Fukuoka

The last stop of my Japan tour was Fukuoka (which incidentally has the silliest airport code ever) on Kyushu island. Hakata is technically reachable by shinkansen from Honshu island, but the JetStar prices made it worth the flight.

First stop was Ohori Park. It was magnificent. Located near the middle of the city, there was a small lake with a walking trail all around and museums and gardens to stop and distract passers-by. If I hadn't taken this picture, I could have fooled myself in to thinking it was taken at Lake Harriet back home in Minnesota.  

One of the "distractions" at Ohori Park is the Japanese Garden, which as always, was one of my favorite sights to see.

Just a short walk away were the ruins of Fukuoka Castle, which looked pretty well put together for baring such an unseasonable moniker. I think the biggest difference here was that the outer fortress had been disassembled and what was left of the castle were simply highlight by explanatory placards with signboards pointing out other nearby remnants, all sharing space with a history museum and a football field.

Fukuoka also had a large number of temples right in the middle of Hakata city, which I got to went to explore early one morning. Next to the customary name cards that usually grace the entrance of touristy temples, all of the ones inside of Hakata also had a QR which let you scan for an audio guide of the temple you were at. I don't know if I just hadn't noticed these before in other bigger towns, but it threw me off guard at first. Torn between cool and ridiculous, I decided to agree that at the very least these little hi-tech guides were certainly helpful.

The highlight of this little temple tour was certainly the monument made to commemorate the arrival of Udon and Soba into Japan, from China, via a traveling monk. I'm certainly indebted to him for his delicious finds.

Final little treasure was Canal City and the shopping complex by the same name. It was a nice little alcove just a few minutes walk away from the Hakata Station. Unfortunately the shops were all closed when I visited but I enjoyed the sights nevertheless.