Dukes Hotel Fukuoka

My first impression of Fukuoka was neon. Though my body knew it was the middle of the night it was used to, I was able to get yen from an ATM, buy a subway ticket, and get to the 100 year old inn where I had reservations. Enjoyed the hot communal (gender separated) bath, but not as much the ********** and buckwheat pillow.
Fukuoka, Kyushu-Okinawa, Japan travlingal

... all the stuff we didn't carry in backpacks for the last 8 months so here we are, unpacking and repacking boxes, and shifting our necessary items to suitcases to bring with us to Oman... which is, tomorrow! Yep, our flights have been booked and tomorrow we leave Japan to fly all the way to Muscat, where we're staying for a couple days until we do the short jump to Salalah our new home.

What is ...

... FIDO" (Friendly Indelligent Dog Option) would be more fitting:).

Several pretty young Japanese women were on hand to demonstrate the robots and answer any questions. One had just fed an AIBO (i.e. replaced its batteries) when a trio of female Korean Navy officers happened by. Reading from a command list, one officer commanded the digital canine to dance. Their eyes lit up with amusement when the little robot sounded a tune and started to dance.

I made my way around ...

... s support--it's suffered from decline from its glory days as a cruise ship port, and there has been a major investment in public improvements. It probably needs a few factory outlet stores to fill up some of the remaining vacant old buildings. But even as-is, this is a community that deserves a visit!

I did not have time to visit Cha Cha Town, a shopping center in Kokura, another community that's part of ...

... experts were brought to the area. Reports vary about the circumstances under which the Korean experts arrived, but there appears to be some ambiguity about whether their arrival in Japan was voluntary.

Okawachiyama, the old pottery village just outside Imari, is actually the remnants of a secret government installation hidden at the end of a valley, which is probably why it was so far from the nearest train staion. Apparently, in the ...

... to try, but even after eating we knew it was fish but that was as far as it went!! One of the Japanese eating at the stall offered us some of his gyoza (little parcels of chicken) and we enjoyed it so much that we ordered some of our own - we weren't expecting about 10!!! Absolutely stuffed and it ended up being the most expensive meal in Japan, ironic as it was a street stall, but the ...

... My hostel in Kumamoto enforced a 22h00 curfew and I was almost sure I couldn't make it. After a shower I walked back to the train station and took the train to Kagoshima. Here I kindly asked if a lady at the ticket counter could phone my hostel and tell them I would be late. I think this was the good and polite way to do it, because later that evening (at around 23h00) I had no problems. Japanese just don't like surprises. The following day I returned to Kagoshima ...

... it was good. I dont usually eat raw fish or any other similar but there I could choose from all the options and I sure made good decisions. ;P Afterwards we walked around bit and found a moomin shop! All the cups and towels filled with moomins. And what's best, I bought some rye bread, really miss it from home. Then a movie called The Good Shepherd was seen and it was okay, too long though. It was great fun to hear English.. We were suppose to continue in some pub for few more ...

... but by 7:15 my backpack was filled with the various items I thought I might need and we set off for Japan. We walked through Ewha Women's University and down a street torn apart by construction. The sidewalks had been pulled up and moved away. Some coarse cloth was set down upon the ground like a carpet rolled out for a beggar king. It had rained the night before and the ground was muddy beneath it. We reached the Ewha subway and made our way to the Seoul train station with only a few ...

... sit on the sofa in the next room, and we looked at photos of their recent trip to Germany in 1993, when they visited Heidelberg, Dresden, Meissen, Frankfurt, and Ruedesheim, and also enjoyed a Rhine cruise from Koblenz. We also looked at a slide show which I prepared for them of the trip that Suzanna and I had taken with Atsuko-san to the German Vogelsberg in April 2004, and also the pictures of when I invited Atsuko for an Indian ...