Something to think about...

(We'll have to try this place sometime so we can live strong!)

Fukuoka Trip: Day 3

On our last day in Fukuoka, I went window-shopping while Chad had a dip in an onsen, or hot spring. The main focus of the day was going to be the Hakata Gion Matsuri (festival), but we had a few hours to blow before it started. When we met up again, we were trying to think of what else to do. Then we looked at our Hakata map and spotted the Fukuoka Asahi Beer Factory! Ah-hah! We'd go on their free beer tour like we'd done in Nagoya! Woot!

We made friends with another couple on the tour

Needless to say, by the time the festival did start, we were feeling pretty good. We took the train from the beer factory to Gion and headed up the stairs to see crowds lined up for the festival. And my, my, what a festival it was!


From July 1st to 15th, hundreds of men and boys get together to race while carrying giant shrines. Wearing loose shirts, loin cloths and boots, they practice racing daily until the final, biggest race on the last day.

As the men raced by, many of them stopped to bow at the temple before continuing on

Everyone was (understandably) tired after their 5 kilometer race. On the final day, the men are supposed to run it in about 30 minutes while holding the 1-ton floats with as much grace as possible. Phew!

After the festival finished, Chad and I headed off for our anniversary dinner at a garlic-themed restaurant. We tried to make up for our breath by going for dessert at a taiyaki place. Unlike most taiyaki we've tried, this taiyaki was made with mochi, or rice cake, and it had chocolate inside! Served piping hot, the texture and flavor was wonderful.


Feeling full and sleepy, we were ready to pick up our stuff from our hotel and ride that horrible night bus back to Kobe.

What a wonderful trip to celebrate 3 wonderful years married~!

Now we're trapped inside, waiting for a typhoon to blow over and dreaming of those sunny days!

Fukuoka Trip: Day 2

On the second day of our trip it was supposed to be rainy, but we got super lucky with sunshine all day! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to a little island called Nokonoshima. First we took a 30-40 minute bus ride to get from Hakata to the ferry terminal, and then we hopped on the ferry (about 400 yen round trip).

Riding the ferry reminded us of our honeymoon in northern Michigan, and of Mackinac Island!

When we got to the island, it was very quiet without much happening and without many people. There were little shops near the ferry terminal, and a bus waiting to take tourists up to a flower park. We were a bit tired of riding bus, and we didn't want to pay 1000 yen to see the flower garden, so we decided to rent bicycles. After all, Nokonoshima is only about 5 miles round, and we biked around Mackinac Island (about twice the size) no problem. It would be fun...wouldn't it?

Turns out, the trails on Nokonoshima are almost all uphill. I don't know how it's possible--even when we were circling back, we went uphill the majority of the time. I'm not joking. Steep, steep hills for about 2 1/2 hours. We did have about a 10 minute respite of downhill on the way back, but that was it. Phew! I'm getting tired just remembering it.

We were also able to take a rest at a beach on the island. I was so excited--it had been a long time since we'd been to the beach to swim, and we've been so homesick for Michigan beaches!

From a distance, it looks quite beautiful! Unfortunately, the water was extremely dirty, but we made the most of it. One surprise for me was the taste of salt! I'd never swam in salt-water before, and it was pretty strange! (...and gross.)

To use the facilities, we would have had to pay 1000 yen (eek! They really try and get as much money as they can on this lonely little island!), so we decided to skip bathrooms and --as covertly as possible-- change right on the beach. It was a successful, albeit tricky, job.

There were gold flecks in the sand!

After hanging out at the beach, we finished our loop around the island. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore (I was getting sunburned despite sunscreen, and we were both super tired from all that climbing up and up), I spotted a pretty butterfly and was cheered up a bit.


When our hike was finally complete, we returned our bikes and headed to this lone cafe:



I loved the colors and the eccentric style of this cafe. We ordered Orange Floats with the Nokonoshima brand orange soda and orange sherbet. For 350 yen per float, it was a nice way to relax after all that work! Very yummy.




We had a good rest at the cafe, and caught the next ferry back to Fukuoka. It started to rain when we got back (we were so lucky it didn't rain earlier!), so we went shopping for a while and waited for the yatai, or street stalls, to open up and down the streets.


Fukuoka is famous for yatai, so we were sure to sample food from a couple of them. After that, we headed to Ippudo, a well-known restaurant selling Hakata ramen.

What a delicious meal after such a long --but good!-- day. I had the basic Hakata ramen (top), and Chad tried a spicier version. Both were soooo good. With full bellies and tired legs, we decided to call it a night.

Anniversary Trip: Fukuoka (Day One)

For our anniversary this year, we decided to go to Fukuoka, a city located in Kyushu. We left Saturday night on a night bus, and after a really uncomfortable ride on the "relax" bus, we dropped off our bags at our hotel and headed out to explore.

Climbing Buddhas and Hakata JR Station

From Hakata station, we headed to Sumiyoshi Shrine. It was a nice shrine tucked away in the woods.

Map of the Shrine

Fish for your fortune!

From the shrine we headed to Rakusuien Garden. This garden is named after a merchant who helped with the development of Fukuoka City.

The clay walls are made from burnt rocks and roof tiles recovered after war

We couldn't resist feeding the Koi for 50 yen. They came right up to us even before we fed them!

After feeding the koi, we had Japanese matcha (traditional green tea) with wagashi (Japanese confections). My little flower sweet was pink, and Chad's was blue. The flowers were hard, with a taste similar to the decorative sugar shapes we put on cakes in the states, while the little triangles had a softer texture and a more subtle sweetness. It was nice to relax and look at the garden for a while before moving on to a huge shopping center called the Canal.

The Canal is like most malls, complete with shops, souvenirs and restaurants. However, there were a couple things that made the Canal shopping experience stand out for us. Firstly, this souvenir:

In Japan, even unchi, or poo, is cute. And it can encase candy. Yum!

Secondly, the Raumen Stadium:

So many choices!

Hakata is famous for ramen. There were lots of shops in the stadium, but after long consideration we were finally able to make up our minds and try our first bowl of the trip:

Pretty good!

From there, we waddled our full bellies over to Kushida Shrine, the Hakata Machiya Folk Museum and Tochoji Temple. At the shrine we chose fortunes, and both of us got "Moderately Lucky" (though, truth be told, they sounded like they weren't lucky at all. But hey, they're not really real...are they?). We couldn't take pictures at Tochoji Temple, which was unfortunate because it houses a huge wooden Buddha, but here are a couple pictures from outside the folk museum:

Teru Teru Bozu for keeping the rain away

A post box nestled in a small alley

After all that sightseeing, we were pretty ready to shower up and take a nap. Once refreshed, we headed out to explore the city. We decided to go to an Okinawan restaurant for dinner.

We tried garlic chicken and cheesy taco rice. Then we had salty chinsuko (a type of Okinawan cookie) ice cream for dessert! Forgive the first two pictures, everything looked too yummy to take a picture of before trying!

After dinner, it was off to bed before day two: a trip to Nokonoshima Island!

Lovely Chocolates

We received some neat chocolates as gifts back in March:

Creamy Earth-shaped chocolate from our friend Joel

Adorable Hello Kitty chocolate from an old coworker