25 November 2015
It got cold
The underground malls and neon of Fukuoka
After a month of wondering why its so warm, tonight its going down to 11 degrees, cold enough to justify my jacket for once. Actually its going to be much colder the next few days, as I leave.
Strangely, Adelaide, where its going to be summer when I get back, has a forecast low of 9 degrees for my return. So there you go, Japanese winter warmer than Australian summer, remember Australia is the hottest place on earth.
No more weather talk I promise.
Tonight I tried to minimize the number of steps taken, but that didnt go exactly to plan.
I discovered a huge underground modern shopping street, possibly the biggest I have ever seen in Japan, I then tried to find the disobedient child street, Oyafuko-dori (literal translation). So named because its where teenagers who dont do well in school go to misbehave.
I read that this street was busy year round, day and night, and a true sight to behold if you can even get near it.... I think the tourism board has been writing the wikipedia page for Fukuoka.
Then it was time to have dinner, since I have excess yen left, I deliberately chose an expensive place, cost me nearly $15!
Now I better go to bed early, since theres no sleep from tomorrow morning until Friday night. 3 flights back to Adelaide with 2 x 4 hour layovers.
This is the underground shopping street. Theres 2 that run parallel, 3 different subway lines cross over it.
Given the layout, I think it might have been an underground train line itself at some point. Nearly exclusively high end fashion stores. I love Gucci.
I had dinner early to dodge the lines. Hamburger AND deep fried crumbed pork nuggets of some kind. The stuff in the green jar is a kind of dukkah / salsa for the rice that was quite unusual tasting. Almost tasted like grapefruit... and fish.
A future boy band is trying to master the robot.
This is a common form of corner police station, or Koban as they are called. Looks like a public toilet.
Best example of Neon I have found in Fukuoka, despite various big promises from enthusiastic bloggers.
This is inside an 11 level games arcade. 4 levels are games, but theres also ten pin bowling, golf simulators and a couple of 3 a side soccer pitches on the roof (according to the map).
Either the roof was closed or I couldnt figure out how to get up to it.
Instead I played a game of mario ghost busters, you suck the ghosts into this gun thing.
Outside, a new corvette drove past, picture doesnt show it properly but they are stupidly long. They also appear to have a bad plastic body kit and 4 trumpets trumpeting for an exhaust.
Finally I headed into the bookshop to pick up my star wars collectors plates in Japanese castle style.