Day Eight - Fukuoka and Nagasaki

Hello from Nagasaki ^_^ I just got in last night around 8pm. I took the Kyushu train line, which I don't think is a Shinkansen, but it had an actual green car so I got a seat in that. It was really nice! I would say it's nicer than first class on an airplane (not that I would know) just because there are fewer people in each car, so fewer people to deal with overall.

I spent yesterday wandering about Fukuoka. My ryokan was in the perfect place between a bunch of shrines and a museum. First I went to a folk museum right after it opened. It had some english signs and brochure, so it was pretty nice. It described the history of Fukuoka and the surrounding prefecture, and had some interesting exhibits about the history and creation of crafts that are native to the region, such as Hakata dolls, which are carefully created from clay and painted by hand. It also talked about the biggest festival they have every year, where men carry very heavy floats through the town, each group trying to get the fastest time.

They also had some looms set up on which they weave Hakata cloth, which is used for obi, etc. These were in a house that was moved there for the purposes of preservation, since apparently it's a good example of architecture. It was really nice. There was also a gift shop where some Indian men were confusing both me and the shop owners... he kept asking if they put his desired purchases into the bag. It was really strange >_>

Afterwards I went to the Fukuoka Asian Art museum, which was pretty small, but I think it might be the only one (or one of few) of its kind. There was modern art from many Asian countries, like Thailand, China, and Malaysia. They had a special exhibit of Chinese propaganda posters which was very interesting. I ate at their cafe, where the food was okay but the people watching was good because there were cute children. :<

I meandered through the rest of the city, visiting various shrines and temples. What I like the most about Fukuoka besides the nice water are all the shrines and temples peppered throughout. I visited the Kushida shrine, which has many shrines and such on the grounds. They also have a gigantic ginkgo tree, which was awesome.

I'm cutting this entry a bit short because I have to get ready to check out of this hotel. Standard check-out time in Japan is 10am >_> but I want to get going to see the sights anyway.

Bye for now ^^