Il Palazzo Fukuoka

... presence by the locals was very evident everywhere that we went.<br><br>We will miss Okinawa and hope that perhaps someday we can return to visit again. It was well worth it to make the trip down to this place not only for the warm weather and the friendly people but also to learn that, where we come from in Canada, we haven't known (and hopefully will not know anytime soon) the horrors that the ancestors of the people we visited experienced and still feel the pain from today.<br><br>

... rooms. It was fascinating to be walking through an area that was central to major World War 2 battles nearly 70 years ago.<br><br>We also took in Shurijyo Castle which is a reconstruction of the primary castle that served as the main administrative centre when Okinawa was still a feudal fiefdom under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The castle had been destroyed several times, the latest of which was during the Battle of Okinawa during World War 2. This latest ...

... the US invasion forces landed near the end of the war. Apparently this was one of the most difficult and bloody battles of the Pacific War. It is hard to believe that this beautiful place was once a WW2 killing ground. Thousands of Americans died here and hundreds of thousands of Japanese died. I'm sure that the war memorials here will be very sobering.<br><br>It will definitely be an interesting couple of days.<br>

... did all of our shopping in fast forward. On our way home, we stopped at the military exchange, the small American-style mall on base. My mom and I went inside to buy silk robes, like the one Julia gave me for Christmas. We also got books for our respective plane rides, and then went to dinner at Macaroni Grill nearby. It was absolutely delicious, and Riley was very funny. While Julia packed at home, my mom and I took Riley ...

... from the Chinese Fu dogs. They are a pair or lion-like dogs that sit on top of houses or in front of them. The one on the left, the female, has its mouth shut to keep in all of the good things. The one on the right, the male, is roaring to scare away the bad. Shisa dogs are everywhere; many of my souvenirs are shisa-themed.<br><br>After walking through the village, we made a pitstop at the Oceanic Cultures Museum, which ...

... a beer when I went through the ticket gate, It wasn't quite like that but it was fun anyway..... an experience...<br>I realised some things in Fukuoka. <br><ul><li>That I hate smoky, packed, RnB nightclubs more than you could ever<br> imagine and I intend to never enter another nightclub for as long as<br> I live...</li></ul><ul><li>That if you can't pick up English speaking girls in the nightclubs back<br> home. There is no way you can pick up ...

L' approccio alla citta' lungo la costa non e' stato male nel contesto abbastanza bello , fino ad ora si trovava solamente un gran traffico con paesi e citta' coese fra loro e veramente non era il massimo della vita guidare continuamente fra semafori. Fukuoka altra citta' grandissima con poco da vedere la cosa interessante era che si ...

... old Japanese man who was interested in my travels and/or wanted to practise his English. Either way it was nice to talk to a local, and I sensed that I was much more of a novelty here than in Kyoto, for example. The stares and giggles will no doubt increase as I travel around Kyushu as there will be less westerners there, but they are usually accompanied with a smile and a greeting. Anyway, after checking in at the hostel, set in a beautiful ...

... classroom. The students came from a number of different countries, though Japan was a small majority. Their professor asked them to write a sentence in English answering 'what do you think of New York?' I found their answers interesting. One described New York as 'dangerous', another 'exciting', but the word that they latched onto and was repeated by a number of different people was 'big'. One Korean man there said: "Everything in America is big. The buildings are big, the ...

... when they went out for a full days trip, and knowing that I would be out of the house for a full day as well, they had asked me to lock up. Without having any breakfast I left the house shortly before 12 noon, and arrived at Takamiya station at around 12.02 p.m. Atsuko-san was already looking at her watch, though, probably not with impatience but rather worried that she might have misunderstood the location. I am told though that ...