A Bit Of History

We left the hotel at 08:45 and caught the 09:10 bus to Dazaifu. Dazaifu is a lovely historic town, and the first place we went to was the Tenmangu Shrine. This was the main purpose of our visit to Fukuoka because it is here where students come to pray to the God Of Learning for success at college and university. I was impressed by the beautiful old tree there which is the subject of today's blip.

After leaving Tenmangu Shrine, we walked up to the incredible Kyushu National Museum. This is a huge and impressive building. On the first floor there was an exhibition of artefacts from various Asian countries, many of which were hands on. Being able to play Gamelan xylophones and gongs was particularly enjoyable, and the extra photo shows me and Valerie playing around with fruit baskets from Indonesia.

We then went up to the enormous permanent exhibit of artefacts from Japan. We spent a good two hours here because Valerie was so impressed and interested in everything.

After leaving the museum we went back into town for a meal at a restaurant. Arthur and I then went our own way. We took a train to Fukuoka Tenjin while Kazuko, Valerie and Kazutoshi took the bus back to Hakata to do some shopping at Canal City.

Arthur and I soon realised there was not much to do in Tenjin apart from browse around shops, so we took a bus to the Fukuoka Port. As soon as we arrived we took the lift to the top of Fukuoka Tower to enjoy the fantastic views. We then came down and strolled around the beach for a while before going for a meal at Subway, and then enjoying the beautiful Aquarium Illuminations on the side of Fukuoka Tower. After that we took a bus back to Hakata and then walked back to the hotel where we arrived just before Kazuko, Valerie and Kazutoshi at 20:45.

Baths and bed quickly followed.