So after wishing for cooler weather, I finally got it – but with it came scattered rains that started and stopped at will.

I left the hotel, still in good spirits, but getting wet nonetheless. (I don’t even see the point of straightening my hair anymore.) Decided to check out the shrines surrounding Central Gion (just next to Central Hakata). Started with Shofukuji – walked around in the back streets and got lost a little, but found my way there. When I got there, it was pouring and my camera was soaked. Dried it off and tried to take some photos, except I found myself sinking in the mud with every step I took. Finally, after wondering where the main building of the shrine was, I realised it was the big BIG construction site with walls erected around it…. dammit.

With the rain still coming and going, I figured today would be a day better suited for shopping and chilling. Plus, I still had to find a UNIQLO so that I could get some pants – anything that wasn’t skinny jeans. So I ventured over to the infamous Canal City, just a 5 minute walk from my hotel.

I see why everyone mentions it first when talking about Hakata. It’s really, REALLY big. Furthermore, just today they opened an extension of the original buildings, called the “East Wing” … which happened to be where UNIQLO was. I had to stand in line to go into both UNIQLO and H&M (but I gave up on the latter), because the stores were at capacity. And, as you can imagine if you’ve ever seen the crowds in Japan, after I got into the store I stepped into pure mayhem. There were people EVERYWHERE, very long lines at the change rooms, and cries of “IRASSHAIMASE, DOUZO GO-RAN KUDASAI” or “WELCOME, PLEASE BROWSE FREELY”. Every 5 seconds, literally. So it was a very loud, high tension sort of place.

I grabbed what I needed and bailed quickly. I headed up to level 5 of the South Wing – the Ramen Museum. When I got up there, I had realised (yet again) that this was a mistake. It was around 12:20pm at this point, and when I got into the stadium, there were long lines at every store, except the Korean-run one. Dammit, again. Decided to bail on that as well, and walked 15 minutes towards Tenjin area, just to check it out.

Now, after arriving at Tenjin, I realised that it was an amazing place (granted, I thought that Hakata was the countryside) – however, it was fairly unremarkable in the sense that it was just department store after department store, all lined up, very standard of any large Japanese city. So after window shopping through some kitsch stores (but not finding anything I was willing to dish money out and actually BUY), I decided to walk back towards Hakata Station in search for food.

…and I couldn’t believe it. Stacks and stacks of department stores, and hole-in-the-wall eateries, but nowhere I could stay for a longer period of time and just chill. I mean, I knew that there are hardly any family restaurants or anything around, but there wasn’t even any McDonalds or anything like that nearby (not that I particularly wanted to go again). After walking for a very VERY long time, I found a Royal Host … which I’m not altogether fond of (for food quality OR price), but I was pretty desperate. So I headed in.

The waitress suggested the daily special, which happened to be a tofu steak with potato salad and karaage on the side. At 950 yen, it was coming up as one of the cheaper things on the menu, so I went for it with a pink lemonade. Now, generally I don’t like fake meats made from tofu, but this thing was delicious. Like, really outstanding. So at least waiting had its merits!

After hanging out in there for a while and reading up on local tourist attractions, I found that it made more sense to maybe rest for a few hours before going out at night. I figured, if it was raining all day and there were puddles at night, it would make for some really great night photography (neon lights reflected in big puddles on sidewalks, etc). So I headed back to Toyoko Inn Hakata Gion, and rested for a few hours.

***

I had a weird dream, that I won’t go into detail about here.

But anyway, I woke up hours later than originally expected. I think I’m exhausted from all the walking around, all the time. But nonetheless, I gathered up my photography gear and headed outside…

…to find that the ground had dried completely. What the. Dammit (AGAIN!)

So, as usual, I had a plan B. I dashed back to Hakata station and hopped on a bus headed for Fukuoka Tower. I figured, if the rain had stopped and I was going out at night, I might as well have made use of the chance and see the night views of Fukuoka city. So, after wrestling with a large map of the (fairly complicated, but no Kyoto) bus system, I hopped onto the 305 (which happened to say Fukuoka Tower on the LED signage on the outside) and hoped for the best.

The buses here work like the ones in Hyogo-ken. You enter from the back, and take a ticket to show what zone the bus was in when you got on. Then when you leave, you flash this ticket to the driver and drop money into the machine. I usually use an IC card in situations like this, but this bus needed a “SUGOCA” card… and that was the first I’d even heard of such a thing. So I forked out 220 yen to take the bus, and waited. When the announcements came on, there was no mention of Fukuoka Tower, so I started to panic. Then the bus took a strange turn and ended up on a highway – increased panic. Then I saw the tower, and breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

Got off the bus in front of the huge tower, and instantly pulled out my tripod and camera.

Only to find that my tripod was broken.

What the hell…

Resolute to not let this mishap ruin my evening, I spent the rest of the night holding the tripod together whilst taking long exposure shots of the city and surrounds. The 360 degree view is nice, but it’s no Umeda Sky building (where the view is outdoors, so you’re not shooting photos through glass like a noob). I got a good amount of photos done up in the tower, plus one photo of myself in front of the city lights (which is blogworthy because of how long it took to come up with a good photo!!) Then, at 10pm when they started to kick people out, I left stealthily and headed back to the bus stop.

Sometimes I wonder if people unable to speak/read Japanese are aware at all of the things they miss out on. For instance, I stood at the bus stop, and stared at the timetable. The next 305 was scheduled to come in 45 minutes. Then I noticed the big sign up above (only in Japanese) that said – “if you are in a hurry to get back to Hakata area, walk 100 metres down the road and take a left. There is a far more frequent bus service there.” So I obliged, and got to the bus stop just in time to get into the bus.

On the way back to Hakata, I was taken in by the night lights of Tenjin, so I was starting to consider getting off the bus. When I spotted the yatai (street side food stalls) outside the Central Post Office, the decision was made. I pressed the button on the bus, and headed straight for the row of yatai.

Now, I figure that the ones that had people overflowing from them – i.e. eating out of bowls rested on their palms, standing up, must have been the really good ones. I went for one that had one seat left, hoping that it wouldn’t be too bad. So I sat down, only to have the old lady who runs the place stiffen up, and initiate conversation with someone on the other side of the yatai. I’d seen this kind of attitude before, so I put my hand up and said “one Hakata ramen with kimchi, please” in Japanese.

“Oh you speak Japanese. Ara, I’m so sorry about that. They usually can’t speak Japanese.”

The dish came quite quickly, and I started to eat – and engage in a conversation with two very nice old ladies who were eating oden and drinking beer. One lady shouted me a beer and insisted we drink a toast to my trip. I felt really honored to be there… anyway, did a little bit of talking about Australia, because once you mention you’re from Australia, everyone wants to know more…

Ramen, gyoza, beer. After around half an hour mingling with the locals (and by the way, I was lucky to bump into locals on my first try, because most of the people eating at yatai are from other parts of Japan) I started the long walk home.

The rest is as usual. Went home, conked out, ended up writing this from a retrospective point of view, from inside the shinkansen taking me towards Tokyo (to visit a friend). But first, I have to write about Day Four. Stay tuned, dear reader!