Day 05 - Fukuoka

This morning we again woke to a beautiful fine day here in Fukuoka, after managing to get a little sleep-in. After the usual toils of toilet, shower and getting dressed, we headed out the door in search of a Japan Railways (JR) Ticketing Office to get our pre-booked 14 day JR Rail pass. After some serious navigating around down-town Fukuoka (that's 'Fook-oo-oh-ka', John Cowdroy-Ling), we located the JR Rail Office, only to find that it was actually the JR Rail Regional Head-Office, and they don't issue out 14 day JR Rail passes. It turns out that we walked straight past the correct location as we walked through Hakata Station. With the ticket issue sorted we settled on a western-style breakfast at Seattle's Best Coffee (SBC).

The walk towards Hakata Station.

Getting close to Hakata Station.

With our hot little two-week JR Rail Passes in hand we headed to the train platform to catch the next train to the Kidonanzoin-Mae Station on the Hakata - Minami line. 

Here's some railway action from Platform 8:

Our train.

Onboard.

The journey there took nearly half-an-hour, with the square little train rocketing to speeds of up to 95 kilometres per hour. On arrival we were greeted by a quaint little town perched along the banks of a gentle stream, surrounded by tall hills. 

A short walk later and we entered the Nanzo-In Temple. The Nanzo-In Temple is a Shingon Sect Buddhist Temple which has been in this location since 1889. It contains beautifully sculptured gardens, the main Nanzo-In Temple and 88 other Temples that make up a pilgrimage route called at Sasaguri Pilgrimage. There are also thousands of very detailed little bronze statues of Monks, each completely different to the other.

Maureen looking lovely amongst the lovely scenery.

Kyle rubs Buddha's Belly for good luck. Seems like he's not the first to do so.

Literally thousands of these statues all over the Temple Park.

A Turtle sun-baking.

However, the key feature of the Nanzo-In Temple is a giant reclining Buddha (known as Nehanzo) made of bronze. Measuring 41 metres long, 11 metres tall and weighing 300 tons, it is reputed to be the largest bronze statue in the world. Inside the reclining Buddha are the ashes of Buddha and two Buddhist adherents, Ananda and Maudgalyayana, which were a gift from Myanmar. The statue of the reclining Buddha was unveiled in 1995.

After spending a few hours at the Nanzo-In Temple, we headed back to the station to catch the train back to Hakata Station. 

We then headed to the Subway to catch the Train to Tenjin Station for some serious shopping in the Tenjin district. Whilst there we split up with Maureen and I headed for some fabric shopping (though this time successfully) and Sky and Kyle heading off for their adventures. He stopped for lunch at separate locations; the boys found a Pokemon Cafe, whilst Maureen and I found Luke's Lobster...yummo!

Kyle's Eevee lunch. 

Sky's Onyx lunch. 

The Lobster Rolls were just amazing.

Maureen sits in front of Luke's Lobster. Interestingly, Luke's Lobster is simple a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, so  we sat on one of the few benches. It was like up-market and down-market at the same time.

We met back up and decided to walk the kilometre or so to Canal City Hakata, another enormous shopping complex. here's some pictures along the way:

Canal City Shopping Complex.

Afterwards we met up again and walked around 1.6 kilometres back to Hakata Station, where we managed to have dinner nearby at a great restaurant before heading back to the apartment.

It was a busy day with lots of walking for us all. Tomorrow we are catching the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, where I plan to be very safe and not have the same incredible dramas that we had there one year and two days ago. I also plan to visit the places that I missed out on last time as a result.

Day 04 - Nagasaki to Fukuoka

Today's route from Nagasaki to Fukuoka.

It was an early rise this morning which saw us getting out of bed just after 0500h. After showering, packing and locking up the apartment we headed off on our 20 minute walk to the Peace Park Trolley Car Station. The sounds of our collective rolling luggage filled the streets as we hoped that the noise wouldn't wake anybody. As fate would have it, the skies were beautiful and clear and the stars were plentiful.

After our short journey from Peace Park Station #19 to Nagasaki Station #27, we headed across the road to the Nagasaki Bus Terminal. Once settled there, Sky and I headed out to Lawsons for some breakfast which comprised Sushi, Onigiri and Sandwiches. We only had to wait around a half-hour for our 0715h Bus, before we headed off to Fukuoka.

Weary travellers at the Nagasaki Bus Station.

The distance to Fukuoka is a little over 150 kilometres travelling northwards up Kyushu Island which is the third largest and southern most of the four principal Japanese Islands. We were travelling on a Nishitetsu* Group Bus, and the bus was very comfortable with big wide seats and lots of leg-room. The added bonuses were free fast wi-fi, power-points, a downstairs toilet and a smooth ride. The journey took a little more than two hours, and the scenery along the way was lush green and very pretty, particularly as we passed Omura Bay.

We arrived at Fukuoka's Hakata Station which was just enormous. It is the starting point for the Shinkansen, which we'll be experiencing in just a few days time. Hakata Station also houses a large shopping mall.

Fukuoka** is Japan's fifth largest city and has a population of around one-and-a-half million people. Fukuoka was originally two separate towns, Fukuoka and Hakata. In 1889, they merged and a vote declared that the newly merged town would be called Fukuoka (even though Hakata was the larger of the two towns); however, as a consolation Hakata became the name of the newly established main railway station. 

Hakata Station

After reading up on the directions provided by our AirBnB host, we headed off in search of our Fukuoka accommodation which was just a short ten minute walk.

Checking out the directions to our next accommodation. 

Sky leading the charge to the accommodation, well ahead of us.

Found it! Actually it's the building behind the white-tiled building.

After dropping off our bags, we headed back to Hakata for some lunch, before splitting up and doing our own thing(s). Maureen and I went in search for an elusive fabric shop. In fact it was very elusive, firstly, there was some confusion regarding the name of the shop which sent us off in the completely opposite direction nearly a kilometre from our starting point. We quickly recalibrated, then took a one-and-a-half kilometre short-cut to the proper destination. When we finally arrived, we discovered that it was a fabric shop; it's just that the fabrics were in the shape of clothes. Oops! 

Here's some photos taken during our long walk...

No shortage of taxis here.

Some fast truck action.

We headed back to Hakata Station to check out Yodabashi-Hakata. Yodobashi Camera is a giant electronics store with many levels of electrical products. You could easily spend a whole day checking out the store. In total there are 23 of these stores across Japan, and they are all massive. Thankfully we left there empty-handed, though I did drop some subtle hints about some new Cameras, the Nikon Z7 or perhaps a Nikon D750, either of which would make the perfect replacement for my current Nikon D7100; but, I think my hints fell on deaf ears.

Afterwards we headed back to the apartment for rest, recuperation and clothes washing duties. Dinner was Ramen Noodles and Gyozo - Yum!

* Interesting Fact: Nishitetsu has more buses than any other transport company in Japan, with a total of 2,500 buses.

** Final Fun Fact: We are now closer to North Korea's Capital, Pyongyang then we are to Japan's Capital, Tokyo.