Sleep Inn Fukuoka

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 ...

... FIDO" (Friendly Indelligent Dog Option) would be more fitting:).<br><br>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.<br><br>I made my way around ...

... will have to wait for my next trip! <br><br>What better way to finish off my retro day than to stay at the Comfort Hotel in Hakata. The carpet in the rooms has a pattern that could be Polynesian art, a Rohrshoch ((?)) test, or an artifact from a well-preserved 1950's American living room. It's located across the street from the Hakata railroad station. Compared to the other hotels where I've stayed in Japan, this ...

... face masks--in Japan, politeness and civic responsibility require that you wear a mask if you have a cold. You are also not supposed to blow your nose in public, although it's ok to sniffle. I wonder if there is an underclass of allergy sufferers who suffer from discrimination, or at least chronic nasal problems from fluid pressure. On the train back to my hotel from Karatsu, there was a student with either allergies or a cold, and ...

... 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 ...

... sont laissés dans le "bouillon" plus longtemps et aromatise l'eau ou encore absorbe un peu de lait de soja. C'était très bon, avec une sauce Sésame c'était vraiment bien bon! Nous avons fini la soirée...au Fubar nomihoudai bien entendu! Dernier vendredi c'était party à l'école! 1000&#65509;pour la soirée, Okonomiyaki et Défi Mario Kart était de la parti! l'Okonomiyaki est une crêpe, ou pizza à la japonaise. Okonomi signifie Favori en japonais. L'okonomiyaki contient donc les ...

... the short trip south to Fukuoka to see Peter play, even despite the fact that we knew Japan would hardly provide much of a test, even for Australia's second string team. After discovering we'd been wrong with our research and that kick-off was actually at 2pm instead of 4pm, we made a mad dash across town to reach the Hakata no Mori Stadium (actually the Level 5 Stadium now because of renaming sponsorship) in time for kick-off. We arrived in the ...

... billed as the largest coastal ferris wheel, so presumably none of the others are near the beach. In any event, I didn`t go on it... Fukuoka isn`t overloaded with tourist attractions, but I found it to be a really fun, laid back city that is much nicer than say, Osaka. It would be a nice place to settle down in, but in tourist terms, three nights were sufficient, and I was now ready to move on to Nagasaki for another interesting history lesson...

... railing. There the wind screamed. The sky was stormy and the sea was dark. Occasional drops of rain pelted my cheeks. A man whom I would meet and talk to later moved up to the railing as well, stayed there for a few moments, and they retreated laughing in dismay and exclaimating to an old man whom he had sat down next to. It was hard to stand still against the wind, and if you turned your face towards the gale it blew so hard that you couldn't breathe. I stayed there for over an hour ...

... After we were done with the meal, we sat there for quite a while, talking about many different topics in Japanese. Atsuko-san was pretty persistent in keeping in the Japanese language even though she spoke and understood both English and German fluently. The waiters kept refilling our tea whenever we were done. It was amazing. Once we were ready to go, we had to go to the cash box at the entrance to the restaurant. Tips were not ...