

those things are pretty big,

and for that entire thing to be inside a building like this.

She tall.

(Sonnie laughs loudly)

She tall.

Anyway, what did you like about the museum?

- Um.

I actually need to come back

because it wasn't enough time for me.

(Micaela laughs loudly)

I really,

I did like that they have interactive stuff as well as,

I mean, I'll enjoy anything basically,

as long as I'm learning something.

I'm super happy because I'm a huge dork

but I do feel like they have--

- She is.

- I am.

- But I do feel like they have a lot of different

kinds of displays.

So, a lot of people can enjoy that stuff.

- Yeah. For sure. For sure.

All right guys.

So, thanks for watching

and we'll talk to you again soon.

Bye.

(bright upbeat music)