What is he doing all the way over there ? [02]

So I heard I didn't put enough photographs in my first post ? I'll try to correct that with this one, then ! (But I want to keep some so that I can still bother everyone when I get back :D)

Day 2 [30/04] : Standing there

Well, seeing how late the previous day ended, we took it easy. And in fact, pretty much the only thing we did was going to the nice nearby supermarket, because Pascale wanted to cook me something.

Hey, don't laugh! It's quite tricky to make a "e".

Something, as in yakisoba (a sort of fried noodles). And it was so good ! She'll tell you that it was too "liquid", but I say it tasted very good anyway. And afterwards we spent the evening watching movies, a "serious one", Die Welle, and a more funny one, 2012. But do not think it was the start of a lazy period, because the following day was quite packed...

Day 3 [01/05] : Look into the air

As we were now well rested, we kicked the day off by going into Tenjin, Fukuoka's busy retail district. If you like browsing through shops - almost any kind of shop, in fact - it's those kind of district that you should go to. Everywhere, huge shopping malls that sell everything from the latest clothes to Hello Kitty spoons. It has, of course, a big Tower Records shop too, which is pretty dangerous for yours truly's wallet...

A rare sight : an empty walkway section in Tenjin !

What's even better is what you discover when you are guided by someone who had the time to look past all the flashy-looking stores to discover the ones filled with an incredible amount of random... random... stuff. I mean, there's no other way of describing the ginormous variety of things they sell in Village Vanguard stores. There's almost no room to move around the store, and you stumble successively on books about coffee, on NES controller-shaped bags, then on halloween costumes or math-rock CDs. It's crazy...

Lots of massive buildings in Tenjin...

Then, after all the randomness, we went to see some of the landmarks of the Fukuoka cityscape. First on the list was Fukuoka Tower, the tallest building of the city located just next to the beach. We didn't go all the way up because of the rather expensive admittance fee, but it was already impressive seen from the ground.

If this doesn't look like vacations, I don't know what does.

Of course (I was with my sister, after all) we ended up on the beach next. But that shouldn't make you think it was a totally ordinary one. It's Japan. So, one section of the beach was occupied by what is called "Marizone". And not "Mari" as in "Marine". No no, "Mari" as in "Marry".

Aaaah, Japan...

Yeah, yeah, that's right, a fake "European-like" church, and some "lovely" buildings all dedicated for marriage. It's awfully kitsch, but I guess it's kinda successful, or at least it attracts enough people to make selling hot-dogs a profitable business.

Just got married ? How about a nice hot-dog ?

You know, maybe the main attraction is in fact that hot-dog shop with its signs, and Marizone is just capitalizing on the crowd it attracts...

Before going back to the International House, we dropped by the Fukuoka Dome, or rather Yahoo! Dome, the baseball stadium of the city. Which is big. And has a dome on top of it, hence the name. There's a lot of baseball merchandising that's being selled and bought, and if you want you can shake hands with a lot of stars whose hands are replicated all around the dome. If you get the chance, I suggest checking those out, because some are accompagnied with words that will make your eyes sparkle with renewed ethusiasm.

Thank you Jon, now I know everything is possible !

So, I told you, quite a busy day... Before a quiter, more "cultural" one, who would also see me meet Takahiro, Pascale's boyfriend, for the very first time. Exciting, isn't it ?

Don't nitpick, it's somewhat dome-shaped.