lost or what?

All drain covers in Shimonoseki are of the beloved fuku, that can kill you dead if its prepared wrong.
Apparently the city is the only place in the world where you can study to be a licensed preparer of the fish.

My hotel is quite near the docks, this is the view between Honshu and Kyushu, from sea level.

Nearby along the coast away from the station is a fun park. It has a ferris wheel. Ordinarily I would go on it, but I had tunnels to go through.

The internet says they still drive this bus around town. I think the internet needs to be updated.

This is not Shimonoseki city area, its near the aquarium where you can see dolphin shows and the fun park pictured above.
I feel the restaurants here might be open past 7pm, but I could be wrong.

Next up is the wholesale fish market, where every kind of fuku is available.

I think its actually more for locals and tourists, since they sell a lot more than just fish, including plush toy versions of fuku.

My first view of the impressive bridge. More to come!

This is the big local temple with an impressive history I cant remember anything about now. Very nearby is a building where the treaty ending the Sino Japanese war was signed.

Behind the main temple, and the tourist buses, is another temple.

To get down I went through this. I kind of felt I was wandering around someones backyard though, so I used my ninja sneaking skills.

There were lots of cannons and gun fortifications on my journey today.
At some point, Japan signed a treaty to open up the place for trade. The local samurai decided they didnt like this version of the trans pacific partnership.
So they installed guns and sunk the ships of foreign traders.
France the UK and the USA all sent ships to bomb the place for a year or so. I think this was whenever the American civil war was.

The entrance to the tunnel was a rather bland building.

Now I go under the ocean, for about 750 metres.

Im straddling the border between 2 cities, 50 metres under the sea, BELOW the car tunnel and train tunnel.
It was quite windy at times, which I am guessing is the ventilation system.
Also it was much warmer the deeper I went.

I felt as though I walked downhill the whole way, but when I got to the otherside and turned back, I realised that was not the case.

To get to and from the tunnel on each side is actually a long lift ride down.
It is free to walk, theres s fee to wheel your bike or scooter.
One guy was riding his scooter, and a very very VERY angry voice came on over the loudspeaker system, absolutely screaming at him repeatedly. The guy just rode on with no care.

Now I am on Kyushu, lets get walking some more.

I came to a large food fair at a tourist port called Mojiko. Seemed like an excellent place to spend the whole day. But I had plans, stick to the plan.

More of the food fair in Mojiko.

This is a Russian designed building, identical to one in Harbin China. It symbolises the new peace between China and Japan, or did whenever it was built.
The big thing behind it has an observation deck on the top designed by a very famous architect whos name I now forget. Its not as new as it looks.

I believe this is a building that was constructed in 1920 to attract foreign thinkers to spend time in the city. Germans primarily.
I think Japan has had some selective history re writing done about it, because they mention Einstein came to stay along with other important figures of the era. Which means nazis.
This building is probably where they formed their alliance.

The paddle steamer is a HUMBURGUR shop.

How the hell do you eat this? Its Okonomyaki on a stick. Look at the fried egg wrapped around it. Theres no way that would have the structural integrity to be eaten.

Todays cat stalked me all the way back to the tunnel.

Cat did a good job protecting me from the gnomes.

Now for todays hilarity. This woman ignored the flashing lights for the rail crossing, and got stuck between the gates. You can see the train in the background.
The driver got down and absolutely yelled at her, taking photos, noting license etc.
The woman, middle aged, got out of the car and yelled at everyone, including me and others taking photos.
She then left managing to spin the wheels in anger in whatever tiny engined car that is.

Its only a small tourist train, but it would still cause serious damage to your car!

Back over the Honshu side, and no epic day is complete without climbing something. It was a short climb and the only option (apart from driving), because the cable car seems to no longer operate.

Dead cable car at the top, now for the view.

The view...

..was amazing...

...in every direction.
I took the best panorama ever, I really should upload it full resolution

Lots of foxholes etc. up here.

The view in the other direction, also awesome.

There is a revolving restaurant to appreciate the great view.
There is food on every table but no people? Maybe they have a booking and the bus is on its way.

Link to Hi Resolution 3000x2000 version
And the enclosed viewing deck is free, probably a great place to hang out in winter.

There is also a shop to buy frozen fuku at the top. Not sure why you would suddenly decide here is the best spot to buy some fish.

I thought I could walk over this mountain and down the other side, but I could not, so had to re trace my steps. This butterfly kept me company. There were no people, cause you can drive up.

Once I was back down, and another huge ship timed going under the bridge perfectly.

I walked / jogged along the coast for at least an hour between cities, I had drank a lot of water....I was very 'relieved' to get to this gian Aeon supermarket with hardware store attached.

This thing is the Toyota mascot. We dont get along.

Now I am in the historic Samurai town of Chofu, which has something to do with the Kamakura clan from up north. It was a beautiful town, all huge houses with gardens such as this.

There are castle ruins, they havent rebuilt it, shrines and famous Samurai houses everywhere.
Tonight and tomorrow is their xmas light festival, boy scouts were busy putting candles and things up every street.

This place seemed legit. Somewhere here is one of Japans national treasures, another one of their lists of things.

There was no English, but I think this is the tomb of the head of a shogunate or similar.

The streets of this place are all like this.

A lot of private houses are also open, some you have to pay to go in, others are really fancy cafes or antique shops / galleries.

Which contrasts with the actual main street of Chofu, which is a place 1965 forgot.