Sunday, May 21, 2006

Japan: Tour de Fukuoka

5/20/2006 (Getting close to caught up)

I actually woke up before the alarm at around 7:40am. Not tired at all. Brush teeth, walk to 7-11 to buy a quick breakfast (パン! Bread!), then wait for 8:40am. We meet, Masuda-sensei tells us we'll be taking a chartered bus, we walk down to the bus and we're off for our first destination: Fukuoka Tower.



Fukuoka Tower is really tall and pretty. The height is 234 meters. Sara purchases a 100円 collectable pin for the tower, decides she doesn't like it and buys another. She gets the same one, so I buy it from her and she tries again and gets one of the two that she wanted. We then ride the elevator to maybe half the height at 123m. We take pictures, get a Fukuoka Tower stamp thing, then head down to the third floor for more pictures. On the third floor, it is said if you face the direction of your loved one and make a wish, that wish will come true. After that, we head down to the gift shop and I buy this yummy frozen gummy thing for 10円 (which is like 9 cents). After that we walk down to the bus and we're off for our next destination: とちょじ (Tochoji) Temple.





We enter the temple and the smell of incense permeates the air. We stop at a cleansing station, where Matsushima-sensei and Naki-sensei show us how to perform the ritual before entering the temple. First you clean out the little water scoop, then you take the scoop in one hand, pour it on the other. Take the scoop in the other hand, pour it back on the first hand. Then switch hands again, take water from the scoop, pour it in your hand, then rinse your mouth out with it, then spit it out. The temple was, again, very pretty. There's a nice incense station that you can use to try and get the smoke on the parts of you that need healing. We then proceed to check out this massive Buddha statue (no pictures allowed). According to Matsushima-sensei, this statue is not the old one, but a new one that was recently built. I get to ring the bell, throw money into the box and pray like in all the アニメ (Anime). We look around some more, then once we are finished, walk down to the bus and we're off for our next destination: くしだ神社 (Kushida-jinja).




This Shinto shrine is, like the other places, quite pretty. When we arrive we see that a traditional Shinto wedding is in process. The bride looks beautiful with her 着物 (kimono), but I thought it wouldn't be right to take a picture without asking (and ain't no way I was gonna ask). Sensei tells us about this huge structure that is apparently carried by many men around as a parade during the month of July. There is another ritual here where we pour water into our hands, then drink 1st for your own health, 2nd for the health of your family, and 3rd for the health of your relatives. The water was, frankly, quite disgusting and I accidentally drank too much my first sip (more of a gulp). It tasted somewhat of mineral/salt water. We walked around, took pictures, then we walk down to our bus and we're off for lunch.


Lunch is in a traditional Japanese room with no chairs (the ones where you have to kneel at the table). The food is all traditional fare including some delicious fish, miso soup, sashimi, and lots of other stuff. I didn't last very long kneeling (Naki-sensei didn't even) so I guess I need more discipline in ignoring the fact that no blood is going to my feet. After lunch, we walk down to our bus and we're off for our next destination: Kyushu National Museum.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I <3 chris' pictures!
MISS YOU LOTS!

>^..^< mew

9:48 AM  

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