Blogs from Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan, Asia - page 3

Weekend Adventures Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Kure Friday 3/21 We went into Hiroshima and did some shopping and went to some restaurants. With my rail pass expiring on Saturday, this was a chance to make sure I pick up the omiyage that I needed. It was raining during the day, but we mostly stayed in the covered shopping streets and managed to stay mostly dry. In the evening, we went to a vegan café, a rarity in Japan, and the food was really good. Saturday 3/22 We went to Fukuoka early in the morning and went to Space World, an amusement park somewhat reminiscent of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. We called Brandon to wish him a happy birthday, as it was still his birthday in Utah, from the amusement park. It was really good to ... read more

March 12, 2014 Fukuoka, Kyushu The Gambler’s Fallacy and How I Ended Up on a Train Full of Elementary-School Kids Sometimes when I’m in a streak of luck I just feel like nothing can go wrong. Unfortunately, they can. When rolling dice, it doesn’t matter how long your streak has been; every roll has the same probability of crapping out. Forgetting this is known as the Gambler’s Fallacy. When I left for Dazaifu, a town just south of Fukuoka and the ancient capital of Kyushu, I was on a streak of good luck. When I woke up, I realized that I only had 1000 yen, so I would need to find an ATM that could access international accounts. The only one of which I know so far is at Seven-Eleven, which is apparently not ... read more

Studio Ghibli exhibition. Studio Ghibli is to Japan what Disney and maybe Pixar is to the US. But it is at heart very Japanese. And it is the heart of Anime in Japan. We stumbled on this exhibition our last afternoon in Fukuoka. It was room after room of sketch drawings for different scenes in the films. Sometimes small sections of the anime were shown beside the drawings. It was just incredible. We had the chance to see the source of the magic for films like My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. I wished so much that Frans could have been beside me to see this. He loved Anime. I missed him painfully this day.... read more

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

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