Fukuoka Visa Run (Part 5)

I left Ohori Koen Park and returned to my hosts apartment. I met her new roommate and drank a couple of beers with him before dashing out the door to meet my friend from the consulate. We had arranged to meet at 9:30pm at Exit 1 of the Tenjin Station. It was 9:15pm and I was almost 3 miles away. I decided to save the $16 taxi cab fare and jogged the distance in my hiking boots. Bad idea. I got to the exit at 9:42pm, 3 minutes before the agreed cut off point, where we would not wait for the other person to show up. I looked around and could not find my friend. I found out at the airport the next day that she was at a different Exit 1. Apparently there are two Exit 1's in Tenjin Station.

So anyway, I decided to fly solo and find a recommended bar. I walked around for about 45 minutes before giving up. My feet and legs were tired from the 3 mile jog and subsequent 3 mile search for a bar that was recommended. I considered going back to the apartment since it was already nearing 11pm.

Then I remembered being recommended to eat Fukuoka ramen noodles. Apparently Fukuoka ramen noodles are special since they are cooked with pork. Different areas of Japan cook ramen in different ways, so this was my chance. Off I went in search of a ramen tent.

I walked into the first tent I found. There were two Japanese men eating ramen and one woman and one man cooking. I ordered ramen and a glass of sake. The sake was poured into a glass that was setting in a box. Sorry no picture of that. They poured so much into the glass that it overflowed into the box. There must be a reason for this, but I decided I shouldn't drink what spilled into the box. By the time I had finished my ramen, the two men had gone, I had finished another glass of sake, and a bunch of fresh Japanese people entered the tent. One of which spoke good English. She was a lady my age and was having fun teaching me about the food and drinks available in the tent.




The lady on my right is the one who was teaching me about Japanese food and drink. I wound up having two more drinks with her of something called Show-Chu, a form of distilled hard alcohol made in Japan.

After a while my new Japanese friend invited me to go to another bar with her to try more food and drinks. We wound up staying out until 3:30am-ish. I paid for the expensive taxi ride back to the apartment and crashed. By 9:00am I was up and showering so I could pick up my visa and be at the airport for a 6:45pm flight. Too bad I didn't see that the flight wasn't until 8:50pm. I arrived at the airport around 4:30pm and spent a few hours just waiting.

Fortunately I did some last minute shopping at Tenjin Station underground mall before going to the airport. I was looking for some traditional Japanese crafts and found a great shop there for such things.


I passed through a plaza while shopping and took this photo of some daisies.


I also came across a person dressed in a wicked traditional outfit. He/she was just standing there all afternoon.

So that's all I have to share about my Fukuoka Visa Run. I've since learned that there is a huge festival there in May and am considering going back. It is the largest festival in Japan with parades in the streets and performances all week long. I happen to have a three day weekend during the festival.

Fukuoka Visa Run Part (Part 4)

In this post I will show some pictures from Ohori Koen Park in Fukuoka. It is a lake with a large pathway around it for people to run, jog, or walk. Of course it has benches for people to relax on as well. You can even rent small boats to paddle or peddle around in. One particularly neat thing are the three little islands that connect with little bridges for people to cross the middle.


In this photo you can see the willow trees that line the edge of the lake. I especially like willows. They use them along the river parks in Korea. I think they give the landscape a soft and relaxing look.

You can also see a pathway just on the edge of the lake for people to stroll casually. A little further back is the really wide path for people intending to exercise. My host told me but I forgot the distance around the lake. It must be nearly 1.5 miles (2.4 km).


Here is another cool feature of the lake. It's a small island with what looks like a dead tree on it. The tree is full of black birds. It looks like it may have been intended as a bird sanctuary.


This little hut extends from the islands in the middle of the lake. As seen through the trees with the city skyline behind it.


As seen from the entrance.


My last photo is of the the bridge that takes you from the islands back to the outer edge of the park.

I think visiting this park is a great way to enjoy some peace on a trip through Fukuoka. I'm really lucky that my Couchsurfing.com host lived just 3 minutes from it's edge. Thanks Mies!

Fukuoka Visa Run (Part 3)

In this post about Fukuoka I will show some photos of the Architecture I saw.

I have recently become interested in the architecture of Korea, of which I will make posts about later on. Naturally this interest spilled over into my trip to Fukuoka.


This first photo is of the gate outside of the Korean consulate in Fukuoka. I like the yin-yang design in the wall. The yin-yang is also a part of the Korean flag.



This is a photo of the Korean consulate from inside the gate. I couldn't get all of the building in the photo, but you can get an idea of what the design was like from these photos. I thought the building was pretty cool.


I don't know the name of this building, which is just down the street from the Korean consulate. It is supposed to look like a ship. The dome looking thing on the side is a large hall used for events. At the time I walked by, it was set up for a wedding.


Here is a closer image from the side as I approached the beach.


Here is how the building looks while standing on the beach. The beach and general area of Fukuoka, I was told, is land reclaimed from the sea.


I really like this photo. If you look down the beach, you can see the Fukuoka tower. The beach is picture perfect. So clean and smooth, like every place in Fukuoka. It really seems the Japanese take a lot of pride in the cleanliness and orderliness of the country.


This is a good example of the basic city architecture. The buildings were mostly brown, beige, or gray colored. Most had outdoor stair wells. There were simple, clean, and had very few signs on them. If there was a sign, it usually blended or added some kind of style to the scenery.


I thought this office building looked interesting.


This one too.


I found an interesting looking church across from the moat of the ruins of an ruined castle. The ruins were really boring because the only thing left of the castle were the giant walls. There was some excavation going on and a sign in English saying they were going to try to restore parts.


A close up of the church.

Overall, the city was much cleaner than anything you can find in Korea. I like Korea, but the people here don't keep it clean. People piss, puke, and spit all over the place. Trashcans are meaningless to many, and signs have taken over some city areas like the creature from the movie "The Blob".

Fukuoka was much more expensive than Korea, and Korea has better food. So I think Japan remains a nice place to vacation and Korea a nice place to save money.

Fukuoka Visa Run (Part 2)

In this post I will show some of the Art I came across in Fukuoka.

I have a new interest in what I call "city art", the artwork that you come across in cities. There is probably an official name of that style of art, but I haven't learned it yet. I have been taking a few photographs of this sort of art in Seoul and will eventually upload the photos I take.


This first photo is from the area outside of the Fukuoka Dome, where baseball games are played. It is also close to the Hardrock Cafe.


I found this in the city center. There is another matching "pissing boy fountian" on the other side. In Korea, they don't make fountains like this because you can see people pissing on the side of the street on any given night. ;-)


This thing was on display in the Fukuoka airport. It is carried on a large rack in a street parade by a bunch of men and while 3 men sit near the edge of the front of the rack. I know this because there are two pictures of it being used on display as well. I couldn't figure out what the celebration it is used for is about.

On one side is a red figure and on the other is a blue figure.

Fukuoka Visa Run (Part 1)

I visited Fukuoka, Japan from Saturday March 22 - Tuesday 25, 2008 in order to get an E-2 work visa for my English teaching job with Hyunjae Academy. These are my photos and memories from that trip.

I am a new member of an internet community of people who offer couch/floor space to other members of the community while they are travelling. The service is aptly named "Couch Surfing" I used this service to locate a Dutch woman named Mies Heerma who had lived in Japan for 9 years and was a very experienced couch surfer.

When you land at Fukuoka Int. Airport, you must take a short, free shuttle bus to the domestic terminal where you can get on the subway. From there it is a short 10 minute subway ride to the center of the city at Tenjin Station.

Mies met me at the station and took me for a bite to eat and some drinks over a very nice conversation.

The next day, Mies took me to a shrine located about 5 walking minutes from her apartment. You can see a modern building above the trees in the background. Mies said this is a new building that she thinks spoils the view of the shrine. I agree.


We approached the building, but did not go inside because there was some kind of ceremony happening. Instead, we paid 50 cents each to buy a fortune, written in English too, and tied it to the wooden rack.


There are two of these creatures in front of the entrance to the temple. One on each side of the gate pictured below.


I saw this kind of gate in a few places in Fukuoka. I think they were all in front of some kind of shrine or temple.



I spent all day at a tattoo shop on Sunday. The shop is named Art Magic Tattoo Studio. It is located 2 minutes down the street from the Apple Computer Store.

I knew there were some tattoo shops in Fukuoka from an internet search I did. I didn't know where they were or how to find them. I found this shop by accident. I was merely walking toward downtown on a road that goes from Mies' apartment. I didn't waste a second and walked right in.

It was a really cool experience overall despite the fact that the two guys working there new only a few words of English and myself not knowing any Japanese.

I had been thinking about getting this tattoo since my last tattoo of a dragon on my left shin in April of 2005. For this tattoo I knew I wanted a tribal flower design, but was unsure of where I would put it.

I entered the shop at about 1pm. I flipped through a big book about flowers the artist had in the shop. I found a few pictures of lilies and decided that was the kind of flower I wanted. It took me about 45 minutes to decide on what kind of style (tribal) and what thing (lilies) I would get. The artist asked me to come back at 2:30pm so he could create the design. So I walked to the nearby McDonald's and got some lunch.

I went back at 2:30pm and had to wait a little longer for the artist to finish. By that time his partner or boss arrived and was offering advice throughout the process. The artist showed me the design of the big flower on my chest and I liked it. I asked him to enlarge the image a little and he did that for me. Then he began to prepare to put the big flower on my chest. He told me the two small flowers would be designed after the first has been put on my chest.

I got on the work bench at 3:30pm. The artist did not finish until 10:30pm. He took two short 10-15 minute breaks (to rest) and one 45 minute break (to draw the small flowers). That's about 6 hours of tattooing! The chest hurt the most because of the softer skin.

I'm really happy with the end result. Several things made this a good experience. I've had 3 years to think about this tattoo so I knew what I wanted to do, I found an artist who displayed the highest professionalism, and I got an original design of which I was consulted about by the artist. These kinds of interactions between the artist and myself make up the core of what I believe makes the tattooing industry loved by so many people.


There were signs in Japanese, English, and Korean. I assume that English speaking people and Koreans make up the bulk of visitors to Fukuoka.


After my tattoo I went for a beer and some food. These are the pizza salads I ordered. They cost $5.50 each. They were delicious, but very small.

Food and everything in general was very expensive. It cost $5.50 just to get into a taxi. I took a taxi home on my last night. It was maybe 3 miles. I paid over $16. Ouch!


I bumped into a girl I knew from teaching in Daechi. We met by accident in Daechi at a Starbucks. I hadn't seen her in a few months. She finished her last contract and went back home. I finished my contract and traveled.

Anyways, we were both applying for our new visa at the same time. So we decided to go to the Fukuoka Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. That was a cool surprise. Small world, huh?