Solo Exploration

Good morning from Fukuoka. Once again the full band of adventurers have reassembled. Matt, Cristian and Ambernay has once again rejoined of band of merry people to once again go forth and get lost in the country of Japan.

Yesterday would be the day of exploring Fukuoka, seeing how our group was essentially split in half it gave us an opportunity to slow down and do some sight seeing of the city we are in. While it does not have the major international history as its neighbours Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Fukuoka still provided a great place of culture.

Seeing how it was essentially a free day, I went forth alone on a solo venture into the city. It was a felt good being alone, being an introvert sometimes conforming to the will of the group is a bit tiring. I had done a bit of research beforehand and decided to go to the nearby Sumiyoshi Shrine. It wasn't too far and it was on the way to the shopping district.

 So Sumiyoshi Shrine is apparently a shrine to the Sumiyoshi Kami which is the god of fishing and sea faring. Not much of a sailor myself, I was happy to find a smaller shrine there dedicated to the Inari god. Obviously I paid patronage to it.

After walking through the shrine grounds, I decided it was time to do some touristy shopping. So I went to the biggest shopping mall in the city, Canal City.

Basically a giant mall composed of 5 different buildings, they are connected via pathways and bridges between the structures. Many of the shops were international brands and provided many different styles. I didn't buy anything.

Perhaps it was due to it being midday but the mall itself was pretty quiet when I walked through. After passing through I decided to stop by a nearby park and killed some time there.

The peace and quiet was nice, I got to admire the greenery as well as the people around me. It would be a nice life to have living in this city. But alas I couldn't stay in peace as my stomach rumbled and my geeky impulse tingled. So I decided it was time for me to shop shop shop!

Mandarake, Book Off, Tsutaya, Animate. I hit up all the shops that curtails to the geeky demography. Midway in my venture, I met up with Colin at Mandarake where he ended up stockpiling a bunch of Tohou and Vocaloid music soundtracks. From there we split off again as I decided to wait for Matt to
return from Nagasaki as he wanted to do some shopping himself.


While trying to find Matt, I decided to the fastest way was to meet him halfway in the subway. So I took the closest subway entrance I saw and found myself in a large underground shopping arcade. Not only was the arcade stylish but it was full of people passing through. Hard to believe this existed under the city. Problem was that the arcade lead me to a different subway station from the one Matt exited, so I ended up retracing my path before I found him. Once I found him I proceeded to convince Matt to spend all of his cash on manga and curry. Needless to say the three original adventurers ended up buying a large amount of purchases each.

And that would end the adventures of yesterday. Now tomorrow is today, and today is now. Kathleen and Marise has decided to go on their own adventure. Which leaves Cristian, Ambernay, Colin, Matt and I to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima.