A Trip Ashore in Hakata and Fukuoka

When I first looked at the cruise Itinerary, I remember being disappointed at how many days at sea we had and thinking that there was far too little time for exploring foreign ports.  Now as I look back, I think of how little down time we had and how it would have been nice to have a few additional days at sea.  Our time in Japan came fast and furious. Immediately after Hiroshima on March 9th, we were being lead back to port by the pilot ship, this time (only a day later) to visit the port city of Hakata/Fukuoka.  

This was my first new city in Japan and after looking at the choice of excursions, I decided to just spend a day wandering around aimlessly. I looked forward to some alone time and the opportunity to just take some pictures and relax.

Of course, the first order of business was getting off the ship! We would wend our way up from the 3rd level (where our stateroom was) past the purser's desk and the grand stairway (yes, I know - this staircase is becoming an obsession!).

The route often lead past the art gallery on 5.

We laughed a bit and wondered who would take a cruise in order to buy bulky, already framed art.

It wasn't really my style for the most part, although there was a vegetable series that made me laugh (but more on that later, I promise). 

We waited patiently for the appointed disembarkation time and then would head down to the gang plank.

The emptiness of the path back down to 4 and then 3 where we would disembark belied the true state of things, for we would inevitably find ourselves packed in a narrow hallway waiting long minutes to get through security and finally onto shore.

On the ship there is a resident lecturer ("Hutch") who gives advice about what to do and see in the various ports of call. For those of us too busy to make it to the actual lectures, tapes are played on the ships television channel in a continuous loop.  Somehow I managed to tune in intermittently, but always at the same place for the lecture on Hakata just as Hutch got to the part in his description that talked about the dioramas. I laughed at the thought of dioramas being in the least bit interesting. The word alone took me back to the days when my father would pack the whole family into the car so we could drive endless miles to see every civil war battle ground between Jacksonville and Leesburg. Inevitably we would end up at some backwoods gas station/battleground complete with memorial canons and of course a diorama of the battle.  I hate to think of how much I spent in front of those silly set ups and then being photographed perched once again along with my two sisters on the canon out front flanked by the mount of cemented together canon balls.

Right in the visitor's center in Fukuoka where the shuttle lets everyone off, was the unavoidable and oft described diorama.

Amazingly, I found the display to be quite interesting. Perhaps it was because the denizens of these plastic cases wore a lot less clothing than the soldiers in civil war scenarios from days of yore.

Or perhaps it was the fact that they had all their limbs and little gore, but it was indeed an entertaining and interesting presentation.

There were also a lot more women in these dioramas than I had seen in those visited during my youth and the female figures wore much more colorful clothing than the occasional grieving widow or nurse who might actually have made it onto the civil war battlefield or rather the civil war diorama.

Anyway, I walked from the diorama out the back and decided (I don't know why) to find the local dollar store. When I got there it was SO large and overwhelming that I turned around and went back out, but it was worthwhile, because on the way I saw some interesting sights, like this saxophone player in the park.

The musical strains in the background came not from his instrument, but from visitors in the trees above.

The magnolias were in full bloom and many kinds of birds had arrived to take advantage of the pale delicacy.

I stopped and listened to the twittering for a short while.

Then I thought I should move on and see some of the local points of interest.

It was gray and decidedly cooler than I expected for southern Japan. Sure enough it started to snow while I was walking around the downtown area and of course the locals immediately whipped out their ever present and ever useful umbrellas.

It was graduation time again in Japan and so I espied some celebrants in their Korean inspired graduation gowns.

I took this picture for Rita our spunky 87 year old participant. She has this cool suitcase/chair that she wheels around to help with mobility. I thought it was one of a kind, but this Japanese woman pulled a very similar device off the bus with her complete with fold down seat on the back side just like Rita's.

As with all Japanese towns of my experience, Fukuoka is a mixture of the old and the new, ...

the European and the Asian.

I quite like this figural sculpture that was in front of an apartment complex.

It was a day for capturing pictures of the urban landscape. Women with umbrellas,

and boxy modern buildings,

interspersed with older alleys ....

and even some shrines.

A large shrine complex (Kushida) recommended by our ship lecturer Hutch had several interesting areas to explore.

The orange Tori gates welcomed all visitors to the Kushida shrine...

as did this tall box of figures.

There were also some majestic stone lanterns there.

that could be found near the tori gates.

It was a peaceful respite from the busy-ness of the shopping area that surrounded the shrine.

This pond (below) had the obligatory koi of several colors and sizes.

Somehow in all my wandering around the shrine grounds, I had completely missed the central building of the complex, so I came to the most exciting part last of all.

The interior was opulent and interesting and the visit made a lovely ending to an enjoyable exploration.

But now I was hungry. I discovered a covered shopping area and knew that there was food to be had.

After a little bit of walking, I discovered a little fast food place that was friendly and even accommodating to foreigners.  Little English was spoken, but I was able to order a nice bowl of noodles with pork and sat down to enjoy my meal when I saw some lost looking people enter the restaurant and begin the negotiations for ordering. I hope I was helpful to them, at any rate we struck up a conversation and we ended up having a delightful lunch together.  Eva and Stanley were the most pleasant people. They hailed from Sacramento and it turned out they were on the same cruise ship as I!

After lunch there was still a little time before we had to be back on board so I headed towards the famous shopping mall called Canal City. I guess you can figure out why it bore that name!

A feat of architectural engineering, it reminded me a bit of the Venetian in Las Vegas with its waterways and curvaceous buildings.

This was an expensive shopping complex full of the latest and chicest stores done in excessively tasteful decor.

Of course the bathrooms were also akin to high art. I wonder if I could do something like that at home! (You think they could at least find some matching soap!!)

Then before you know it, it was time to get back on the ship and head towards our next port.  Dinner was great and our wait person Wipa took very good care of us after our long day of seeing sights.

Of course the night cap was what it would be almost every evening. After a luscious dessert of Malaga and Torrincino icecream, it was off to the library to finish off the day.  Nothing like (to steal Jimmy Durante) a pipe (in this case knitting needles), a dog and a good book at your feet!