Fukuoka again

I'm back from my 4th trip to Japan, and my fifth visit to Fukuoka (counting both times I went there on my Hiroshima trip). The purpose this time, of course, was to visit the Korean consulate in order to get my E2 work visa for Korea. That went smoothly, I'm happy to say.

The trip mainly involved me walking around a lot and exploring further down the city's coast. I checked out the Hard Rock Cafe, went up the Fukuoka Tower, and looked around the area of the Yahoo! Fukuoka Dome, where their baseball team, the Fukuoka Softbank Sea Hawks, play. During the evening, I went back to the reggae bar; Uprising. While there, I had a good time partying with a couple of tourists from Switzerland.

















Here's the bus stop near my place that I talk to Pusan. It's about a 45 minute trip.
















Here's the view looking into the Mugeo-dong area of Ulsan, from the bus stop.
















Here's the view looking towards Pusan, from the bus stop.
















Here's the Sea of Japan, or East Sea if you're in Korea (they don't like to talk about Japan very much). That's a large ship in the distance.
















All over Fukuoka, you can see people of all ages and attire riding around the sidewalks on their bicycles. A lot of the bikes look like BMX bikes, with the seats and handlebars raised to their maximum height. Here's an older lady on just such a bike. It make me chuckle.
















A view of Fukuoka Tower.
















Here's the Hard Rock Cafe. This area of town, near the Fukuoka Dome, is called "Seahawk Town"...
















...and here's the inside of the HRC. They're all ready for Hallowe'en.
















This is just a random street near the Fukuoka Dome.
















View of the Fukuoka Dome and it's accompanying Seahawk Hotel.
















Here's a cool view of the Fukuoka Dome from the top floor of the Seahawk Hotel.
















This is just an example of a sidewalk. Do you notice the different area in the middle of it? The lines in it are raised. Apparently, it's for blind people to walk on.
















Here's the Fukuoka Tower. It's the second highest tower in Japan (not building, just tower).
















Looking south. You can see all of the houses on the ground. Most of them are probably duplexes or quadplexes.
















This looks like a really cool resort. I felt like I was playing computer game, "Simcity", when I was looking out of the tower.
















You can really see how they designed the beaches in this area.
















Here's a quick night shot of "Canal City", in Fukuoka.
















I love these prepared meals that are offered all over Japan in the convenience stores. Korea has this too, but there is more of a selection in Japan.
































There's a nice selection of beer in this convenience store.
















Here's another little house for someone, right behind those bikes there. It's a little box. He was sitting in his entryway, reading a book, so I took a quick peek inside. He's basically just got a sleeping bag in there.
















This little guy didn't mind me at all. He let me walk right up to him and take his photo. He was more interested in eating the ants off the ground than me taking a photo of him anyway.
















Along this canal, were a number of makeshift tents. If anyone has ever told you that there are no homeless people in Japan, they were mistaken. Then again, this is sort of how I lived in Kelowna, BC, in the summer of 2004.
















A view of the ferry harborfront.