Northwest Kyushu - Revisited (Day One) - Fukuoka

Literally! My second trip to Fukuoka was even more amazing than the first - in a big way because Jillian was with me. We purchased a man-yen (About $100) Sun-Q ticket that gave us free access to nearly all of Kyushu's buses, including local buses in every city on the southern island.

Some large Japanese buses have stairs down into their lavatories

We arrived in Hakata around noon, and our first initiative was to find somewhere to eat. After a quick bite at Mos Burger, (one of Jill's favorites - kind of an all-natural fast food joint, or something) we headed to Canal City Hakata, which was one of the places I'd wanted to see last time but didn't have a chance to visit.

Canal City Hakata

This pretty mall, while more impressive at night, is a multi-story, multi-building shopping center with a lovely canal running through its middle. Its stores were pretty expensive, and it kind of reminded me of Bellevue Square in Washington, except with a water show. Essentially, they had kind of a scaled-down version of the choreographed fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was lovely, but difficult to photograph.

We also ran into this guy...

Unfortunately for me, the Robot Museum, where you can "touch, see, and experience the cutting edge of robot technology!" has closed down, so when we went to Hakata City Riverrain, we could not see robots. Luckily, Canal City Hakata has two robots, one blue, and one pink. We met the blue one, (above) who could speak Japanese, English, and Chinese! He also liked to have his belly touched, which was equipped with a touch-screen full of information about Hakata Canal City and the surrounding area. He roamed around the mall making R2-D2-esque noises when not occupied.

Moomin Cafe - Moomin is a Finnish character from the 1940's that is really popular here

Before moving on, we treated ourselves to some Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream. It may not seem like a new experience, but Baskin-Robbins in Japan is totally different from America's! Not only do they have some unique flavors that we simply don't have, (like Musk Melon, Popping Shower, and "Matcha" or green tea) but instead of a Flavor of the Month, Japan's flavors are seasonal in that they move in three month cycles. So, in February, you can have the flavors of the month from January, February, and March! Last month, (February) they had Holiday Raspberry Cake, (January) Ghost World, (January) Love Potion 31, (February) Skating Pears, (February) Cherry Blossom, (March) and a bunch more that I can't remember.

Still, despite their wide array of flavors, nothing beats the even more popular soft cream, (soft serve ice cream) served all over in Japan - even at some shrines! See my Dazaifu post from a few weeks ago for an overview of some of those wacky flavors.

Hakataza Kabuki Theatre - Near Hakata Riverrain

Riverrain itself is another huge shopping center, although itself not quite as interesting as Canal City. Nearby are the Hakataza Kabuki and Fukuoka Art Museum, but this time we didn't stop by these two. (Just passed by) Riverrain is full of more expensive shops, and also has a hotel, the closed-down robot museum, and, oddly enough, a little shrine as well.

What's this shrine doing in the middle of a city?

Actually, shrines like these popping up in an urban setting are a pretty common occurrence in Japan, although I prefer the ones in a more secluded, natural setting personally.

Not to be outdone, there are Christian Churches in the city, too

After traipsing around town a while, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to check into our hotel, which was a little hostel near a large park a little ways away from the Fukuoka Castle ruins. Jillian really wanted to go to the Fukuoka City Zoo and Botanical Gardens, so we caught a bus to go check it out.

You've found the map! Now you just need the compass and the dungeon key and you're set...

The zoo in Fukuoka boasts hundreds of animal species, ranging from Canadian Geese to African Elephants. Unfortunately though, one big problem about having a zoo in a large city where there's hardly enough space for people... well, it means that the animals didn't have much space, either.

This pelican's living space is smaller than Jillian's dorm room... I'm not sure who needs more space, though.

Some of the animals, especially the big ones, looked really sleepy and agitated. Jillian, having studied animal behavioral patterns at Evergreen, commented that a lot of them seemed to be pacing around, or performing noticeably repetitive actions. Apparently, this is a sign of boredom.

This kangaroo was extra bored, but at least looked pretty relaxed

Seeing the animals, while fun, was also a little sad. At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, they've kept some of their old cages around from the 70's - empty - with signs explaining how the old cages have become obsolete, and why they've upgraded to new, more enriching environments for the animals. Fukuoka's zoo, however, uses those same cages that Woodland Park has deemed "obsolete." It was a really surprising contrast to the amazing aquarium we'd see in Kagoshima, although this zoo did also have some educational exhibits, too.

A comparison of raptor wing-spans - they have one of those huge ones at the zoo, but he was sleeping.

It's easy for me to say all of these things, though, since I don't know what the financial status of this zoo is or anything like that. I'm sure that if I had a better understanding if what their budgets and things were like, I'd probably be a bit less critical. I'm definitely comfortable saying that I'm probably a bit spoiled when it comes to zoos, since the Pacific Northwest is lucky enough to have a bunch of really nice ones in the area. (Woodland Park, Seattle Aquarium, Point Defiance, Portland, and so on)

Jillian fed this friendly giraffe some bread, provided by a zoo keeper, of course

Despite feeling sorry for the animals, though, we still had a nice time. Because the zoo and botanical gardens closed at 5:00, though, we didn't get a chance to visit the latter. There's always next time, though!

"Wait, Jillian! Please take me with you!"

After the zoo, we made our way back to the hostel on the outskirts of Fukuoka and had an early night - it had been a long day of traveling (over 6 hours total spend on buses and subways!) and we were planning to hop another bus for Nagasaki the next morning.

So... yeah. Nagasaki. That's next!