First port of call

I'd booked flights to Tokyo with the objective of arriving there early in the morning so that I could get onto a train and move to the South of the country.  That meant unfortunately that I was going to have to get a very early flight from Edinburgh.  They've mucked about a bit with the night bus services since you used to be able to get on a N22 in Leith walk and go straight to the airport.  You can't do that now.  You have to get one of the fewer and less frequent night buses up to town and transfer to the airport bus.

I also thought I'd better try and get some sleep since I'd be leaving the house in the middle of the night so I went to bed in the afternoon but I didn't sleep and ended up staring at the television until after two in the morning when I set off for the airport.

I didn't get any sleep on the journey either down to London or from London or Tokyo so by the time I got to Tokyo I was knackered.  The immigration was really busy but we surged quite quickly through it.  I had some trouble with the machines.  They've taken my photograph and my fingerprints twice before so I don't know why they wanted them again but they did.  My right index finger is a challenge to the machine.  I believe the reason for that is that I've been poking at keyboards and screens for over 60 years with that finger and that's probably worn off the indentations.

Anyway I got through and quickly on to Shinagawa and straight onto a shinkansen only two hours and nineteen minutes after landing.  Five sleepless hours later I was in Fukuoka.

Google took me to a point where it expected my hotel to be.  It wasn't there but a helpful receptionist from the hotel that was there walked me back a couple of streets to the right place.  I was really tired by then so I went to bed and slept for 5 hours.  I was supposed to be having a Japanese lesson online that evening but Momo was trapped in her office so I went back to bed.

On this trip I'm going to meet up with Keita who was my AirB&B host in Kanazawa two years ago.  I'm travelling there on a public holiday so thought it wise to book a train seat in advance and booked online.  The app I was using promised a QR code in a day or two.  Meantime Keita had booked a lunch.  Unfortunately my arrival time was after the lunch booking time and that couldn't be changed apparently.  So I needed to change my train.  I didn't fancy my chances of doing that online.  I would in any case need physical tickets to travel so set out to obtain them from a machine in the station.  The instructions had seemed quite daunting but it turned out to be easier than I'd anticipated.

Next step was to queue up at the counter.  When I got served I was immediately told I was in the wrong place.  My ticket was a JR West ticket and this was the JR East counter.  The queue at JR West was longer but they had a take a ticket and a seat system.  I had ticket 276 and customer 250 was being dealt with so it was a fair wait. 

I told my tale and the guy started talking about money.  I said that I bought the ticket online then I thought maybe he needs to be sure that I ddin't pick this ticket up in the street so I pulled out the receipt that had been printed alongside the ticket.  This didn't seem to satisfy him but then a supervisory person came along whose English was a lot better than my Japanese and everything got sorted out.

Time for tourism now.  I set off to check out what was billed as old Hakata.  When I left the subway station I discovered that I couldn't see anything through the camera.  Tourism without pictures not being desirable I retained Google's services to find a camera shop.  This entailed going back to the station and following the little blue dot.  It took me to a spot where I could see no camera shop. I was outside a department store so I popped in and asked if they knew the shop.  It's on the fifth floor they said.

The very cheery and helpful chap in the shop analysed the problem pretty swiftly and cured it by screwing up a bit of paper and rubbing it over the gold contacts on both the camera body and on the lens.

I abandoned old Hakata for the moment and since there was a bookshop in the store went there in search of a book that I knew someone whose Youtube video lessons I occasionally see had written.  What do I need with another Japanese textbook you ask.  You're right of course.  They didn't have it.  Neither did the one further along the road but the one on the sixth floor of the bus terminal did.  

Next I took to the subway again and fetched up at a rather pleasant big park, Ohori Park, where I just sat about in the warm sunshine people watching.  Everyone there, young and old, strolling, picnicking, kicking a ball, navigating the lake in a pedallo relaxed and at peace.  Why can't the world's assorted dictators, warmongers, terrorists etc get with that vibe?  I'll never understand.

Pedallo in the park

Back at the hotel I switched on the telly to see what if anything I could understand.  Nothing really and everything was dross until I discovered the World Team Trophy Figure Skating competition was being beamed in from Tokyo featuring several of the people whose skating I'd enjoyed at the recent competition in Boston.  That was great.  

One of the tourist leaflets I'd browsed through recommended a trip to Nokonoshima so I went on Fiday.  It started with a forty five minute bus trip through Fukuoka that was interesting in itself.  Then the short ferry ride and a trip up to the top of the island in an overcrowded bus hanging desperately onto a strap while some strapping teenager lounged in one of the old codgers' seats.

It was an odd place.  A fine spacious park with lovely views out to sea and back to the mainland.  There are a number of retaurants and shops, plenty of picnic opportunities, barbecue facilities and a pleasant set of holiday rental villas.  There were lots of school parties enjoying a day out. The oddity really was the municipal flowerbededness of it  Everywhere lovingly planted and cared for beds of tulips, daffs, azaleas and other Spring flowers.  They change the displays with the seasons.

Flower bed heaven

On my last full day in Fukuoka/Hakata I got back to checking out Old Hakata or at least the temple strewn part of it.  It's extraordinary how these ancient buildings are sprinkled in amongst skyscrapers and parking lots.  Some of the buildings that look like temples are actually people's houses. 

A street of elegance

 

Gracious temple garden

 

 

Couldn't get near this pagoda for modernity