Fukuoka Toei Hotel

Here we go again, off to lands unknown (to us, anyway) with our lives stuffed into luggage. The last time we do this will not be too soon! I suppose it's the price of an adventurous lifestyle. <br><br>Speaking of which, we are currently in Nogata, Fukuoka which is probably the *least* adventurous town ever. It consists of rice fields and... rice fields. My grandparents live here though, and it's also where we ...

... room checking out more robots, including ROBOVIE (a humanoid robot), Miuro (a wheeled robot iPod dock to follow you around... really!), SR-01 (a shallow, tractor treaded surveillance robot), PLEO (an AI baby dinosaur), and last, but not least, Paro (a therapuetic robot).<br><br>Finally, I perused the retail toy section. - LOTS of fun stuff there!:) Some highlights were the "2-LEGGED WALKING ROBOT," the "RESCUE CRAWLER" articulated tank-track robot, the "SOLAEMON-GO" solar-powered ...

WON'T YOU TAKE ME TO RETRO TOWN?*<br><br>Kitakyushu is the 11th(?) largest city in Japan, but, aside from Space World, it gets hardly a mention in my collection of guidebooks, maybe because it has heavy industry, including a large steel plant. Surfing the internet to discover something worth visiting in Kitakyushu, I happened to find a PDF of a guidemap for Retro Town Mojiko. I couldn't resist! Mojiko is literally at ...

... I saw some Hakusan bowls at the Nagasaki Prefecure's store. A year ago, I saw more at the Ceramic Wholesalers' Plaza in Aria. This year, I was determined to go to the Hakkusan Factory Store in Hasami, which has no railroad station. Wih the help of www.diddlefinger.com, I was able to make a map of the route to Hakusan from the nearest train station, which is in Arita. The walk took 2 hours in each direction, but everything on display at ...

... the other stuff was!! But glad we did as it was the best noodle soup we have had all trip. Then we decided to be brave and order some other little bits - Rob ordered some chicken skewers, which although this is what it was, we had no idea what part of the chicken it was from as it was hard and crunchy!!!! Lesley then pointed at a few things that could not be identified but thought it might be ...

... eingepackt. <br><br>Was ich noch vergessen habe zu erwähnen, wir haben hier den besten maguru (thunfisch) unseres lebens gegessen. Zugegeben es war nicht billig und eigentlich war es nicht der hauptgang sondern nur das Gedeck (das man hier auch zahlt wie in Italien, nur kriegt man hier noch ne kleine Vorspeise diese bestand eben aus besagten Maguru der eingelegt oder so war und etwas ...

... but this one was both rebellious and helpful--is there something profound in this? <br><br>So Fukuoka--nice laid back place, but I think it's more of a party oriented city. Just half a day here and I'm pretty satisfied I've seen what I wanted to see. Even got to wander through Nakasu, the entertainment district, which was just like Osaka, with minibars and men hawking clubs and restaurants.<br><br>Tomorrow...Nagasaki and Kumamoto.<br><br>-mike

... do it for sure was based on the cost of doing so. Which brings me nicely to - ¥apan I had almost forgotten how expensive this place is. Almost, but not quite. Not that forgetting a detail like that really matters in Japan, because within minutes of getting here you'll know exactly where your credit card is. Where it should be is on a piece of string tied to your arm, for ease of access. Here are a few sample costs: · Cheapest Subway fare ...

... around in what seemed like circles for miles, while Mark, getting increasingly drunk with each 7-11 we passed pointed out the finer details of snack bars (which aren:t little kiosks that serve snacks) and how the cost of women differs depending on their looks and their open-mindedness. He seriously made the group quit walking, and gather together in the middle of the lobby of such a place offering these services and had us examine the varying ...

... a large Japanese palace towered over the city. On the inland side of the city, the "shita machi" was located, i.e. the lower town. The palace was the original target of our visit. The palace also called "Karatsujou" could be reached by climbing about 150 steps or by elevator. Mr. Tanaka, in his mid 60`s was however astonishingly fit. He walks 2 hours every day. He managed the steps without any problems, faster even than ...