Wednesday, May 9, I had class in the morning and private lesson in the afternoon. In the evening, I went to something I'd heard about called Yatai. There are about three areas in town where food stalls are set up on the main streets in the evening. Not just for a festival, and not some narrow market street, but every evening on the wide sidewalk of a major street. Some of the stalls are kind of famous, and there are tourist maps of the Yatai locations.
I went to the Tenjin area and at one of the stalls I had the famous Fukuoka tonkatsu ramen.
On Thursday afternoon there was an event through the school to practice zen meditation at a local temple. It was a good opportunity to sit inside the temple. About 10 of us went. There was a zen priest who gave a brief introduction, and after sitting there was tea and a snack in a other room.
On Friday the school organized a night at an Izakaya for dinner. There were about 8 of us and a couple of the teachers.
Afterwards we all went to Karaoke. There are whole buildings that are 8 stories tall or more, that have nothing but karaoke rooms. We stayed for a couple of hours singing a mix of English, Japanese, and Mandarin songs.
This night was my first real social night with people from the school and it was a lot of fun.
Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11, were free days and I spent them exploring more of Fukuoka.
On Saturday morning I took the train to the Hakozaki shrine, on the east side of the city. The shrine was built in the 900s and rebuilt in the 1200s after the Mongol invasions. It is an important cultural location and it retains the weathered, old look.
Walking around the shrine I found the beautiful little Hakozaki Shrine flower garden.
From there I walked around some more, trying to find access to the waterfront, which looked on the map like it was not far. However almost all the area near the water in Fukuoka is industrial, so I had no luck.
I had lunch at a tiny, ancient ramen place run by one elderly man and the ramen was amazing. I joked with him a bit and he called it 'vintage ramen'.
Then I took the subway to Maizuru Park and the remains of Fukuoka Castle, west of the center of the city. The castle was built in the early 1600s. You can tell that it must have been quite extensive and a real defensive fortress, just by walking through the various foundations of the walls. In the little museum I found out that in those times, the mercantile area, near what is now Hakata Station, was called Hakata. The area of the the castle was where the Samurai lived and it was called Fukuoka.
There is one building that is still standing from when the castle was built. It was a storehouse.
Next to Maizuru Park is the large Ohori park. I went into the Japanese garden that is at one end of the park.
Next I walked around looking for a craft beer place on Google Maps. I ended up in an interesting area of narrow shopping and restaurant streets - the first I'd seen so far in Fukuoka. Really, sometimes I find the best areas in my search for craft beer.
Sunday was cloudy, and I took a bus to the western part of Fukuoka again, to a place called Fukuhama beach. It is one of the few places that has access to the water. Apparently it is famous for a large number of stray cats, but I only saw a few.
Next to Fukuhama Beach is Nishikoen Park, on a hill overlooking the bay. On other side of the park is the Terumo Shrine. It seems to have a small part dedicated to cats.
I continued down the other side of the hill and ended up at Ohori Park again. It is a popular recreation area with people jogging, working out at excerise stations, renting boats, etc.
At Ohori Park there is a well known Noh theatre. I went inside just to see if there were displays or something, but as soon as I opened the door I was quietly ushered into the theatre where a performace was happening. I stayed for a while just to experience it.
The rest of Sunday was just laundry, grocery shopping, etc.
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