Super Hotel Hakata 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 ...

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"ROBOSQUARE!" (Robots in Japan!)
by swami_worldtraveler

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INT RO:

Japan is famous for robots! - especially humanoid robots, even very sophisticated walking robots. I built walking robots in college as an Electrical Engineering student. So, naturally I had to find some robots while I was in Japan!...

You'd think it would be easy; they must be walking around the streets everywhere. Well, I ...

... end of the line, that is, the Japan Rail Kagoshima Line. From Hakata, it's only about 45 minutes by rail if you do the Hakata to Kokura run by Shinkansen. Between Kokura and Mojiko, there is only one choice, the slow train. Mojiko is located at the Kanmon Strait which separates the island of Kyushu from the island of xx. According to myth, at one time, the two islands were connected, but at a particularly strategic ...

... 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 ...

... de toi comme les valises à l'aéroport et tu choisis ce que tu veux, ce qui a l'air bon! Le prix sera déterminé par la quantité d'assiettes que tu auras devant toi et selon leur couleur. Mioum! Un samedi, en face de GenkiJacs, nous sommes allés voir une troupe de taiko amateure se pratiquer. Nous avons pu pratiquer avec eux , ils s'appellent Daikyo Daiko. Photos et video disponibles. Une chose est sure, ici...je n'arrête pas de manger!!! Dans le prochain épisode : Kyoto City Mata ne!

... no doubt pick up from the photos, we weren't all that interested in the rest of the team and for the majority of the match were concentrating on how Peter played and hoping (if not expecting;)) him to nail every Japanese player with crunching tackles, pluck every lineout ball out of the sky or charge through for a try every time he got possession. The really funny thing was that he hardly put a foot wrong at all during the entire game. In all ...

... Nagasaki is a beautiful city with so much culture, it's just lovely. We wandered into China town and had lunch and then followed the canal along to spectacle bridge! Also went to the A-bomb memorial and museum. The museum was really interesting and very sobering, it's a good testimony to the events and as well as showing, at times in very graphic detail, the damage and destruction the bomb caused, it also takes you through the events leading up to it. I was ...

... the window, gave a squeak and then ran back to her friends giggling. After a moment of conference another came up and did the same, staying a little a longer. Then the third came and stayed a little longer still before running back. They all giggled uproariously at this, and then they went up into the line of the wind and started taking pictures one by one, laughing and playing around as I did so. At first I tried to stay focused and look out over the water, but in the end the ...

So, the end of the second day has arrived, but it really feels as if I have been here already for 2 weeks. I am not going to do too much self praising here, but I do feel as if my Japanese has jumped and leaped into a rather advanced level with me being able to understand everything, and being able to express myself rather well. Well, arriving in Fukuoka was some how different that I had imagined. From the air it was a large city ...