Hakata Marine 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

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.

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 ...

... see some robots afterall!..."

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ROBOSQUAR E MISSION & VISION:

According to its founder, Dr. Hiroaki Kitano, "ROBOSQUARE does not simply refer to a physical space but embodies all the aspects involved in robotics."

The official website (http://robosquare.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/e nglish/index.html), states that ROBOSQUARE was created with the aim of:
"
1) Providing vision and understanding of the science and technology of robotics.
2) Offering ...

WON'T YOU TAKE ME TO RETRO TOWN?*

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 ...

... 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 ...

... videos hochlade. Bin schon reichlich müde von den Blasen auf den Füßen sprech ich gar nicht. Die verdank ich den neuen Schuhen (die etwas höher sind) und Andis Orientierungssinn ^_^.
So dann mach ich da morgen weiter,wir haben hier im hotel zwei nächste gebucht und wir schauen mal wo es uns dann hinführt, aber dazwischen melde ich mich ja noch.

Zum Glück hab ich die ...

... were situated in a large park. Anyway, the Todai-ji temple was especially impressive, where the main hall is the largest wooden building in the world, containing another record-breaking Buddha inside. At a shrine further down there were a lot of photogenic lanterns. And around the park (as on Miyajima) were hundreds of 'wild' deer. From Kyoto I took the shinkansen to Tokyo, the largest conurbation in the world, with more than 30 million inhabitants! It is really big and ...

... Basically, the plan was to experience as much of Japan as we could in one night. First stop: sushi. The sushi was another interesting (and flavorful) experience. I'm not exactly sure the dishes we ordered, which is unfortunate, because we just pointed to a couple pictures, but there were a definite variety of tastes. Also, I tried wasabi for the first time and all I can say is KUNG-POW!! The closest thing I can describe it too is taking a shot of vodka... through your nose ...

... little and at a very basic level. A few minutes later Josh came out, saying that his passport was being processed and would be ready for pickup the next day. That left us the rest of the day to go sightseeing. We ducked into a Family Mart, which is an Asian chain of convenience stores, and asked about places to see in the area. The store manager gave us good ideas, directions, and the locations of a few Family Marts in the area where we were headed. As he was explaining things to us ...

... the night it is once again pretty chilly with two blankets required. I am happy that I brought along a long pyjama walking around in the equally cold house. This house is nice, a bit messy but not dirty. The walls, though, are paper thin, it seems. You can hear everything in the next room. I hope they cant hear my snoring. I think that it has stopped though, as I dont have ...