3-17-07

Tired, since coming to Fukuoka I`ve already seen so much. I got in yesterday and managed to find the capsule hotel quite easily. In case you didn`t know, capsule hotels are these places (mostly for business men) that offer capsules (or sleep coffins) cheapy to sleep at night http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_coffin. It`s ok, but not my first choice of place to spend the night. Thankfully I got to use the bath house and sauna in the sleep capsule hotel so that was nice. I`ve since grown to love bath houses, say what you will about the gross amount of male nudity.



Anyway, I dropped off my stuff and went to a small shrine around the corner, taking pictures of what I believe is my family crest carved into the rock. My family`s is on the far left. I seem to run across it almost everywhere in Japan, which leads me to believe our family either stole it off a feudal lord way back in the day or that we`re famous over here and everyone should be giving me free stuff. I should just have to wave our flower symbol and be given free room and board.


Going through the shrine to the other side I found myself at Canal City, which is a HUGE famous mall in Fukuoka that has a movie theater and lots and lots of shops. I made it to the second floor and after looking down noticed a large group of people standing around what looked like a fountain. Sure enough, it was a fountain and started shooting up water synchronized to the Peter Gun theme.



I thought "Wow, this is pretty cool" and stayed on after the music and water stopped. Then some kind of strange kind of cosplay
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay) fashion show. I knew it was going to be weird when the first person out was wearing a gas mask and ripped clothes. I stayed, but everything after that wasn`t as interesting.



Hungry and looking for an internet connection I went upstairs to the Sega arcade where lo and behold, I found Guitar Hero in Taiko Drum form. I watched Taiko Hero for a while and the women playing was incredibly embarrassed after realizing that I had been watching her play. However, as entertaining as taiko drum video games are, they are not food.



Moving on I went up another escalator and found myself in the most amazing place ever . . . the Raumen Stadium, where Ramen from around Japan compete to achieve the title of Ramen Champion! Ok, not really but it`s still a place to try ramen from all around Japan. Now I know that in the U.S. ramen noodles are what poor college students and starving artists eat, but real ramen is amazing, fresh noodles thrown with whatever is available in a pork broth. The ramen places require you to buy a meal ticket before coming inside in what I think is another example of Japan flaunting technology like the automatic opening car doors and moving toilet seats. Anywya, after buying my first ticket to get Hokaido ramen I sat down and wondered if my meal would be worth it, luckily it was. Dear lord in heaven was it ever, simply amazing. After the first bowl I was amazed, shocked even at how tasty it was. Not only did I get my bowl of noodles but there was even fresh garlic to press into it! Delicious! Undeterred and still hungry I moved on to the next noodle place and got another bowl, then moved to the next shop for another. I was on some kind of ramen binge that I could not control, not that I even wanted to. I`m not going to say how much I spent on my meals up there but let`s just say that if in the past anyone had said that they spent $30 on ramen noodles I probably would have pushed them down a flight of stairs. Somehow I managed to cram an entire Food Day into about an hour of deliciousness.





Later on my way back I found a little cafe full of killer hippos. Don`t be fooled, sure they look cute but that`s how they trick you into being complacent. I figure this woman has about 5 seconds before being eaten alive. Imagine, a real life version of Hungry Hungry Hippos . . . everybody panic!




Today I met Dave, and his friends Aaron and Dave at Hakata station to go to Costco so they could stock up on food for Tsushima and get Costco pizza. However first we needed to stop by a manga shop so Dave could get a comic he needed for another teacher on Tsushima. But before even leaving the station I saw a woman with a ferret and had to stop to play with it. I`d never seen an actual ferret but it was cute and the owner (also cute) spoke great English and informed us the ferret`s name was Thomas. It must have been as hungry as I was because it started to bite me on my finger, you can even tell in the photo if you look closely. I thought it was great though, having never been attacked by a ferret before. It sounds like something out of a bad Monty Python sketch " . . . and we were attacked by a killer ferret!"


Dave also got to hold it but it must have known he was a gaijin and went for his eye, maybe it was some kind of attack ferret. Luckily none of us left with less vision than we started and off we went to the comic store. I already knew that the Japanese take their comics a liiiiiiiitle more seriously than their American counterparts but I was not prepared for the comic store. Jesus Christ, these people are serious comic book readers, 5 floors and book shelves with all different kinds, glass cases of collectible action figures and prints, and costumes that people probably live out strange fantasies with.


Don`t ask me why we got to the guy-on-guy section, but I blame Dave. Or Aaron, the one looking suspicious on the cell phone. For some reason they didn`t want anyone to take photos inside the store. Then again there are things in here that probably should`t be shown to the normal public.






After the manga shop we hit up a 100 yen store and then made our way to the train station to get to Costco. We had already walked what seemed like half of Fukuoka and were starving. After arriving at our destination by train and getting a taxi to Costco we go to the door and are informed . . . we can only go in with 3 people for 1 Costco card. Shit. We`ve come all this way and the only way we can get in is to leave someone at the door? Hells no! We start to formulate plans on how to sneak in, fabricate familial relations or rush the entrance when the checker in front informs us that since we came all the way just for Costco we can all come in. Sweet! We immediately go inside, get our hot dogs and combination pizza complete with free refils on soda. I break my soda policy and drink a lot of it. After paying through the nose for everything in Japan, free refils is just about the best thing ever, almost as good as the ramen. Buzzed out of my mind on sugar and caffeine, we start shopping for the guys and I walk around admiring all the Kirkland brand things I haven`t seen in years. Kilos of pork belly, pounds of spices and pallettes of Dr. Pepper, its all here just like in the States. In fact, apart from the Japanese writing (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji) it looks exactly like the Costco in America right down to the long lines at the checkout counter.

After buying everything they needed at Costco (I didn`t get anything because I would have to carry it with me) we left for Fukuoka, balancing 2 pizzas they guys had bought for the ferry ride back. They all left and I went to find an internet cafe. Did you know in Japan the internet cafes have free drinks? Some even have free soft serve ice cream and showers. I even know people who have spent the night in private booths there. The Japanese are serious about their internet, almost as serious as the South Koreans, except their internet is $1 an hour while Japans is $4 an hour. But free ice cream counts for a lot in my book.