When The Volcano is Prohibited, Eat Raw Horse

After Nagasaki we traveled east to the city of Kumamoto. While we weren't in Kumamoto long, we did get to visit a Lutheran high school there. Katie Narum-Miyamoto is a missionary teacher at the school and we are both from the same home church, First Lutheran in Minot, North Dakota. Katie showed us around which was a real treat, especially since Anna and I taught at a Lutheran high school in Slovakia a few years ago.

From Kumamoto we went to visit a place called Aso, a huge volcano caldera in the central highlands of Kyushu. Part of the volcano is still active and unfortunately it was too gaseous for us to visit the top.

The bus ride up

Volcanic activity

Insert Fart Joke

Trying to smile even though I missed the chance to see the inside of a volcano

 

After my tears were dried, we hitchhiked back down the mountain with two nice gals who gave us a rather un-pedestrian recommendation on a local speciality: raw horse. Anna knows how to handle a horse on the farm and she was sure we could handle this too. How could we refuse such a delicacy?

Horse being prepared in back. Anna posing with beef.

Deliciousness with ginger and soy sauce

So, despite the lack of volcano observing, we still had a great time in Aso. The whole area is beautiful and the caldera is especially impressive. While Japanese cities have been great, being out in the countryside is unbeatable.