sightseeing

(or fukuoka, japan part two)

i visited the canal city complex on friday early evening. it's basically a giant mall but is often referred to as a city within the city. it is apparently one of the "largest composite complexes in all of Asia". it boasts hundreds of stores (including the gap, which i was exstatic about), tons of restaurants, two hotels, a theater, entertainment complex and on and on... it is huge. i went there twice actually and didn't see the whole thing... definitely worth checking out. oh! and the best part was Wendy's!! that's right i had a REAL bacon cheeseburger - it was to die for!!!

canal city (or a part of it anyway)

it's called canal city because of the canal that runs through it... here children are playing in the water - totally permitted and even encouraged!

a nicer shot of the canal with the fountain that was exploding to songs by ABBA... promo for "mamma mia" which was playing at the theater.

wendy's in japan - looks like every other wendy's i've ever been to!

on saturday i got up and out of the hostel by 9 AM. i had a lot to see and do and couldn't waste any time lying about! i headed for the "downtown" area to the ruins of fukuoka castle. it was built by Lord Nagamasa Kuroda in the early 17th century. it's more or less a giant park now... with tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and a lot of trees. it was really nice to walk around... sadly my camera batteries died as i got to the castle, so i don't have many (good) pictures. (i had just bought the batteries too... argh!!!)

a walkway up into the castle.

one of the walls... just gives you an idea of how massive it was! it took me about an hour to walk around the whole thing.

next to the castle ruins is ohori park. a huge man made lake (which was origianlly part of the castles' moat) sits in the middle with lots of trees and generally pretty views. of course, having finally gotten some batteries, mother nature decided it was time to let go and it started pouring rain on me right when i entered the park. i had my umbrella so i managed to walk through the center of the lake using a series of bridges and islands.

a map of the park - the path around the lake is two km's. i just walked around the right side and through the middle.

a view across the lake

gazebo (are they called that if they're japanese?) in the middle of the lake.

one of the bridges across.

when i emerged from the park i found a coffee shop to relax in for a bit - mr. donut - and wait for the rain to die down. at this time, my camera informed me that my memory card was full so i had to find somewhere to buy another one... argh!!! stupid camera! (the annoyance was only heightened by the fact that i had thought that i'd have a new camera by that time... i was going to buy one in japan, but as it turns out they're cheaper in korea... so it'll have to wait until i get to seoul again.) after the rain slowed a bit i made my way on the subway toward fukuoka tower. i was going to walk, but didn't because of the rain.

i found the fukuoka city museum before the tower so i stopped in to get out of the rain again. what better place to spend a rainy afternoon than in a museum? as you can tell by the name the museum is all about the history of fukuoka... it was an interesting if not short exhibit with lots of pottery, knives, clothes... etc... from the area. the oldest bits being from around the stone age... it was a nice way to get out of the rain.

fukuoka city museum - yes that's the tower in the background...

i finally got to the tower at around 2:30 PM (remember i've been walking almost non-stop since 9 in the morning) - i was exhausted... but the sightseeing must go on.

fukuoka tower

the tower was built in 1989. it is 234 meters high but the observation deck is at 123 meters. it is covered with 8000 half mirrors giving it the nickname of "the mirror sail". it is designed to withstand magnitude seven earthquakes and winds of up to 63 miles per second. it weighs over 28,000 tons, with 25,000 of that underground. it cost six billion ¥ (in 1989) to build and is the highest seaside tower in all of japan!

towards korea.

towards canada.

up the coast (nice looking beach)

into the city...

after taking in the view - albeit not a very good one with the rain... i had a too-expensive glass of beer at the top and left it behind to walk to hawk's town. i also passed by the fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome - home to the fukuoka Seahawks baseball team. it was the first dome in japan to havea retractable roof. there was a game going on, but i didn't know until it was over, or maybe i could have gone... oh well, next time.

the dome.

hawks town mall.

after wandering around the mall for ages - bought a hoodie, and a couple of other small things i went to the hard rock cafe. there is a first for everything! i don't think i've ever been to one before... and they had club sandwiches on the menu and i just couldn't resist! it was good, but nothing like a club back home... at least the bacon was real!!! it was tasty.

i finally headed back to the hostel at around 6:30 exhausted from my day... thinking about how nice it would be to curl up on the couch and rest my poor feet... but alas... that is never what happens when you really want it...(and a good thing too!) so stay tuned for my adventures in japanese food with real japanese people and a canuck i met along the way...