SPACEWORLD!!!!

For maximum effect, you need to say the title in a 1950's sci-fi radio serial voice.

Friday marked the last day for me, for any sort of cleaning, and that mostly burning more garbage. My mother will stay at least one more day, before visiting the grave of a relative Saturday morning and returning to Fukuoka in the afternoon.

A note about how I spent my "leisure" time in Nishihigashi. With nothing to do and it becoming very dark fairly early in the evening, I found myself going to bed at anywhere from 8 to 10 pm. Consequently, I would wake up between 3 - 5 am, and usually just lie in bed until 7-9 am, where upon my day would start again. Mostly, I read a couple of comic books I bought at the train station before I left Fukuoka, or chatted with my mom or grandma. Thankfully, I'm back in civilized lands now, and will have regular access to internet and other city distractions.

About 10:30 Friday morning, my cousin Miwa and her parents came to the ancestral manse to pick me up. A quick introduction to my family in Fukuoka. I'm staying with my Aunt and Uncle, Toshiko and Kenji. Kenji is my dad's older brother, and the middle of 3 boys (the oldest lives in a city to the south called Oita). They have 3 kids, a boy and two girls. The oldest is Makoto, my childhood friend, but about 5 years my senior. He's now got 2 kids of his own, 2 girls 2 years and 11 months old respectively, named Honoka and Ulala. Second is Fumi, whom I never really got to know, a problem that exists even today. This is mainly because, as a girl and older than both me and my brother, she never really paired off with either me or my brother. Youngest is Miwa, whom some of you already met, is 2 years younger than me. Mainly because of her visit to Toronto in December and early January, and our fairly closeness in age, I've been hanging out with her a lot more. Lastly, my other grandma (dad's side) lives in the same building as my aunt, uncle, and oldest cousin (he lives next door). I'll be sure to snap pics of the family soon.

I'm still not exactly sure where Space World is in relation to Fukuoka. Something tells me north-east, but that's just speculation. The original intention was to go to Spaceworld, spend a night in a hotel, then return leisurely on Saturday. Sadly, the hotel was booked solid (it was a risk we had already known), so it was just Spaceworld for the time being.

What to say about Spaceworld? Well, for one thing, it could just have been easily named Aquaworld, or Termiteworld, or Genericworld and be relatively unchanged. Think half of Canada's Wonderland with a little bit of NASA thrown in, and you get the idea. All in all, rather uninspiring.

Cool names such as Space Shaker and Titan couldn't really diffuse the overall blandness of the place.


Still, the trip itself was fun, as any place with roller coasters will be. There were 2, Venus and Titan. Venus featured more curves and Gees, while Titan had one big 60 metre drop. I'll say this: hook me up for a roller coaster any time. Lots of fun and excitement, leaving me wobble-legged and mildly disoriented afterwards.

Here's a quick pic of me and my cousin:


Spaceworld closed at 5pm, so we were off, this time to a pleasant little attraction called Mojiko. A place name, it is historic in that is has many houses and buildings erected and designed during the Meiji era. The Meiji era saw Japan modernize almost overnight, and the frankly Victorian influences are clear in the architecture. Where are the pics, you ask? There aren't any really, as I didn't find much to be interesting. The architecture is similar in many senses to the buildings in Toronto. Head out to Queen and Victoria, and walk south east and you'll get the same effect.

What I did find interesting was Honshu, Japan's biggest island, just across the straits to the north. Visible in my pictures here is Yamaguchi prefecture (a prefecture is somewhat akin to a province or state), highlighting for me, just how small Japan is. Mojiko is about 45 minutes away by highway.