Journey to the south of Japan - Kyushu!

I've finally found time to do what seems like a huge task - uploading and chronicling the 12 days I spent in Japan. Its something which I've always done whenever I went overseas, partly to share the photos as well as a way for me to remember this trip. Trust me, 2 years down the road and I'd have forgotten everything, if it were not for the photos.

Day One

Alright then. We touched down at Fukuoka Airport a little past 7am, before checking in at the hotel. The check-in time was 3pm so we had some time to burn.

Our hotel was in Hakata, next to Hakata Station. We decided to explore the area a bit, before heading to the largest shopping mall in the area - Canal City. Its a mall built over a canal, hence the name.



That circular stage, coincidentally, was where YUI performed years ago.

There wasn't much in the mall apart from millions of clothing stores (a scene that would be repeated again and again) and a HMV. So we took a walk and decided to search for lunch, and chanced upon a shopping street (as well as a ramen shop!)



The ramen came as a slight shock because the soup was very dark, thick and flavourful, nothing like I had ever tasted before. I'm not sure what type it was, it wasn't miso, nor was it shoyu, or even tonkotsu. It was good though! Walking around for awhile, I spotted a float used for festivals that was being kept in storage.



Amazing eh? And during the festivals it'll take many guys just to lift it.

We headed back to the hotel to check in and I took a nap as I didn't catch a wink on the plane - was busy watching Nodame Cantabile :P On a side note, Juri Ueno was hilarious, first in Swing Girls and now as Nodame.

As dusk approached, we headed to Tenjin for a little walkabout and to try the much talked about "yatai", or street stalls. Tenjin is really the "Orchard Road" of Fukuoka, everything is concentrated along the main street Watanabe-dori, with towering malls like Daimaru, Mitsukoshi, Tenjin core and others flanking both sides of the street. It even has an underground shopping street stretching the whole length of the road.





The view of Canal City at night. As we walked along the river in search of yatai (thanks to a tip from a local guy, although he did mention it wasn't all as its hyped up to be), I could see the faint glow of lanterns. A whole stretch of street stalls selling ramen, oden, yakitori, and even sashimi!



We ate at a oden stall which also sold yakitori and ramen. Talk about variety! And naturally we had all 3, all washed down with a nice chilled bottle of Asahi Super Dry :D







The whole cost of the meal? 4000yen, which amounted to about SGD60, for a bowl of ramen, selected skewers, oden, and a bottle of beer. Expensive, I would say, considering its a street stall. A tourist trap perhaps? But I also saw many locals (mostly salarymen) tucking in happily. Well, it was a unique experience anyway. Plus the ramen tasted really good! I'd say the same of the yakitori, which included chicken skin eheheh. Not the most healthiest of choices, but definitely the tastiest.

And that concludes Day 1 of the trip! I figured splitting it into 12 posts would be an easier and more enjoyable read, plus it'll buff up my blog posts :P

Til the next post! Still uploading my some 700 photos to photobucket D: