First week at school in Fukuoka

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.

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.

Hiroshima and Miyajima

Wednesday, April 30, I checked out of the hotel in Osaka and caught the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, arriving about 10:30am. I spent a few hours in Hiroshima before catching a local train and ferry to the island of Miyajima.

In Hiroshima, I took a streetcar to the sit of the "A-bomb Dome", the famous remains of a building after the atomic bomb was dropped in August, 1945. Apparently the bomb detonated about 160m to one side, and 600m above ground, and the outward-directed blast combined with heavy surrounding walls prevented the building from  being completely destroyed.

Across a branch of the river there is the Memorial Peace Park. It has a Children's Peace Monument, 

A Cenotaph for A-bomb victims, 

and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. There is a rest house with a cafe and some old pictures. Before the war, Hiroshima was a major commercial center, being on a delta with about 4 rivers running through it. The A-bomb building was built in 1915 and was a major performance centre.

Afterward I walked along the river and then turned toward the train station, passing the rebuilt Hiroshima Castle.

I caught the local train to Miyajimaguchi station  and from there the ferry to Miyajima Island. Being Golden Week, I thought it would be impossibly crowded, but it wasn't that bad.

The town on the island is centered on the Itsukushima shrine, with the ferry terminal to one side, and my hotel was on the edge of town on the other side. Since it was about a 25 minute walk with luggage, I had called the hotel to arrange for the shuttle bus.

After checking in I had a bit time before dinner at the hotel, so I walked to the shrine with the famous tori gate. The tide was out so you could walk right up to it, and I could that the pillars are actually massive tree trunks.

I went into the shrine itself, built in the 1100's. It covers a large area over the tidal flat, and it is on stilts since at high tide the water comes underneath it.

Beside the shrine is a pretty little temple called Daiganji, built in the 1200s.

The next morning I took the cablecar up Mt Misen, which is the highest peak on the island. From the top cable car station, there are great views of surrounding islands and the mainland with Hiroshima in the distance.

From the cable car it is another kilometer walk to the summit, and just below the summit there is a temple with an 'eternal flame' that was lit by a famous monk who meditated here in the 800s. In the pot above the flame there is tea you can drink.

At the actual summit there is a viewing platform. The last bit of the hike involved navigating through huge boulders.

From the summit I took one of the trails back down to the town. The trail I took passed the large Daishoin temple complex, which was established in the 800s by the founder of Shingon Buddhism.

There are a couple of large halls with several small temples around, and interesting  gardens.

It is the only temple in Japan I've seen that has rows of Tibet-style prayer wheels.

At the time I was there, the temple was hosting an art exhibition.

I noticed a particular statue, fierce-looking holding an upright sword, at Daiganji, Mt Misen, and at Daishouin. I finally found it to be of Acala, called Fudou-Myou in Japan. A minor diety in the Buddhist pantheon who became popular in certain sects, who uses the sword to fight off evil.

I continued walking to the shrine, to get pictures when the tide was high.

Then I went into the adjacent Hokoku Shrine, built by Hideyoshi to honor war dead.  I found the large space to be very relaxing.

From there I walked along the main market street. There were several stalls selling deep fried oysters, which seems like a local specialty. Another local food is a little waffle in the shape of a maple leaf, with a sweet filling.

 I had a beer at a craft beer place called Miyajima Brewing. Then back to the hotel.

The next day, Friday May 2, must be another holiday. When I left in the morning, the ferry and the train towards Miyajima were all packed with school groups and Japanese and foreign tourists. Thankful I was going in the other direction. Made my way back to Hiroshima station to catch the Shinkansen to Fukuoka