Sunroute Hakata Fukuoka

... 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. <br><br>What is ...

... for museums or exhibition halls in Tokyo the first week I arrived. Didn't find anything! I'm sure I must have just missed them somehow. Then in Osaka I heard about a robot place in Nagoya, but I'd already passed that town by and was nearing the end of my trip, so backtracking didn't fit the circumstances. Somewhat reluctantly, I resigned myself to not getting to see any of the famous Japanese robots... at least not on THIS trip, I consoled myself.<br><br>Then I saw it ...

... the islands separated and the strait was formed. Think Red Sea. Mojiko had strategic military importance, so it was the focus of several wars and fights over whether this part of Japan would be open to foreign trade (a theme that also affected Nagasaki and Kagoshima). Mojiko had an important role in the banana import market, which anyone who has seen melons selling for $10 to $50 in Japan's supermarkets will ...

... in modern designs. <br><br>THE SCHLEP TO HASAMI<br><br>I had my big adventure hike yesterday. The Hakusan company had been producing traditional porcelain in a little town called Hasami in Nagasaki Prefecture, but then its President heard someone prominent say that design is the future. So he set out to hire a designer and got Masahiro Mori. Mori created modern designs which Hakusan mass-produced. Two years ago, when I was in ...

... 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 ...

La première fin de semaine passée au Japon fut très intéressante. Samedi, dodo toute la journée pour reprendre un peu du poil de la bête. Dimanche, je décide finalement d'aller rejoindre deux étudiants de l'école qui doivent aller voir le temple de Dazaifu. On ne sait pas où il se trouve, donc nous nous rejoignons vers 11h en face de l'école. Je prends donc le train de Shirakibaru à Tenjin. Sebastien (suisse) et Miekel (Allemagne) me rejoignent peu de temps après et j'apprends a ce ...

... and considering my knowledge of rugby has been watered down a fair bit after 5 years in England, I felt Peter had an extremely strong, if not, sensational debut. Ok, so I probably am a bit biased but even the main English language newspaper here in Japan, the Daily Yomiuri, stated he was 'Australia's best player'. I'd be interested to learn what the Australian media made of his performance. It's actually not so much to do with the fact that he ...

... absorbed by the exhibition and a walk through the Peace Park brought me back to the present! Before we left we took a cable car up to the top of Mount Inasa and watched the sun set over the mountains and saw Nagasaki light up, all very pretty! Got the nicest train back to Fukuoka - had leather seats and loads of leg room! And I was proud of myself as I managed to find my way back from the station to Helen's house without getting lost once! Well my time in ...

... was too funny. Many times little antics forced a smile out of me that I couldn't help, and a few times they made me laugh. It started to rain more heavily and they fled below decks. I tried to regain my focus, but couldn't. After awhile the rain became too much for me and I too headed below decks. It's always the easiest thing in the world to focus when it's just you and the path. It's not just because there aren't any distractions, it's because the path is your only companion. It's your ...

... yet it seemed small. Nicely tucked away along a long white sanded coast line against some rather high but not snow covered mountains. There were a few tall buildings, but most buildings were less than 10 storeys. Quite interesting, there was a double decker highway, I think the bottom road was for one direction, the top road for the other direction, and both roads were built as a flyover throughout the city, and this double ...