Arita Porcelain Festival

At the end of April/beginning of May the town of Arita hosts the largest porcelain festival on Kyushu.  I visited three different areas of this festival over two days.  I have never seen so much china in my entire life!  The first day I visited China-in-the-Park which is where the factories for the Fukagawa brand are located.  There were large shops filled with dinner sets, rice bowls, vases, utensils, etc.  From there my friends and I went into Arita and the narrow streets were lined with porcelain shops. My eyes start to blur after awhile looking at all of the finely decorated china.  The good thing is that there is something for everyone's budget.  I walked away with 3 rice bowls and a mortar/pestle set.  We were also given free rice bowls from some people who were selling china near our parking place.  I suppose they were thank you gifts for parking in their front yard for 1,000 yen.