Flying from Naha to Fukuoka on an ANA Boeing 767
After an uneventful flight I am in Fukuoka. The airport is about here is about 3 subway stops from the city centre, you could walk it. I would if I were leaving from here but I am not, instead I will take a train to Nagasaki and fly out of there, which is a very long walk.
The weather here is grey, but that is meant to change tomorrow, I had zero rain the entire time I was in rainy tropical Okinawa.
Enough about the weather, let talk about my hotel, thats a super exciting topic.
My hotel here in Fukuoka has a massive room, is dirt cheap and has breakfast included. I dont think it belongs to a chain but it is called the 'Hotel Hakata Nakasu'. The check in staff had zero English but that wasnt really a problem until I asked if breakfast was included, at which point I was escorted to the bathroom.
Taking it back a step. My flight today had no school kids, but Naha airport was full of school kids. Thousands of the little bastards, all going back to Tokyo. Japanese kids basically just travel around on jets. They were creating chaos in the airport just like in Tokyo. I wanted to fight them.
I got to Naha airport too early but that was fine, the check in line was long and then there was a coffee shop with no seats. Me and everyone else buying coffee was wondering how to manage our bags and our hot coffee and hordes of screaming school kids. I did better than the guy that emptied his entire black coffee over his work mates shirt. Furious bowing ensued.
My flight today was on an aging Boeing 767, although that might be a good thing, as the BRAND NEW 737 max that crashed the other day in Indonesia now appears to have crashed when the Boeing computer interpreted false signals form the Boeing sensors and pitched the nose straight down into the ocean!
It is rare for me to fly on a 767, there are zero left servicing Australia on either a domestic or international flight. Compared to modern planes they seem luxuriously spacious, 2-3-2 seating. Thats enough plane nerd.
I need to hurry up and post some sort of half assed witty description for my boring pics from today as I have a lot of steps to get this evening.
My flight wasnt until lunch time and from the city to the airport in Naha is just a couple of stops on the awesome monorail, so I had time to wander around and stare at everything that was still shut and annoy the thousands of cats.
I was mildly disappointed I had missed this outdoor food court place, it has at least 20 little restaurants to choose from. It was very hidden away off the main street.
The covered shopping streets were dark, mysterious and abandoned. Darker than this photo conveys.
Japanese graffiti is generally written in English. Just as non American rap music is spoken with an American accent. Racist.
The market was kind of already open. But nothing going on. I found a secret staircase to the secret upstairs eating area. Cats were waiting for me to let them in!
I do not understand how this market survives, or how its open 18 hours a day.
There are thousands of cats to keep you company. They all seem quite happy, slightly murderous. Do not turn your back.
Not all parks in Japan are nice! I presume these guys are scaring away the snakes that have been allowed to regroup over the long summer months in the long grass.
Naha airport has an observation deck where you can take a photograph without glass between yourself and the view. Happy times!
Here is the line of school kids for security. It took forever. They were not on my flight but I presume the flight they were on was as horrific as the one I shared with school kids a few days ago.
Here is the view from my hotel room. It is right in between the two main stations of Tenjin and Hakata. Hakata is where Hakata ramen comes from, which is the most popular style in Australia due to Gensuke and Ippudo.
And here is my hotel room. It is comparatively huge.
Last photo today, I especially kept these 3 ticket stub things to highlight Japanese inefficiency. Each of them is a boarding pass. As you can see, I was issued 3 at various stages of the long winded process. At each of the check points they were all scanned, stamped or manually entered into the computer. The best one was after I sat down on the plane they again checked all 3, just after checking all 3 at the door as I got on. I believe I can solve the labour shortage in Japan, there are roughly 5 times as many staff as required doing this stupid paper shuffling. They can be redistributed to be nurses.
When a department store turns on their xmas lights, its a really big deal
In Fukuoka its the battle of Hakata versus Tenjin for adjacent shopping and dining area superiority. Tonights contestant, Hakata.
The two areas of Fukuoka are less than a kilometre apart, each has its own attractions. For Hakata it is definitely the JR Railway station, and as I found out tonight, the christmas lights, or as they are called in Japan, 'illuminations'.
As I approached the station I could here cheering in the distance. Once I got to the corner I could see tens of thousands of people. But why were they there? At this point I had no idea.
I pushed my way through the crowd, climbed up and around and I was still none the wiser. I assumed one of the pop-star groups with 45 girl members was about to induct a new member and to celebrate they were going to show everyone their underpants, this is the usual reason for a crowd in Japan.
Eventually I decided to give up waiting for something, anything to happen and I ascended to the roof for a different view and then the basement for my predictable ramen. It was only when I came back outside afterwards and all the lights were on that I realised everyone crowded in to see the lights get turned on. Silly people. An hour later and there was hardly anyone there.
Fukuoka also has many canals and walkways along them. This is the one near my hotel at dusk. As you can see, still grey, but really warm, I was regretting wearing pants this evening.
Its all coming back to me now, here is a long covered shopping street that leads to CANAL TOWN, the giant mall with the ramen stadium on the top floor.
Tonights cat photo. I saw real cats but they were less willing to pose for me than the Okinawa cats.
Hakata station, why are all those people hanging over the balconies?
What the hell is this crowd for? There doesnt appear to be anything to look at other than each other.
Even from above I have no idea. I pushed my way to the front of the people crowded onto the balcony. How many people is it structurally rated to hold? I pondered this and then decided to go somewhere else.
Here we have the view from the roof, a rare thing, they normally allow you on the roof but then block the view completely. Its really only half a view, you cant look down, and the railing gets in the way. I had to heavily crop the photo that was otherwise more than half taken up by the rail.
Have a bit more roof view. My hotel is down that street somewhere.
The roof also has a small train that runs around it, and a 'train shrine'. Now I dont know what the train shrine is for, but theres a big plaque on the wall with about a thousand names on it. Did they all die on Japan Railways? Thats too many names. Maybe its the employees that worked more than 100 years on the railways (Japanese people live a long time).
Here I am in the basement, waiting for my Ramen. I had reason to be excited.
GOD FIRE RAMEN. They have the same thing in Melbourne. So now I dont know if it was the same brand store as Melbourne or if God Fire Ramen is an actual thing. The stuff that makes it god fire came out on a separate plate rather than already mixed in and the guy warned me. Pffffft, I added more chilli, chilli oil. It still wasnt particularly spicy.
My camera has a very shallow depth of field, I cant even get a whole plate of ramen in focus. Thats a feature!
Now we will examine the lights that caused the mass hysteria, heres some lights.
Here is confirmation the crowd was for the lights, and that the turning on time was 18:15, which is about the time I fled the balcony.
One more of the lights at Hakata city. I dont really get the hysteria, they are kind of nice but nothing super special. I wonder if Tenjin has a competing set up, I seem to recall that they do.
Last photo tonight, a cool smoky street side restaurant out the front of my hotel. No spare seats.