Museum and sumo

Took a nice morning stroll thru Nishi koen  – a few trees turning to Autumn colours. Nothing much more to report here – just a nice place to wander around 😛

Visited the City museum and started with the special exhibition about the crazy tall floats they used to build in the area… can’t build them as tall anymore coz of all the power lines 😛  This one took up most of our time so we had to get a fast pace on for the permanent exhibition – saw half of the first section but skipped the entire second section. (Had to get to Sumo for the top division entrance ceremony)

We’d already decided we’d have to come back to Fukuoka on another trip so not too much of a drama – the permanent is only 200¥ !!
(Pics not allowed in the museum – which usually the case for most museums… especially special exhibitions)

Sumo was great fun. Got pretty exciting after the makuuchi matches started. People call out for their favourite rikishi, and the whole crowd shouts when one does a power stamp. One of the yokozuna was centimetres away from stepping out of the ring but quickly fought back to win. The other yokozuna match was over in seconds. Shows why they are both champions.

They were both 10 wins 0 losses so far this tournament – now both 11-0 so the tournament champion still hasn’t been decided. Could still be a pretty exciting last few days of the tournament

After her two chuuhai T was pretty giggly. We headed back to Hakata station after sumo, with T giggling most of the way, to a shiny lit up street T saw the nite before that promised good food. Chose sushi and it turned or to be a great choice. The restaurant was lively and bustling. Everything we tried was delicious – うに、うなぎ、ほたて、たい。 Noticed there was another branch of this restaurant just opposite the hotel 😛

Miss T’s Post – 20th November

Had a lazy morning wake up and to the train to nishi park. We got a bit lost wandering the paths. We weren’t too sure where to go but eventually got out 😉

We went to our first museum today so much history in the area dating back 400 bc. They took to the seas to gain knowledge and Zen practices from other cultures across from them such as Korea and China, although it was quite risky as only half of them ever returned back from the journey.

Later in the afternoon we saw the sumo tournament. It was awesome and quite tense with the sumos playing mind games against each other. I took some great action shots of the top level competitor’s. I’m glad we went to see it as would have been a shame to have missed such an event.

That evening we tried sushi again and had sea urchin and other various sushi. This place created them in a more manageable size for shoving in your mouth but very tasty, can’t wait to try more. I might give a mini squid or octopus a try next time or some really fatty tuna.

Cave and Ramen stadium

This morning we planned to visit Akiyoshi-do… and so we did visit Akiyoshi-do. It’s a huge limestone cave 50 minute bus ride from Shin-Yamaguchi. Opposite to any of the the caves in WA, the cave entrance is at the bottom of a hill/mountain and you climb up thru the cave inside the hill. And opposite to any of the caves in WA there is a huge stream running thru most of the cave.

Apparently 10 km long, only 1 km is open to the public. Huge caverns… lots of water.  Not much in the way of stalagtites or stalagmites, but some good ponds and limestone flows… one that looks like Fuji.

We got to the exit and saw that we’d have to walk back the bus stop anyway so we just went back thru the cave again. Outside, the path approaching the entrance is lined with a bunch of shops selling polished stones and rocks and other trinkets. T says the rocks are pretty cheap but only got a few little ones – I reckon she should carry them in her jacket pockets at the airport going home so they aren’t counted as baggage weight 😛
There’s more to see here – two other caves to drive to and karst observation deck – will need to come back another time. Should be able to hire a car and drive around confidently next time.

Just made the 1.05 bus back to Shin-Yamaguchi (then shinkansen to Fukuoka).  Wandered off to Shofukuji. First Zen temple in Japan apparently. There was a lady feeding all the stray cats – counted 7 while were there. None looked sickly or underfed. One was playing with a dead bird as we were leaving.
It’s a shame that so many Japanese get a pet then abandon it once it’s out of fashion. At least the cats seem to have have a better life abandoned in Japan than they would in Aust.

Canal City was the next place to visit… a multi story, multi building shopping complex. Has a river/’lake’ running thru the middle. Once in a while they do a water spurting and lights display to some music.  Bought some tasty snacks from Muji. Double soy sembei, smoked cod flavoured cheese, spicy lotus root chips all very delicious (maybe not the cheese hehehe). Headed to check out the yatai by the canal for some dinner. They all looked very busy… and very squishy… and all of the ‘touts’ (i guess you’d call them) looked all scowly, mean and uninviting. Most of the yatai served ramen and we’ve not actually had it very often so i’m sure it would have been embarrassing to eat so close and snuggly with strangers :p   Went back to Canal City 5th floor for ramen stadium. Had Kagoshima style – thick pork broth. The recommended ramen came with 4 huge chunks for charshu. T had a mini serving but still couldn’t finish it…  Ramen is just too big for a her little tummy :p    The noodles were probably thinner than real ramen fans would like but i certainly enjoyed it all.

Heading back to the hotel that night we passed thru Hakata station and enjoyed our first ‘light-up’ experience. Towards xmas/NYE many places light up their famous places with a billion LEDs (my emphasis) … Fukuoka tower had a couple trees lit up but it was small scale compared to the station :p
Arashiyama in Kyoto and Kobe in December should be even more impressive in comparison. (shame all these lights are probably pretty much coal powered at the moment…)

Miss T’s Post – 19th November

Took a train and bus trip up the mountains to akiyoshi to see a cave.  Again there was heaps of water flowering through-out the cave. On first entry it was huge inside. I haven’t been to a cave that was that expansive. It took us about an hour and a half even though the brochure said 40 min to an hour. It was nice soaking up the atmosphere of the cave. Here are a few pics for you to enjoy

After the cave I just couldn’t help myself but buy some rocks to bring home with me for my lapidary hobby. Now I can make some jewellery with rocks from Japan ;D

In the afternoon we walked to see a temple that had been moved from the castle ruins to its current location.  There were so many kittens and cats at this temple and a lady was feeding them. Sad actually that there are quite a few dumped cats in Japan.

That night we took a walk through Canal city that has a water feature going thru it and a large shopping complex inside.

We had our first ramen that night too

A day of firsts

Arrived in Fukuoka today and got off at Hakata station for the first time ever. It was the first really cold day for the trip. It was also the first time it rained for the trip. Thankfully we’d gotten organized and already bought 傘 (Umbrellas). Wish I’d gotten more organized and put some gloves in my manbag. 😛

Staying at The B Hakata hotel. Pretty good for less than $60 a night. Much newer, fresher feeling than the Nagasaki hotel. (mind you, in Business Royal Hotel  in Nagasaki the room was twice the size of APA hotel from last year)   :p

Huge amounts of walking today. The hotel is right near the train station. We decided to forgo the subway in order to absorb the city above ground – so walked a few km and arrived at Tenjin Step Garden. An office building that was designed with 13 floors of mini gardens up the side of the building. Top floor observation deck was closed today 😦   Good views from the stair cases tho

A few more km walk and we got to Ohari kouen. A huge park that’s built on old castle grounds. The castle only has the base ruins left. The info signs don’t say what happened to the castle and i haven’t researched it yet… so i have no further info for you :p  The defensive rings are pretty big but they aren’t sure there was even a full castle here the (signage doesn’t explain why tho) Wandered round with not many other people around… saw a few homeless tarpoline houses,,,, crows fighting over garbage bags….  not much maintenance done here i guess!  Headed off to the huge lake part of the park and the cold cold rain started.

Several more km walking taking in the city and we arrived at the Momochi seaside area that has Hawks Town (big shopping mall that we didn’t visit today), Hilton hotel (that thing is humungous – a stupid amount of money being made there) and another shopping mall that has Robo Square – a shop/display with all things robots… strangely enough :p   They have on display Aibo bots, Hello Kitty bots, vacuum bots, baby seal bots that helps invalid patients. There’s a big display every hour but we were too late for that.

Fukuoka Tower is just a little further from Robo Square mall, our destination. Tallest buidling in Fukuoka – a bit over 1/3 the height of Tokyo Sky Tree 😛 Up to the observation deck…  the rain prevented good pics from the NE side of the building which is out to the suburbs i guess…but south and east were fine ..

Kaitenzushi for dinner. Lots of wasabi flavour so i reckon we’ll try other places soon – i think we can find better :p

Miss T’s Post – Monday 18th November

Arrived in Fukuoka mid morning dropped our bags off and headed off on our adventure through the streets. lucky we did this as we came across a step garden called ACROS Step Garden which had steps going up the side of the building with a garden on the side and it also has a garden on the roof but alas it was closed today 😦 i so wanted to see it – anyhow the pictures will show you what i mean as it’s very hard to describe.

 After the step garden we walked to Ohori park which contained ruins of Fukuoka castle – strange thing is they actual don’t know much about this castle and where it was a castle or not like others we have visited. it appears the history of this castle and the fuedal lord has been lost but they are currently excavating some more of the park to find out more info. it is definately quite interesting and we ight find out more info when we visit the museum on wednesday before sumo.  oh yeah they make great use of the space too by putting rugby fields in and tennis courts 😀

Another lucky find was the Robo centre which was cool especially the little seal (sorry forgot about taking a photo)  it’s used in hospitals and in elderly homes to help people with recovery and physical problems – alas it’s in aust but most of europe and america.

next we walked to the tallest building located on the coast. I took some quite awesome pictures of the illumination on the ground of the tower and from inside the tower 🙂