My World = Shopping

Can there be such a thing as too much shopping? I've been known to equate Japan as one big shopping mall, and the last 3 days seem to have reinforced this idea for me.

Oddly enough, I have relatively few pictures to show. Mostly, I'm just bad at choosing Kodak moments. But I'm also usually too busy being involved in the process of consumerism. So instead I will try to share what interesting nuggets of cultural information I've learned during my time here.

Of the first day of shopping, I have no pictures to show. Not only was my camera acting up, but it was damned cold where we were. A 30 minute car ride ended in a quaintly named shopping mall called Marinoa City (of course, not to be confused with Marina City, close by). Marinoa City is modeled after an American Shopping mall; stores built around a multi-story courtyard. Being Sunday, it was unsurprisingly packed.

Dinner that night was pizza from Pizza-la. I've always had this image of Japanese pizza being topped with all manner of strange sushi-esque items, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it now fairly similar to home. I can, I think, thank the evolution of the gourmet pizza at home for that. Surprisingly delectable was a creamy potato topping on one of the pizzas.

The next day was Valentine's Day. While the appeal for romanticly involved couples remains intact, the major facet of this day in Japan is the giving of chocolate, not by men but by women, to the loved ones in their life. It's also a chance for young girls to give sweets to someone they have a crush on, with the hope that their desires are acknowledged and perhaps even reciprocated a month later on "White Day#".


This is my cousin Makoto's youngest, Ulala. While for the most part, the Japanese health care system is similar to the American one (that is, user-paid directly), services involving children up to the age of 4 (6 in Fukuoka Prefecture) are free. Makoto's other daughter, Honoka has been sick with a slight fever and ear infection, which required several visits to the hospital.

The major planned event of the day was Cirque de Soleil's Allegria 2, playing in Fukuoka. It was a very good show, but not particularly unique in any Japanese sense. The return trip, to meet up with my mom and her cousins down town was more interesting.



Allegria was playing just down the walkway from Hakozaki shrine. Built in 923, it was razed and rebuilt a number of times, notably after the Mongol invasion 1274.


The first step in visiting a Japanese shrine is the ritual cleansing of the hands, as a proxy for cleansing the spirit. You take the cup from atop the fountain and pour water over you hands.

After that, you proceed to the shrine's Oratory, where shrine rituals are usually performed by Shinto priests. In this case, you toss some money into the collection box (out of frame), clap twice, bow you head, and clap twice again. This ritual is individual to most shrines, and is explained by a sign displayed for visitors.

More shopping followed, but again, this is fairly standard stuff. I'll end with 2 random images. The first is a really cool T-Shirt shop, which showcases the designed of up-and-coming designers. The next is a restaurant, I think. I just thought the big crab was cool :P