First days in Fukuoka

Fukuoka is the location of the Japanese language school where I will study for most of May. The school is called JaLS (Japanese Language School), the same one I went to in Sapporo in 2016.

On Friday May 2, the Shinkansen arrived about 1pm. The school is in a co-working area in the basement, but the train station is such a maze that it took almost an hour to find it. I got there in time to meet some of the other students. I talked with them while waiting to check into the apartment that the school had arranged. There was a festival going on in Fukuoka, and I found out the students were planning to go the next day.

The manager of the school hailed a taxi for me to take me to the apartment, and eventually I found the right building and got the key. It is very basic and small, but it has the essentials. And it is in walking distance of the station.

After settling in I walked to the station to try familiarize myself with it. I bought some groceries at the department store attached to the station, and I found a craft beer place called Fukuoka Craft Brewing, and had a beer before heading back.

The next day I met the students and a facilitator from the school and we headed outside. It was nice and sunny. The festival is called Dontaku. It is very old and originated as a spring festival. There were parades and food stalls, etc., and it seems a lot of people from various communities in Fukuoka get involved.

First there was a smaller parade in front of the station, then we walked to a park that was full of food stalls.

Then we found a place sit on the side of the road and waited for the main parade. It was quite long and there various communities, dance groups, school music groups, etc.

Fukuoka has several canals running through it and the parade wound its way around to cross a couple of them. After a couple of hours I left the group and walked in the direction opposite the parade to see more of it. 

I ended up at the train station, and outside there was a stage with performaces all day. I got there in time to see an idol group.

The next day Sunday, May 4, was a free day. I basically walked around the centre of Fukuoka. There is a neighbourhood called Old Town that starts a few blocks from the station. It actually does not look like an old town, but there are several temples there. Most were closed, but I could walk around the grounds. The first one was Jotenji.

Next I went to Tochoji which has an 11m Buddha statue inside. Then the large grounds centered on Shofukuji, which has several other temples on it as well.

From there I walked to the the long, covered Kawabata Shopping Lane. On the way I passed a park where school music groups were getting arranged. The parade was going on that day as well.

At the end of the Kawabata Shopping Lane there is the interesting Kushida Shrine. Because of the festival, it was quite busy and people were lined up to pray.

Just past Kushida Shrine I went into a place for a coffee, and it also sold this desert called Fuwa Rich, which is kind of fluffy iced mild with flavored topping. Very good.

From there I kept walking to Rakusuien Park, with its beautiful Japanese garden.

Then over to the large Sumiyoshi Shrine complex.

Back at the station I found a craft beer place called 'Continue?'.  It was another place with self serve beer taps.

The next day, Monday May 5, was the first day of classes at the language school. Orientation then 3 hours of class, lunch, then 2 hours for my private lesson. I spend a couple of more hours reviewing vocabulary and doing some of the homework. Very tiring.

Tuesday was another morning of classes, but no lesson in the afternoon so I just did homework and got up on the blog.