FUKUOKA ¨C ¡°I have just one dream before I leave Japan,¡± my friend Anneke says plaintively, shortly after learning her family would be returning to the Netherlands a year earlier than expected. ¡°And that is to go to Kyushu and see with my own eyes the famous ceramics towns there.¡±
Kyushu, the third largest and southernmost of Japan¡¯s main islands, is indeed a dream destination for pottery lovers. Not only does it have one of the highest concentrations of kilns in the country, but it¡¯s full of museums and historical sites related to the development of ceramics in Japan. So, as a parting gift, I offer to take Anneke on a ceramics-centric farewell fling to Kyushu.
Getting there is easy: I go online and book the two-hour flight to Fukuoka from Tokyo¡¯s Haneda Airport. The harder part is deciding where to go from there. There are dozens of pottery towns in Kyushu, but we need to narrow down our choices to fit a long weekend.
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