22 April 2025
It can rain all it wants now
Canal City Hakata
It is properly raining now, so lower your expectations for exciting photos of the night life.
Since I have no more hikes to do and am leaving the country tomorrow morning, bring on the rain.
Because of the rain, I did an almost entirely undercover evening, first along the surprisingly long Kawabata Shopping Arcade (Shotengai) which seems to go to a new place that might have not been here the last time I was here (Hakata River Rain Mall by Takashimaya).
Then I did an about face, back up the Shotengai, and arrived at Canal City (home of the ramen stadium) just in time for the fountain light and music extravaganza.
An overpass, great for rain photos.
The overpass connects to a conveniently placed shrine, with undercover bits.
I stepped out into the rain to take a photo of their giant demonic collage.
Tonight's canal shot was extra gloomy.
Here is the River Rain Mall by Takashimaya, I believe it is also an art gallery. Some say it opened in 1999, but I also think it maybe reopened in 2021, which makes sense because I was last in Fukuoka in 2018 and I don't recall it being here.
Here is the inside of Kawabata shotengai, longer and busier than I remember, quite a few restaurants.
Now for a couple of shots of Canal City. The fountain show was going on but I had the upper level view point to myself.
There were quite a lot of people watching, down at canal level.
And for my last dinner in Japan... a boring eggplant doria. Almost all places in Canal City had big lines, Ramen stadium (which is just a food court with about 10 ramen restaurants) was way too busy. The doria (burnt cheese on rice) was nice enough, fairly small serve.
Tomorrow I fly direct from Fukuoka to Singapore. Fukuoka airport is walking distance from the city centre, but there is also a subway train that goes 1 stop to the airport. It is a 6 hour flight. Then I have 4 nights in Singapore.