Yaoji Hakata Hotel 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... eingepackt. <br><br>Was ich noch vergessen habe zu erwähnen, wir haben hier den besten maguru (thunfisch) unseres lebens gegessen. Zugegeben es war nicht billig und eigentlich war es nicht der hauptgang sondern nur das Gedeck (das man hier auch zahlt wie in Italien, nur kriegt man hier noch ne kleine Vorspeise diese bestand eben aus besagten Maguru der eingelegt oder so war und etwas ...

... you check that entry out if what I've said here has done enough to whet your appetite for more information. Yes, I may indeed be getting lazier by the entry but hey, why reinvent the wheel? Day 98, 99 & 100 Observations (November 19th, 20th & 21st 2007) · ¥100 for 2 hours This, strictly speaking, isn't an observation but I'm allowed to bend my own rules, so bear with me. I've already mentioned that the ryokan where we spent two nights in ...

... Walking around downtown in the Tenji district, I used subway maps and my trusty compass (thanks mom!) to navigate. I found my way to Canal City, which is a long winding mall built alongside the canal which runs through the city. I tried saying hello to people but didn't get much of a response. It was difficult as I had just started learning Korean and now I was surrounded by people speaking another crazy language that I didn't know save for a few words learned from cartoons ...

... you stay, whether that be a few hours or overnight, whatever you fancy. On hearing that the rooms were equipped with karaoke, video games, giant water slides, furry pink wallpaper, disco balls etc etc we decided to try and get a glimpse into this mysterious world of fun - but it is all very discrete and there were no staff to show ...

... contains elevated small 2 cm diameter 1 cm high circles. These circle elevations also occur, when a blind person has to choose going straight ahead or turning right or left. So e.g. when a pavement continues straight on, but there is a bus stop to the right, then at that point the straight elevations are interrupted by a large square containing circled elevations. So the person knows, that something important is to the left ...