Imagine my surprise when I was just trying to go to a porcelain flea market and I found this palace!

Arita Porcelain Park, the place where the most exquisite porcelain is made in Japan. I’ve had my eye sights set on Arita since I first heard about it the first week I was here, especially since it is just one town over. It was time to do some exploring, especially since they were having a porcelain flea market, and there’s nothing like a good sale to reel me in. I was going to drive there by myself but my friends W & D, a very nice older couple came along too. We made the trip over on a gorgeously sunny afternoon. It was a fantastic day. We got very lost, as I had a small feeling we would, it’s almost impossible not to around here.

In the end, we asked directions from a Japanese family at a park and the whole Japanese family I was talking to piled into their mini van and they drove to the flea market while we followed so we would ensure to get there. I bet not many people in America would go out of their way to do something so nice as that. Along the way we saw the Japanese porcelain making university, the wholesale of Arita Ceramics, and porcelain shops everywhere along the way.

Nothing prepared me for what we saw when we arrived at the Arita Porcelain Park. A German Palace! It was magnificent. At first I wanted to run over and take pictures but instead I opted to shop and shop we did. W and I bought all kinds of things. I found a porcelain fish bowl and platter, a set of five porcelain bowls with lids and a sake set.

As an FYI the word for 4 in Japan is “she” which also means death and so  NEVER sell things in sets of four. Its considered very bad luck to their superstitious nature so you will always find things in sets of 3, 5, or 6. More commonly 5 or 6. W saw a set of four plates in a box and an older Japanese women walked over to the stand and covered it up with a cloth.

We took all of our finds back to the car and then I set off to take pictures of the palace. The Zwinger Palace. All of the pictures attached I took using the Vivid option on my cannon camera to make it more colorful and spectacular! Inside the palace no cameras were allowed, but they sell the most exquisite porcelain pieces. I saw a plate for over 1,000,000 Yen, which would be over $10,000, for a plate!

This palace is only about 20 minutes away from where I live. We spent all afternoon walking around and exploring and back at the main building this older Japanese man tried to get me very drunk. He almost succeeded. He made me try 5 different sake’s. The whole store was entertained by us.

Afterwards we went to a Sushi Go Round (The place where sushi swings by on belts and you just pick what you want to eat as you go) for dinner, and it was delicious as always.

They even had electronic touch screens you can order from and when your food is on its way it dings for you to pick it up off the belt. That was one of the best parts although our food went by and then it dinged after it was already gone so we had to wait for a half of an hour for it to come back around. haha.

The 105 Sushi as we call it,  is only 5 minutes from my house, I found a back road, so they will be seeing me much more often for sure. We stuffed ourselves for just over 10 dollars and it was so yummy. It always is. It never gets old. And it’s so cheap. Enjoy the pictures, I certainly am, I still can’t believe that was there.

This article appeared first on Dynamic Soarer.