Nishimatsuura-gun (西松浦郡)
Arita (有田町)
Arita’s diminutive size belies its cultural significance. Only 13,500 people live here, but it has one of the most immediately recognized names in Saga-ken. The reason for this is simple: ceramics. Arita porcelain has been shipped all over the world since the 18th century. Today, it is still one of the most active ceramics production centers in Japan. Naturally, Arita has its very own ceramics museum that is famous throughout Japan for its research on ceramics: Kyushu Ceramic Museum (Kyushu Toji Bunkakan, 九州陶磁文化館).
Due to the towns tourist popularity, there are a number of other places to visit and things to do centered around porcelain. The Porcelain Park is a large replica of a wannabe German village. For the art enthusiasts, there is the Arita Kan, which is an exhibition of porcelain art. Tozan Shrine attracts those interested in seeing a shrine with parts built out of porcelain. If you have never sculpted your own piece of pottery before and have always wanted to, Rokuroza offers you that chance.
If these attractions aren’t enough to bring you out to Arita at least once during the year, then maybe one of the town’s festivals will. The famous and largely popular Toki-Ichi porcelain fair is on from April 29 to May 5. There is also the Okuchi and Sarayama Matsuri in October and the Ishiba Ozumo Matsuri in November.
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Nishi-Arita (西有田町)
Nishi-Arita is part of the Arita-yaki pottery valley, and several kilns are located here. But if you’ve already gotten your fill of cermacs next door in Arita proper, Nishi-Arita has a few other things to recommend it. The Ryumon Dam (竜門ダム) is part of the hiking network linking Mt. Kurokami, Arita Dam and Imari’s Okawachiyama. Like its neighboring porcelain pal, Nishi-Arita has a festival. However, it is not porcelain related. Nishi-Arita sponsors an annual Asian Festival in the fall. Previous participants have come from Nepal, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea to display traditional arts and folk crafts.