Fukuoka!

After Beppu I went to Fukuoka, the biggest city in Kyushu, and one of the larger cities in Japan.  It was actually one of my favorite cities too.  A lot of Japanese cities and towns are really nice charming, but literally after 5pm, four-fifths of a city shuts down.  Fukuoka really felt so much more vibrant and alive and full of activity and color than most every other place I went to during the day and night, on a level, I thought, with the super-city of Tokyo.   

One thing Fukuoka is known for its Yatai-food stalls.  These are litteraly wheeled food-carts with vinyl tents set up over them, serving assortments of pub-eatery foods, such as ramen, yakitori, oden, and gyoza.

Its super easy to strike up a conversation, which happened to me a couple times, with they people youre bumping shoulders and sharing a bench with, which was actually really fun.  Also, like I said, they are literaly carts with tents over them, that just set up on the side walk nightly!

I also decided to head into a Yakitori place by myself, which was delicious and also a good place to do some people watching.

Nothing like a cold beer, and some juicy, salt-and-peppered, delectable, skewerd and grilled chunks of meat! (plus some cabbage and tasty crunchy seasoned lotus root, occasionally, to accentuate the beer and yakitori) 

It was also nice to see the staff having fun and laughing and interacting with the customers too.

The next day I went out to a lake-park and was impressed by this super hotdog van.

The lake looked like it actually had trout in it, as well as humongous Koi, and a whole bunch of kinds of birds.

Birds freaking out around some people feeding them

In a market that was predominantly seafood.  In this one picture there are octopi, eels, sea-cucumbers, at least 6 kinds of clams, 3 kinds of shrimp, 2 kinds of crabs, and I think theres a shark in there too, to give a sense of the variety and selection available at these markets. 

I also went to a place called "Ramen Stadium".  This is "Black Ramen" with a shoyu based broth.

This one is a tonkotsu-pork bone based ramen

And this one is a Hokkaido style, miso based ramen with sweet corn and butter.  All delicious!

I also walked through an arcade and there was video game horse-race-betting!

Even at like, 10pm, the city was still up and moving.

One of the more popular spots for yatai-food stalls along the river.

Takamatsu to Beppu!

So by now, its actually January, and I've already been home for over a MONTH!  Its crazy.  Anyways, I decided I needed to finish out this blog here, so I'm making some posts with pictures from the last few cities I traveled to during my time in Japan.  After Matsuyama on the southern island of Shikoku, I took a ferry to the town of Beppu on the eastern side of Kyushu, the southernmost of the "main islands". 

Beppu is best known as one of the biggest hot spring-onsen towns in Japan with literally hundreds of bath houses.  Also, it's been historically known as a "Las Vegas" of Japan, not because of gambling, but because of a huge sex industry there.  They have also been working hard to clean up their image though and I only knew this fact from reading it online.  Beppu also has the only "Sex Museum" I came across in Japan, which was interesting, in a weird, zany sort of way.

One of the onsen I went to, that was VERY hot.  I remember trying to get into jacuzzis on occasion when I was younger, and they were just tooo hot to even get into, but I think I've now developed a taste/feel for  nice, very hot, baths.

One of the sights in Beppu are the hotspring "Hells" that are too hot for bathing and have unusual colors or characteristics, and have been turned into sort of amusement attractions. 

At this one they boil eggs in the mineral rich water for people to buy and eat.  There were also ones where the water is a deep dark red, or were bubbling mud pools, or were milky white.

Inside the Sex Museum.  This is a display with erotic ukiyoe-woodblock prints, including foggy spots on the display case to "censor" the prints.  The museum was more like a showcase of various sex-related things from over the world, including a big display case of erotic ceramic saucers and such, and a display case with replica animal parts.

Also, various "Hindu" figurines.  Overall, it was an interesting, if not wacky and different, place to go. 

Also, I saw a guy walking his cat!

Matsuyama pics!

So yesterday I arrived in Nagasaki, but the hostel I'm staying in shuts off it's internet at 11pm!  I know, crazy!  So anyways, I toured around Nagasaki today, and will do some more tomorrow, then they day after that I'm planning on going on to Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu, though I might have to stop in Kumomoto because of how the busses go.  So I'm still catching up, so here are some pictures from 3 cities ago back in Matsuyama on Shikoku!

Another picture of typical suburban Japan, and dramatic clouds.  This time I'm on the highway, but you can see how the rice fields are all over, just mixed in with the houses.  Like p-patches (pea-patches?) all over the place,but almost entirely for rice only. 

This was on my (shortish) walk from my hostel in Matsuyama to the historic and picturesque Dogo Onsen.  The moon wasn't that bright and was easier to distinguish, but either way it was a pretty night. 

Me infront of the historic Dogo Onsen.  Inside there was actually a book in a binder about the Miyazaki movie Spirited Away where it says how they modeled the outside of the big bathhouse in the movie in part after this one. 

Me outside of Matsuyama Castle.  Its up on a mountain near the middle of town, and has an amazing view.  Also, it was hard to get any good pictures of the castle itself.  So, sorry!

Inside the castle there were two suits of samurai armor that people could put on and take pictures in.  The other one was black.  I thought about getting suited up, but decided to just do with taking pictures of other people! 

A Japanese guy stoically posing for a photo in his suit of crimson armor and a banner on his back!

The trees all over are getting to the end of their colors and leaves, but these ones were nice.

Ha, I've seen these all over but this time I thought I'd take a picture.  It obviously is just to remind people to hold their kids hands while crossing the street, but I can't help but think it looks like the very tall George Washington, and a young Shirley Temple. 

Look at that crazy mannequin!  I was walking past a store near Dogo Onsen, when it caught my eye and I thought I'd take a picture of it.  I thought it was funny, especially when surrounded by all the other normal ones! 

The front of Dogo Onsen

Takamatsu and Naoshima!

Just FYI, right now I'm actually in Fukuoka, and I'm still catching up with my posts from before.  From Osaka and Koyasan, I then went to Takamatsu (with a day trip to the art-island Naoshima), then Matsuyama, both on the large island of Shikoku.  I then took a ferry to Beppu, on Kyushu, then now I'm in Fukuoka, and tomorrow I'm heading to Nagasaki! (all three on Kyushu) So here are some pictures from Naoshima and Takamatsu! 

P.S.  You can also always google, or google image search, places I talk about to get more information or some extra context if what I talk about doesn't make sense. 

Theres a 007 Museum on Naoshima, dedicated to the James Bond book The Man with the Red Tattoo, in which part of the story took place on Naoshima.  Its part of an ongoing campaign to have a film adaptation of the book made, and to have it filmed on Naoshima.  This is me as James Bond, punching the arch Villain into defeat!

There was a bathhouse-art piece called I <3 Yu, where the heart is actually a real, cartoon, right side up heart, but I didn't know how to type it, where the name is a pun, since Yu is the Japanese word for Hot Water, (such as in an onsen), and as in I love You!  So its a huge installed piece of art work outside and in, and a fully functional male-female public bathhouse!

An example of one of the modern art museums in the southern end of the island.  This one is the Lee Ufan Museum.  It was pretty small, but an example of the works inside in the picture with the slab of iron and the rough rock, inside a blank white room.

One of the pieces spread out in the Southern area.

Me and the Yellow Pumpkin!  Naoshima is fairly popular and well known in its own right, and this is one of the more recognizable icons for it.   

One of the more popular images of the pumpkin. 

There was a pretty sun set.

In Takamatsu in Ritsurin Garden.  I hadn't really heard of this garden before I was already headed to Shikoku, but it was actually very nice and very beautiful.  It was definitely at least on par, landscaping-wise, with the two gardens I've seen that are regarded as being in the Top 3 Gardens in Japan, though maybe not quite as nice or immaculately groomed.  It was also raining, but I had a good umbrella and it wasn't to hard or windy or anything, so actually sometimes it felt kinda different and nice.  Though the garden and sightseeing would have been better had it not been raining. 

They were also doing a special Naitto Raitoappu, aka, Night Light Up, or a nighttime illuminations.  It was actually very pretty, and definitely something a little different. 

Almost always at the nice gardens you can have tea and a Japanese sweet, like manju or sembei, for a few hundred yen, and I've always  passed them up, but this time, at night, in addition to the tea, they were selling different kinds of rice dumplings on skewers cooked over hot coals.  (aka Dan-go) I opted for the big, plain rice, covered with Miso paste seasoning, and it was delicious!

One more picture of the Night Light-Up.  Also featuring the most well known bridge from the garden. 

Koyasan!

Scenery from the train.  Very classic Japan I think.  There are the mountains, and old and new homes mixed together all over with the rice fields, with the modern highway/ train track flying above.  Also, I thought it looked pretty.  Sometimes it's looked like this, but with the fields and homes and tracks spread across big flat plains, with the mountains always on the horizon. 

The Enormous Kopon Daito pagoda in the Garan sacred precinct, with huge gold (painted at least) Buddha statues sitting on lotuses, making a rare three dimensional mandala of the universe.

Some really old shrines and graves along the path to the temple/ mausoleum of of Kobo Daishi, aka Kukai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism and one of the most important figures in Japanese religious history.  My understanding is that it's said that instead of dying, Kobo Daishi/ Kukai is resting in eternal meditation, awaiting the coming of Miroku Nyorai (Maihreya), the Buddha of the Future, and that only he will be able to interpret the Buddhas message.  So everyone who can is buried here, or at least a part of them, so that they will be that much closer to Kukai and salvation.   

The path lined with lanterns and huge, old, cedar trees. 

Me on the path to Okunoin Temple. 

Along the stone path, there were graves and shrines up into the forest on either side and sometimes little foot paths going out too. 

A really old grave or shrine or something.

It wasn't quite like the pictures, with the fog and monks and stuff, but it was really atmospheric.  Kobo Daishi came back from China after learning Buddhism and founded the Koyasan temple complex in 835ish, so this place has been here awhile. 

This is the friendly okonomiyaki shop owner I ended up having a good time chatting with over my okonomiyaki dinner that night!  He also gave me a free cup of Ume-shu (plum wine), and a free 2011 Ukiyo-e (woodblock print) calendar!