Sea Change Okinawa: Fukuoka

Some photos around Fukuoka

This year took me for the second time on a work trip that started in Fukuoka. Last year was my first time visiting Fukuoka, so I spent the half day of free time I had wandering around the city visiting temples and eating ramen at a yatai stall. This year I was much less adventurous. I think I was just excited to be in a real city (Naha, the capital of Okinawa does not classify as a city in my opinion), so I spent most of my time shopping at stores I don't usually have access to.

I wandered across to Hakata station and visited their rooftop garden and shrine that is dedicated to safe train travel. I took in the views of the city. I ate comfort food. I did my nails and a face mask in my hotel room. It was just what I needed.

Tetsudo shrine is dedicated to safe train travel and is on the rooftop of Hakata station in Fukuoka

Tetsudo shrine on the roof of Hakata station devoted to safe train travel

You should wash your hands before you enter the shrine

Such a tiny shrine

Artwork on the roof of Hakata station

View of Fukuoka city from the top of Hakata station

View over Fukuoka

Flower shops in Japan are always so beautifully presented and really well priced

Florists in Japan always have the most beautiful displays

Canal city shopping complex in Fukuoka City is a really cool place, great for shopping and getting some good photos

Canal city is a shopping complex in Fukuoka city

18:33
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More temples in Fukuoka

Fukuoka

In my half day in Fukuoka, I actually crammed in quite a bit of sightseeing, although it didn't seem rushed, and I was impressed with how much I saw. Especially seeing as I was also tempted to just go shopping, but decided instead on the shrines and temples.

After Sumiyoshi Jinja, we stumbled across Rakusuien Garden, a traditional Japanese garden, only about 10 minutes walk from Hakata station. It was lovely and quiet, right in the centre of the city and only 100 yen to enter.

Entrance to Rakusuien Gardens

I love Japanese Maple leaves

Koi looking for food

Peaceful

After walking around the garden we got to sit in a tatami room overlooking the gardens

After the garden, we walked over to the Gion area and went to Shofukuji Temple, and discovered some other temples near that as well. Basically the whole afternoon was filled with temples and shrines.

Shofukuji Temple

I loved the detail in the wood building

This was a private area we couldn't enter, but I loved the zen garden

After Shofukuji, we could see a gorgeous looking red pagoda nearby and followed it to find Tochoji temple. The grounds here were lovely, and it all looked fairly new/well kept. I was really surprised by how close everything was in Fukuoka, making it a really walkable city. Actually it would be the perfect place to rent a bike and ride around because it is all really compact and flat.

Tochoji Temple

City skyline over the temple grounds

The weather was hot and clear. Hard to believe a typhoon was about to hit the next day cancelling all ways out of Fukuoka.

16:52
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More Fukuoka

Fukuoka

Before inundating you with more shrine photos from Fukuoka, I thought i'd show you some of the rest of the city. Even though I only had an afternoon/evening to explore, I feel like I did it justice and I really liked the city. I will definitely consider going back with my family when I feel the need to escape the island.

For dinner, I really wanted to try Hakata ramen. I love ramen, and just before I left Melbourne Hakata Gensuke Ramen opened in Melbourne. I thought I should try ramen at it's origin. Every night in Fukuoka, yatai food stalls open up all over the place. I headed for the ones by the river for the setting. It seemed to me that they all mostly sold the same thing - ramen, yakitori, oden and beer. I randomly chose one and ordered. Honestly, it was good, but not mind blowing, but I think that's just because the yatai stalls aren't trying to be anything fancy, and are catering to tourists to a certain extent. Still, I was satisfied and am glad I went to one.

Sunset over the river

Yatai food stalls

Well deserved after an afternoon walking all around the city

That's oden floating in the soy soupy mix.

Hakata ramen!

Assorted yakitori

The next day I was down to business. We headed out to Kyushu University for some lab tours, and for me to meet with the careers services there (for students, not me).

After we got back to the hotel in the evening, I was super exhausted, but managed to work up a tiny bit of energy to go to the Tokyu Hands at Hakata Station, just across from my hotel. If you don't know Tokyu Hands, it is a "Creative life store" basically full of everything you could ever imagine, from household goods, to super cute stationary, and luggage. There is a tiny one in Okinawa, but this one was about 5 floors, so I had to go in. The nest day we were supposed to be leaving on a super early shinkansen to Osaka to be at Osaka University by the afternoon, but Typhoon Goni hit Fukuoka, and we couldn't leave until 7:30pm. The day involved a lot of waiting and frustration, before finally making it to Osaka at almost 11:30pm!

Ramen shops everywhere!

A one man car. The smallest i've ever seen!

Best store ever

Hakata station

02:24
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Sumiyoshi Shrine Fukuoka

Fukuoka

This week I am on a trip for work which is taking me from Fukuoka, in Kyushu at the south of the mainland, right up to Hokkaido, and the top, with stops in Osaka and Tokyo in between.

We arrived in Fukuoka yesterday, just beating the typhoon out of Okinawa, and were lucky enough to get the afternoon free to explore. I've never been to Fukuoka before so I tried to cram in as much as possible. What I wanted to do the most was visit some shrines and temples, because there aren't really any in Okinawa, and they are one of the things I miss the most about mainland Japan.

First stop was Sumiyoshi Jinja (shrine), which was chosen mostly because it was only a short walk from my hotel. Sumiyoshi Jinja is a Shinto Shrine, in the Hakata area of the city. It was really lovely, and even though it was really hot out, as soon as walking into the shrine grounds, everything seemed much cooler than the rest of the city.