having had a run of super nice weather, i was excited for my trip to fukuoka since everything i wanted to do there pretty much outside. but of course it rains when i get there.
if the weather was good, it would've been a better photographic situation. but it is a nice city . . .
this is the ACROS building, home of the symphony hall and other cultural stuff:
the terraced atrium is pretty spectacular. it keeps the building cool during the summer and insulates it in the winter.
the inside is pretty too:
decided to go to Dazaifu on my first day as the weather was semi cooperative. it's a 40 min ride from the the city and has one of the biggest nicest shrines, Dazaifu Tenmangu-ji:
the gravel garden at Komyozenji temple next door:
the country side is beautiful but i got my ass severely lost out here. it's amusing until you run out of water, its dark, there are no people around, and you still don't know where the fuck you're going:
finally got my ass back to the city and proceeded to Canal City Hakata, a big new shopping and entertainment complex. i was starving and stopped in for some food and a few pix.
this building was designed to look like the red cliffs of arizona:
on my way home, i saw the river side lined with yatai (mobile food stalls). this is the one thing i truly wanted to eat in Fukuoka but i was too stuffed from my dinner so i vowd to return the next night . . .
the second day started off with light rain at Kushida Jinja:
a view of fukuoka port from the bus (the rain had really started to come down by then):
and it was pouring by the time i got to fukuoka tower. it's supposed to sport a pretty good 360 view of the whole area but since the weather was absolute poo, i wasn't going to pay 700 yen to see a bunch of gray so i skipped it
went next door to the TNC building where i visited Robosquare:
all robots all the time! this place was super cool. they had robots for everything:
a walk down the empty yanagibashi markets (the rain was really keeping everyone away):
and it was shit storming by the time i got out to Fukuoka Port Tower:
the indoor tank inside the port terminal:
man, i was pissed about the rain. because of the rain, less than half of the yatai were open that night. having pretty much skipped lunch, i ducked in just as this one opened:
its amazing how they can fit so much into these tiny ass carts:
me and my yummy bite sized gyoza and big ass bottle of beer. and yes, i drank that whole thing all by myself:
yaki-ramen. very very yum:
the lights come on in the city:
on the last day, i decided to take it easy and shrine hop. i prayed that the weather would hold out . . . it was only sprinkling as i got to Shofukuji, the oldest Zen temple in Japan:
the exterior of Hakataza theater, home of kabuki and other japanese shows in the area:
so the night before as i stumbled my drunk ass back to the hotel, i came across this museum. i figured i had an hour before i closed so i went in. i sobered up pretty quickly when i saw how amazing a lot of this art was. they were holding the 4th fukuoka art triennial which gathered works from artists all over asia. very cool stuff. i especially liked Cai Guo-Qiang's song of four seasons. if his name seems kinda familiar, he's the guy who designed the pyrotechnics for the Beijing Olympics. he used all kinds of gun powder on the paper with different stencils and designs and then set the whole thing on fire. it burned the images into the paper. very very cool:
as the weather deteriorated into a muggy, dark, pile of poo, i made my way to Ohori park in the center of the city:
if only the weather had complied! this would have been a fantastic place to spend a sunny day:
tried to check out Fukuoka Art Museum (its in the park) but it was closed. boooooo. but i still got to see the sculpture garden which had one of Kusama Yayoi's weird pumpkins:
checked out the ruins of Fukuoka castle next to the park:
this was my second "castle ruins" ad i must say, the ruins are just poo. i don't like them and there's not much to see. and i got eaten alive by the mosquitos. here's the view from "the top" of the castle:
famished and tired (it was ALOT of walking), i stumbled upon mana burgers, an all organic, all veggie burger joint:
after a very tasty and healthy burger lunch, i stumbled upon the less healthy but verrry tasty Hara Donuts:
made my way to Sumiyoshi Jinja where i saw this gnarly bad ass tree:
i treid to go to Rakusuien, the japanese garden, that was net to the shrine but it was . . . CLOSED. i was fed up and bummed as it was the last thing i wanted to do. so with more than 3 hours to kill before my flight home, i decided to walk to the airport.
Fukuoka airport is only 2 subway stations away from the big station so i figured walking it wouldn't be that big of a deal. turns out it was farther than i expected, especially since the domestic terminal was clear on the other side on the property.
i learned i can walk like a mofo. but my feet are still currently recovering . . .
