Spring Break Report 1: Cultural Fukuoka

As some of my readers may know, Ian made the trip across the pond to visit me in J-Land. And so marks the beginning of our 2-week long oddyssey.

Despite horridly uncooperative weather, and despite our best efforts, we managed to get in quite a bit of culture today. The day started off at good ol' Hakata Station, where I met my dad, also coincidentally in Japan. We secured Ian's Rail Pass, and our tickets to Tokyo for Monday, and then sat down to a hearty brunch.

Next stop: Yodobashi Camera. Long-time readers will recognize this name from many moons ago, from my previous trip to Japan 3 years ago. While we didn't pick anything of significance up, we did spend some time goofing off at the game center on the top floor. But enough of that. Off for some culture.

We travelled by subway to Hakozaki Shrine, one of the big three in Fukuoka Prefecture along with Dazaifu and Miyajidake. It was interesting, for me mostly because I was able to update my charm. Unfortunately, the facade of the shrine seems to be undergoing restoration. So today, it was shrouded in some sort of cloth, precluding any nice pictures. The weather was cooperative during out visit to the shrine, as well as our visit to the nearby Buddhist Temple, but as we left the temple, the rain picked up pace. We hurried back to the subway station, stubbornly refusing to put our hoods up.


We encountered this strange stone, inscribed with lyrics. Didn't check the lyrics, but it's kinda cool...

Next stop, Dazaifu, home of the Kyushu National Museum. By the time we got out of the station, the rain was a steady downpour. Leaving Dazaifu Station places you almost directly next to the shrine grounds, which is itself located next to the museum. After wandering around the shrine, we finally found the museum.


Then long hallway leading to the museum proper, with the occasionally pulsing light which made me feel like I should launch from a Viper MkII...

It is hard to explain just how large the museum is. Though I have never been inside a airplane hangar, this was the immediate impression I got. The museum is effectively one big room, which houses all the exhibits. Being shown now is an archeological history of Japan. As Ian smartly pointed out, it's almost inconceivable to comprehend numbers like 1500 BC, except on an academic level. For a country like Canada, with a history measured in centuries, it's humbling to see artifacts from as old as 90,000 years ago (a tree stump discovered and dated, burned by a pyroclastic flow that incinerated the Dazaifu area up to almost Hakata Bay 90,000 years ago).


The roof of the museum must be at least 6 stories high, enough to contain the 5-story high building pictured here...

By the time we got out, it was about 4pm, and raining very hard. We trekked back to the station, our shoes and pants soaked from the knees down. Thankfully, we caught the special express, which bypasses all but 1 station on the way back to downtown Fukuoka. From there, it was a taxi ride to fabulous Canal City.

While not particularly "cultural", at least not in the traditional sense, it was fruitful for me as I got to update my wallet. I bought a new Porter wallet, fairly similar to my old one, but a but smaller.


The store I bought it from however had an unfortunate Engrish name...

We wandered the mall a bit before heading back home. Dinner was order-in pizza, my first time since arriving in Japan.

Tomorrow: Tenjin.