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Blogs from Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan, Asia
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February 11th 2013
11th Feb: Well I didn't have the greatest night's sleep. The room was pretty cold, even with the thick bedding and having the heat on all night. Get me back to Korea, with its (genius) underfloor heating. We went along to the breakfast room to have our breakfast. it was beautifully presented like yestersay's. I don't know sausages and scrambled eggs were part of a traditional Japanese breakfast, but the tofu, fish, rice, and miso soup were. The breakfast was good. We took a last few photos of the ryokan. After checking out, we were back on the bus. It was a short drive to Dazaifu Shrine. We parked up in the car park and it was a 5 minute walk up a street lined with shops to the shrine. Me and Mel made a mental ... read more
January 9th 2013
Seeing that I had a 9 days off from work it was a good opportunity for me to see a new country. I originally wasn’t planning on traveling anywhere. While talking with my girlfriend, she convinced me that she could find inexpensive flights. So I figured why not. In any event, before I knew it I had a round trip ticket to Fukuoka, Japan. On the day we arrived in Japan it was in the afternoon so we just settled in to our room and then went to Fukuoka Tower. It was really cold and windy new the sea. But the tower was pretty amazing. We went to the top of the tower at night time so the cityscape was quite amazing. That was in for day one. On the second day we just bummed around ... read more
September 6th 2012
Konnichiwa! Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there was an adventure undertaken by two curious, enthusiastic dudes in a land far to the east... a mighty land called Japan... And this is the retelling of that quest for discovery, passed down through the ages, becoming legend among the earth-folk. Although embelishments are sure to result from tales past down over time, let us allow ourselves to be enthralled and enraptured in this departure from everyday life! So we're playing catch up here and I'm going to be posting some stories about my life in 2012 so far, starting with the post graduation trip that I went on with my good, ultra-buzzy Kiwi-buddy, Chris. We finished up our final drama presentations for our respective classes at Playola English School in Seoul, passed on our ... read more
March 30th 2012
We spent our last day of the trip in Fukuoka. I have been super excited because we were going to watch the first baseball match in my life. As we were handed some brochures, I found out more about the home team we were suppose to support - Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. It is the only baseball team based in Kyushu and it has been doing quite well recently. One of the key players on the team is a good looking guy called Honda. Whenever he is on the field you can hear women screaming. On our way to the dome, there are many stores selling accessories such as hat, tshirt, ballons. It seems to be the Japanese way to have a fan with your favorite player's face printed on it. A lot of girls were holding ... read more
March 27th 2012
Well I’d just started the last epistle when I was interrupted, thought I was saving the file & off it went to everyone. Will try not to bore you too much with the daily details of cycling but there are a few incidents you may like to hear about. The driver who had been flown out from Lithuania found his driver’slicence was not valid here so Bill from Waiheke ( a fellow cyclist) the only person carrying an international licence agreed to take on the job for over 3 weeks. The first day the vehicle was not ready when we left Fukioka so we left laden with 4 panniers each & tent tied to the back of the bike. The cycle was meant to be about 110km but the campsite had not been confirmed so we ... read more
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March 21st 2012
The first time I saw the word Hakata is on a Ramen menu. My impression of Hakata ramen is a light noodle soup with a few slices of pork and dry seaweed on top. As soon as I found out Hakata is a place in Fukuoka, I was so excited to try the real Hakata ramen. We arrived at Fukuoka airport in the afternoon and I already knew what we are having for dinner. As we were walking past some yatai (street store with sitting benches), a big guy started talking to us in Chinese. I think he also tried a few other languages but you could tell he was from China. I thought it was funny cos this guy seems to get the most customers despite his Japanese not being as fluent as other guys ... read more
April 6th 2011
De eerste echte dag in Japan - de eerste echte redelijk uitgeruste dag, dan. We hebben alle drie goed geslapen. We zaten in de 'noisy room' op de vierde verdieping (men telt de 1e verdieping als de begane grond)- vlak naast de weg, maar daar hadden we geen last van. Het langsrazende verkeer was zelfs wel een beetje rustgevend. Om 10 uur 's ochtends moesten we klaarstaan in de hotellobby (het is maar een heel kleine lobby dus je kon elkaar echt niet missen) dus voor die tijd hebben we even een ontbijt gehaald bij de '7 eleven' of '7-i' zoals ze die hier noemen. Op bijna elke straathoek is wel een convenient store of mini supermarkt te vinden en de meeste Japanners kunnen best een woordje Engels als jij in het Engels begint te praten. ... read more
April 5th 2011
Héhé... We zijn er. De tweede vlucht was een stuk beter te doen dan de eerste. Niet zo vreemd natuurlijk, aangezien deze 'maar' drie uur was. Inchecken in Japan ging vebazingwekkend snel - alles ging heel efficient. We werden wel een paar keer besnuffeld door speciale speurhonden (drugs waarschijnlijk). We waren nog maar net uit het vliegtuig of we stonden al buiten met onze reisleider, Patrick. Natuurlijk hebben we nog veel meer te vertellen en ook foto's om te laten zien, maar het was een drukke dag, dus we laten het hier even bij. Co.... read more
December 2nd 2010
Earlier this week i took a 30 hour trip to Fukuoka, Japan by ferry from Busan, South Korea. with 4 days remaining on my tourist visa in South Korea it was a "must" which i am thankful for. Fukuoka was a great time. i used it to unwind and take a breath from the busy, busy atmosphere in Korea. i roamed the Hakata-Ku which is an area full of old Buddhist temples and shrines among large corporate buildings and high rises. the sidewalks were full of well dressed business men and women going to and from work mostly by bicycle weaving quickly around those on foot. my brief time there was spent visiting the amazing temples and enjoying the small differences between the Japanese vs. South Koreans which were are noticeable after spending almost 90 days ... read more
September 18th 2010
Fukuoka With nowhere booked on the evening, we decided that a big town would be best to find a room for the evening. Everywhere was booked in Kyushu. The only placed we could book was about 16 hours away by train, which we managed to book for the next night. So Fukuoka was out place of choice to break the 16hr journey up. On the journey up I had visions of us sleeping on a bench or spending the night with the trendy youngsters in McDonalds, in Osaka that would be the norm and perfectly acceptable for the young, however a faux pas amongst the older generation. So much that we could not even get anyone over the age of 40 to even talk about it. After getting into town, we went straight to the tourist ... read more
