On October 23, Bryan and I were Fukuoka-bound for an overnight trip! You may recognize this city from some of our previous posts, but just in case, Fukuoka is the closest "metropolitan city" with an international airport to us in Sasebo! I flew into Fukuoka after ROMing with Bryan in Atsugi, and then we flew through FUK airport for our Sendai trip, so until today, Fukuoka has been nothing more than just a 2-hour bus ride to and from the airport.
Bryan and I set a goal of visiting Nagasaki and Fukuoka before he has to leave again on another float, and with not much time left, we hitched a free ride to Fukuoka on our beloved military "blue bus" for an overnight stay in the big city. We originally planned to take the train up to Fukuoka, but decided last minute to try our luck with the free blue bus shuttle. This shuttle left Sasebo Main Base at 8:30am and dropped us off at the Fukuoka airport. While it's intended for people traveling to the airport, we simply used it as a free way to get into the heart of the city! Then we hopped on the subway and were on our way to exploring Fukuoka!
Our first stop was Team Lab Forest, a modern technology-based art exhibit that allows you to interact with the art through movement, exercise, and an app. When I tell you this place is hard to describe... it's so true. I really wasn't sure what I was getting us into, but based on the rave reviews, I was down to give it a go! Plus, with my mother being an art teacher- I'm pretty sure I would be disowned if we DIDN'T go!
We started by purchasing our tickets. Roughly forty dollars later, I can tell Bryan is already questioning my trip planning. Upon turning the corner, we get in a crazy-long line to wait our turn to enter the exhibit! As we waited, I downloaded an app, "Catching and Collecting Forest," and then prayed that this was worth the wait! After the staff member told us something in Japanese and we nodded along as if we understood, she lifted a flap and we entered the Forest.
The first area had several rooms of floor-to-ceiling projections of colorful forests and underwater scenes. These vivid environments were filled with all kinds of birds, fish, animals, and sea creatures that we had to "catch" in the app using a virtual bow and fishing net. Once you caught an animal, you added it to your "collection book," where you could learn more about the animal. Each time you caught the same species, you unlocked new facts and additional information about it, including the level of extinction threat, physical characteristics, ecology, and its' relationship with humans. Then you released it back into the wild and continued to catch other animals!
This place seemed like something out of a futuristic sci-fi novel that took inspiration from Lisa Frank's designs. (Bryan has informed me that nobody knows who Lisa Frank is, so if you are also part of the uncultured world that Bryan lives in, here's what I'm talking about.) We were mesmerized by the colors, interactivity, and information that we spent over an hour and a half catching animals!
The next room was filled with digital butterflies that projected all over the walls, floors and ceiling. We then got in line to enter the ball-room, where the walls and floors were covered in inflated balls that had projected images of flowers and bugs covering them. As you jumped from ball to ball, the images changed to show your path. Enjoy my attempt at capturing Bryan's hop, which appears more like a photo of someone's LSD-induced neon nightmare.
As we made our way through the other rooms, we experienced vertical trampoline climbs, uneven floors, elevated crossing paths-all in total darkness and crazy, projected art surrounding us.
To enter the final room of the art exhibit, you had to crawl through a mirrored tunnel. As you can see, it felt pretty trippy- and gave us some pretty cool photos!
In the final room, we were surrounded by these large, inflated egg-shaped balls! Some of the forms were adhered to the floor and ceiling, while others were free-moving. There were large fans in the room to help circulate the balls and encourage you to toss them and keep them in the air! It was like a large, colorful game of "don't let the balloon hit the floor."
For those interested in visiting TeamLab Forest, here's the link to their website. If we visit again (and we will!) I would pre-purchase tickets online to save some time upon arrival! While the pictures don't do it justice, here's a video Bryan took:
With TeamLab Forest being located right beside the Fukuoka PayPay Dome (where the Japanese professional baseball team, the SoftBank Hawks play) we found an MLB Cafe and grabbed some lunch! Wings, burgers, and chicken sandwiches filled us with a good American meal, while Bryan got his sports fix watching a replay of the Braves baseball game from the day before, and the Sendai-Fukuoka baseball game! Nothing like bringing our Japanese and American worlds together! I will admit, I was even watching the Japanese baseball game since we have visited BOTH teams' cities!
With full bellies, we headed out to explore Ohori Park! This park is known for its pedal boats...of which Bryan refused to take me on. So much for marrying a romantic! Instead, we found a park bench in the sun and enjoyed some quiet time together watching all the other couples enjoy their romantic time on the water. (Don't listen to Bryan, we did see at least one couple without small kids out there....maybe one. But still, we watched from the sidelines!)
Leaving the park, we continued our trek to the Fukuoka Castle ruins. We learned that Fukuoka's train system wasn't as well planned out as Osaka's train system. Unfortunate for us, walking to each attraction and taking the train to the attractions took about the same amount of time, so we saved a few bucks and just wore out our legs. And the stairs...y'all. The Japanese love themselves some steps!
As you can tell from these pictures, the ruins weren't anything to gloat about. BUT the view from up there was absolutely stunning! Bryan and I learned during our first trip to Sendai, that visiting castle ruins is well worth the trek because ancient castles were always built up high and with great views of the city! Take note people- always go to the castle ruins for the view.
As we headed towards our hotel for the night, we walked through a park near the castle ruins and saw three people who were training hawks! These guys had treats in their bags, protective arm sleeves, and tuning forks to guide the hawks from person to person! Bryan and I stood and watched them for a few minutes! Super cool!
Right as the sun began to set, we made it to our unmanned hotel for the night! From what I read, these unmanned hotels are becoming quite popular in Japan! When we arrived, we headed up to the 7th floor to check-in. The lobby consisted of several iPads. We simply typed in the code that was emailed to us, confirmed our information, and thought we were done. That was easy enough! Then the screen changed, the FaceTime app opened and a woman appeared, speaking a lot of Japanese at us. During what felt like forever (but was probably only 5 seconds) we both stood there staring with big eyes, awkward smiles, and thumping hearts. What the heck?! Who is this lady and how did we accidentally FaceTime a random chick...
As I considered faking a fainting spell, the woman says, in perfect English, "do you speak English?" Now we look like idiots. We quickly nod (again not speaking ourselves), as she explains that all unmanned hotels require that guests video chat with hotel staff to confirm their room. She quickly explained that once she ends the chat, our room number will appear along with a 4 digit code to unlock the door. After she hung up and we collected ourselves, we burst out laughing! Five and a half months of living in Japan and we still catch ourselves freezing up when faced with the language barrier!
We take the L, Bryan begs me not to write about the moment on our blog, and we head down to the 6th floor to our room. While our room was snug, it was a perfect fit for the two of us with the bunked double beds, a private bathroom, and a mini-fridge. Oh, and this place cost us a whopping twenty-seven dollars for the night! Was I concerned? No. Was Bryan? Possibly.
After dropping our stuff, we enjoyed our 7-11 dinner while sitting on the bottom bunk and looking out at the city below. Only in Japan would $27 get us this view! After eating our quick meal, we hit the hay in preparation for tomorrow!
October 24th began bright and early with us checking out of our hotel (using the tablet in our room) and then heading to Tochoji Temple! Tochoji Temple was founded in 806 AD, but became more famous when, in 1992, the "Great Buddha of Fukuoka" was installed here. This giant Buddha statue is "the largest class wooden statue of a seated Buddha in Japan." Note: Japan is known for creating subcategories within subcategories so that things are labeled as "the largest" or "the oldest" in the country. For example, this is the largest wooden seated Buddha- three keywords separating it from other statues in the country.
Bryan and I paid ¥50 each to enter the room with the giant wooden, sitting Buddha, and we were not disappointed! Sitting at over 33 feet tall, this Buddha statue was breathtaking! After admiring it for a minute, we followed another couple and walked to the left of the statue into a hallway decorated with relief sculptures. These 3D wooden paintings were depictions of hell and of people suffering. All the signage was in Japanese so we only had the pictures of people suffering in boiling pots and fires to assume these paintings depicted scenes of the Buddist hell. (Upon leaving and googling it, we were correct.)
At the end of the hell hall was a dark, narrow winding passageway that led back out to the wooden Buddha. While Bryan pulled out his phone to turn on the flashlight, the Japanese woman in front of us pointed at the handrail...so we followed her lead into the pitch black. This winding passageway was so dark, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Bryan was extremely uncomfortable, I mean who wouldn't be after looking at the grotesque paintings of hell moments before, as he kept calling out my name. After several reminders that I was right in front of him, we made it to the other side, where a painting of heaven was displayed. After later research (and Bryan asking, "what the hell did we just experience?"), I learned that this dark passageway is a strong symbol reminding believers that following Buddha's teaching through the dark times will lead you to heaven.
While we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, we agree that this experience is a must-do in Fukuoka! PS: Anyone who plans on visiting us, know that if you fly through Fukuoka, this will probably be the first stop, so pack light suitcases for the walk!
As with most temples, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, so I found this photo online of the Great Buddha of Fukuoka. I can say, the photo doesn't do it justice, but at least you get a better idea! The passageway to the hell hall came up to maybe his knee if that helps put his size into perspective!
As we continued our walking tour, we made our way to Shofukuji Temple, which is known for being the first Zen temple constructed in Japan. (What makes it a "zen" temple? We aren't sure, exactly.) While all the signage here was in Japanese, this quiet garden area was a great break in the hustle and bustle of the city. Shaded by large trees, Bryan and I walked through the temple's grounds and peeked into some of their temple buildings. We didn't see any signs for no photography, so we snuck some pictures before continuing on.
Upon leaving the Shofukuji Temple, we hopped on a train and rode about 30 minutes outside the main city area to the Kasuya District to visit Nanzo-in Temple. After walking up a steep hill, we reached the statue of the Acalanatha, a blue-tinted god known as the "immovable protector and god of fire." This guy had one eyeball pointing to the sky and another pointing to the ground, and his cross-eyedness represents his all-seeing power. He really just creeped us out, so we continued past him up (you guessed it) more stairs to a wooded area with several small shrines
These small shrines were built in the side of the mountainous rock and were dedicated to lesser gods. One of the shrines was even inside the mountain, and we had to crawl through a small tunnel to reach it. (Not so good for anyone who is claustrophobic!) To the left of these small shrines was a cave that we crawled in and climbed up a steep cliff using guided chains to help hoist ourselves up. It was quite a nice little workout, but well worth the serene beauty we found from up high.
At some point, we took a wrong turn and ended up climbing even higher up the mountain. The path kept getting thinner and more overgrown, so we eventually turned around and found our way out. While the climb was tiring, we did get end up in a giant bamboo forest! I mean, look at those things-they're huge!
As we made our way back down the mountain, which I did successfully without slipping and busting my tail (what a win!), we worked our way over to the main sight, the Reclining Buddha statue. As we walked towards the place of prayer, we noticed several signs regarding appropriate clothing. The signs were (obviously) in Japanese, but also consisted of pictures of shorts and tank tops with x's over them- so we got the message loud and clear. The Nanzo-in Temple's website posts many reminders that this is a place of worship and prayer- not for sightseeing- so we were careful to show respect and awe as we entered.
Bryan endured his second uncomfortable moment of the day when he saw the "no shorts" sign. After asking the gate attendant if he was dressed appropriately (and by "ask," we mean we pointed at his shorts, held up the "ok" symbol as if asking a question), we were told we were ok to enter (and this was communicated with a happy nod and then a bow). Gotta love our communication with the locals! While I tried to explain to Bryan that they are probably focused on women who arrive in booty shorts and crop tops, he still wasn't having it and opted to tie his sweatshirt around his waist. (Note to readers: From this point on in our trip, Bryan and I noticed that men don't wear shorts. We saw one man in shorts, and he was out jogging, so this sign has got to be for foreign travelers!)
The Statue of the Reclining Buddha is 41 meters long, 11 meters tall, and weighs over 300 tons. It is "the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha reclining as he enters Nirvana" (see what they did there with those adjectives!) It was quite a sight to see and well worth the long train ride to visit.
As we made our way back to the city, Katie spotted the Cats posters and knew a theater had to be close by! We eventually found it in the Canal City shopping district, and we picked up a flyer to look into visiting for a show soon. I had planned for us to eat at a Ramen shop in Canal City, but as we were walking that way, Bryan spotted an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, so our plans changed with lunch at Shakey's. While it may sound like we ducked trying new foods, we ended up eating pizzas with pepperoni & green peppers, Vienna sausages, taco pizza, four cheese, & apple pie pizza. There were some other pies that we weren't adventurous to try, but we did eat our fill! The apple pie pizza reminded us of Pizza Inn's dessert pizzas from back home!
After doing some shopping in the area, it was time to head home! We headed back to the train station, bought our tickets for Sasebo, and then enjoyed our two-hour train ride home! As always, we had two happy pups greeting us at the door when we returned.
Knowing that this was our last big adventure before Bryan's next deployment, it felt a little bittersweet. These past two months have been filled with tons of traveling and learning about our new home, and we aren't ready for it to end. Instead, we are looking at it as a slight "pause" in our plans!
--Katie
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