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Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (yet again A)


Here we go yet again with another "visa run" trip to Fukuoka and I brought my camera again. I hope you enjoy the photos and little descriptions.



Every Nintendo lovers dream store. Good thing I no longer play video games that much.





In Japan, a great deal of people ride bicycles. They even have bicycle parking lots like this. There's a guy on guard (not pictured) protecting the bikes.





Just an example of a young lady riding her bicycle. Earlier I refrained from taking a picture of a girl in a min-skirt trying to balance her shopping bags on the handle bars while chatting on her cell-phone. Wait, maybe she was the one who should have been embarrassed. But I guess it's not an atypical site there and I thought it was pretty funny.





A stylish? Karaoke building. I kind of wanted to give this a try but we never got back here.





A few of the vending machines located on every street. Must be easy for kids to buy cigarettes and booze from these.





Looks like a batting cage on the inside of this place. As you can tell, I'm just walking around and snapping random pictures.





A shot of one of the rivers in Fukuoka. I like the style of the apartment buildings. Sure beats the plain tall high rises in Korea. Then again, Korea doesn't have to worry about earthquakes. That's probably why you don't see that many tall buildings around in at least this part of Japan.





Some traditional looking building. There's a lot of these places nestled into the scenery. Not that I plan to move there, but Japan just seems so clean, neat and organized to me.





This is one thing I miss about being home. Seeing all the nice imported cars around. In Korea the majority of cars are, you guessed it, Korean.





I noticed they have a lot of retro-styled scooters in Japan. Here's an example of one: a Honda. I kind of like it.





Hmm...what the hell does this say? While I find Japanese easier to hear and speak than Korean, reading is a much different story.





Just one of the many quiet side streets in the area. Clean, neat, organized, nobody shouting at you through a megaphone.





What's all this talk about the Japanese economy being in the doldrums. I saw hundreds of sports cars in the short time I was there, as usual.





I've never seen this chain in Korea, but they have it all over Japan. Seems to be more common there than that other donut chain.





Here's a shot of some Japanese Chinese food which looks totally different than American or Korean Chinese food...leaving me with the never ending question: what is real Chinese food anyway?





Just a typical crosswalk. Once again, all the buildings, streets and cars seem well organized and fluid.





We walked around for awhile, a long long while, before we finally found a hotel. We rejoiced. It would have cost 7000 Yen, about $70. Luckily they were full, because they pointed us down the road to a kind of run down hotel, but it only cost us 4500 Yen, about $45. Here's just a shot of the cans of beer I bought from the vending machine. I'm not sure what the deal is in Japan. I think they also do this in Taiwan: the major beer companies make some sort of imitation beer of their own beers, like near-beer or something. It tastes pretty crappy but it costs half the price. The can on the left is genuine Asahi. The can on the right was the near-Asahi beer, but it tasted awful to me.


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written by klb -|link

Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (yet again B)




Here's Don. He's teaching English down in Daegu. He's been married to a Korean girl for the past three years. He's also lived all over Europe. I met him around the airport and so we tagged along together for the "visa run." Every time I do this I end up meeting someone new.





Here's what you get in Japan for under $50. I bet you don't get much more for under $100, except your room may be cleaner and have a view. Pretty small and simple. Good enough for me. Who wants to hang around the hotel anyway when on a trip?





Of course, a small TV. There were about 10 channels in Japanese. That box up top takes a pre-paid card that will unlock the porn channel and a movie channel.





Hmm, let's see what's out the window...wow, great view. Just like a cheap Korean motel. I feel right at home.





They even have room service. Whatever they're serving, it looks pretty gross. I'm not sure what that is on top, but I saw it in many restaurant windows and also in packages at the stores. It looks red and slimy. Must be some kind of sushi, or something.





They give you a ten second preview of the adult channel to persuade you to pay for it. What's the point when all the action is pixelated? I'm not going to name any names, but a certain someone with a few extra bucks in his pocket in a room near mine stayed up pretty late and may have purchased the card after one too many beers alone.





Here's the preview of the other channel. Yeah, sure, like I'm going to pay an extra $10 to watch this old black and white crap.





The bathroom was proportionally small to the room. I could barely stand in that tub, much less sit down. The good thing was the water pressure was powerful and there was plenty of soap, shampoo, and clean towels. Fine with me.





Later we ventured out. Since we stayed so close to the Korean Embassy and not downtown, we really didn't have a lot to do. We didn't want to spend a lot of money either, especially me, seeing as I had to pay for the whole trip myself. Don's boss was paying for his, as is normal when you get a full time job at a hagwon, but Don also has a few kids at home in Daegu to take care of. Anyway, here we are checking out an extremely noisy game room. We got out of here fast. Each crane game is a whopping $5! But the prizes are much better than the games in Korea that cost 50 cents. As usual I just look so cool in my photographs. What's going on with my shirt?

Wait, is that really even me?



Some of the toys in one of the machines...





A selection of dried seafood products and beef jerky similar to what they sell in Korea. John, of all people, who has been in Korea less than a month has gotten me into eating dried squid. I never even dried it in all the years I've been here, and now I love it. Dried squid, heh, who would have figured it could taste so good.





You can see from the picture how peaceful Fukuoka is. The drivers are very polite. They never pull up ahead of the stop line and they rarely honk or rush the lights. A very nice and quiet walk. I would actually like to have a car if I lived here, if I could adjust to driving on the opposite side of the road. I have never wanted to drive in hectic Korea. Also, I'd just fret and worry over my car. Almost every car you see in Korea has a few dents and scratches on it.





Just a random side street. Where is everyone? Actually, I started to miss the hustle and bustle of Korea after awhile.





I think the scooters, as with most motorized vehicles the Japanese make, are just better and cooler looking than Korean ones. No offense to Hyundai or Kia, of course. Then again, you get what you pay for and Japanese products are not cheap.





A nicely cut tree of some kind that we passed on route to the Korean Embassy.





I snuck this shot of somebody's little house by sticking the camera over the fence. Nice tree again. Looks like a giant Banzai.





Here we are approaching the embassy area. This is a nice part of town. There's the popular Fukuoka Dome where the Japanese battle it out in the much revered game of baseball, their number 1 sport (after Sumo wrestling, I guess). To the right is a plaza, which we headed to later.





There it is, the Korean Embassy. This is one of the nicest embassies that I've seen. Very traditional and stylish. I love the roof.





OK, I know. More toys? I'm sorry, but I just love this Japanese Toys R Us. They have the coolest toys. I'd hate to be a parent in Japan. They must shell out a fortune on toys and video games. The Japanese are masters of making addicting collector's sets like Pokeman figures and cards.





Some unique looking toys. Again, the only problem is everything seems way overpriced. Even a small generic action figure is over $10.





More robots. Hope there are some other toy lovers reading this. Sorry to the rest of you.






They sure love robots in this Country. Hey, is that Optimus Prime on the screen there? "Transformers, more than meets the eye. Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Deceptagons..." Can't believe I still remember that song.






I wanted to buy one of these cool little Mario Brother sets. There's a remote control that you use to navigate Mario or Yoshi around the familiar obstacles. Too bad the sets are over $30, and they are smaller than they look in the photo.






Not exactly sure what this is, but I like it. It would make a nice gift for your special girl. Now that I think about it, I could have gotten one for poor John who lives alone in a motel (or James for that matter). Something for them to pass away the time with. Maybe next time.




A Pokeman (for Gameboy) display. Japan releases all the newest games in their own country first. I used to hate that when I was waiting for a game.






A kid samples some of the newest Nintendo games. I tried, but all the games were in Japanese and seemed a little complicated to a guy who grew up with Atari and later the original Mario Brothers.





Don looks empathetically at a poor Japanese kid with a broken arm who wishes he could sample the games too. Poor kid.





The last picture. The ubiquitous McDonald's sits inside this stylish building. I just love Japanese architecture.


The only thing we really did that night was go to the Hard Rock Cafe, which was pretty stupid, really. It was early and apparently there was a baseball game going on at the dome and everyone was at it. Oh, well, at least the hamburger I got was pretty good. There really wasn't a lot to do around the Embassy, unfortunately. I was looking forward to a little sushi, but Don just wanted to drink and not eat much.

I ended up going back to the hotel and falling asleep at around 10:00, which was nice, because I popped out of bed at 8:00 in the morning for the free breakfast at the hotel (toast and coffee). Overall, it was a pleasant experience and everything went according to plan. I now have an E-2 visa again, which is valid for one year, unless I elect not to re-sign at the end of February.




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written by klb -|link

Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (part 3)


Well here we go again for about the 10th short trip to Japan (I went many times to Osaka and Fukuoka before even making this website).  This time was a little different because I took a ferry there instead of flying. Because I had to take a train to Busan from Seoul, spend the night in Busan, etc., the cost of trip ended up being about the same. However, I was glad I went this way and I really enjoyed the whole trip for a change. Instead of having to take the 9:00 AM flight back to Korea, I was able to get a 4:00 PM ferry. That way I could go out and have a good time in Japan and sleep in, then get up and walk all over before going back.

The cost of the ferry package is 190,000 won and includes a decent hotel. The package is a really great deal especially if you live in Busan. It's also not that bad from Seoul now with the KTX Bullet train:



I took this train back to Seoul. I have to say while it is much faster, it was pretty disappointing. The slow train is much more comfortable and relaxed. The seats are pretty tight on the KTX now and I got stuck in the ones that face each other, meaning I got to stare at 2 old Korean guys directly in front of me for almost 3 hours. Those seats are meant for a family or friends but are awkward when your with a bunch of strangers. I wish they'd make them adjustable so you could turn them around.



On the way to Busan I was on the slow train envious as the KTX bullet trained whizzed by to the right. It just so happened I had my camera out to snap a picture of the scenery, so I was able to get this cool shot.



It's hard to tell by the pictures but it was a really nice and scenic trip. Almost as soon as we left Seoul the sky livened up with patches of giant gray clouds and puffy steamy ones floating over the hills. It's seems like in Seoul the sky is always a weird off-white, polluted color.



Another shot. The camera didn't take the greatest photos through the dirty glass and there was no where else to take them...


I had a pretty uneventful night in Busan and realized why I didn't like living there. Especially the area around Busan Station with "Texas Street" across the road. It used to be a spot for Americans to hang out but now it's mostly Russian hookers and drunk thugs. Very uncomfortable. Actually, it seems a lot like Itaewon minus the GIs.



Now the ferry. Here we are leaving Busan port. The sky was a little intimidating at first but it looked really cool anyway and it soon cleared up out to sea.



One last shot leaving the harbor. I'm already excited...


On the ship I met this kind of strange yet really kind and generous gay guy from South Carolina. I said one thing to him and next thing I knew he jumped in the seat next to me and I was his new best buddy. Though he said he had an anxiety disorder and I wasn't sure how much of what he said was true, he'd been all over the world for the past 15 years spending all his money he saved from his construction firm that he owned...he'd been pretty much everywhere and now was teaching in South Korea. At first he made me a little uncomfortable but after I got over my homo-phobia I realized he was a great guy. I'm glad I met because he had so many funny stories and his personality was quite comical. He gave me a lot of material for a future story...I'm sure I'll write it up soon but not in this update. Too much and too long.

Also, my sole purpose was to go to Japan and back while spending as little as possible. On the other hand, he said he was on "vacation" and cashed over a lot of money. He ended up spending at least 100,000 won or more ($100) on me and another foreigner we met later.



A few more shots of the scenery. Though not too bad, the pictures really don't do the trip justice. It was a really nice day on the sea and the ferry was ultra smooth and comfortable.















Click on the picture to download a crummy video I filmed while approaching Fukuoka. The video requires Quicktime Player.


I realized I had forgotten to actually photograph the ferry itself. I got the chance when we exited. As you can see, there's not much too it. I wish it had been a real boat so I could have gone outside for the photos, but what can you expect for the money?

We met up with a Canadian girl who along with Don, the guy I met, had to go to the Korean Embassy to drop off an E-2 visa letter and passport in order to pick up their working visas the next day. I didn't have to but they took me with them anyway as we were all going to the same hotel later too.


The embassy was closed for lunch and I saw this Toys R Us nearby. No way could I pass up a tour around it.



It's expensive being a kid in this country. These robots range from $30 to $170. They're cool and all, but that's a little steep.



I thought I'd throw in this shot of a regular looking Japanese dad shopping at a regular looking Toys R Us. Not too different from what you may see back in America.



Yeap, not surprising to see all the Star Wars Toys on display here. Nothing special about them though, damn...



After taking pics for a while it dawned on me perhaps I should take a picture of the people I'm with. There's Don Shokes from South Carolina as I said, and I can't remember the Canadian girl's name. I think it was Kathy. No matter, she's from Vancouver, I know that much. She's separated from her husband but has plans to get back together with him in a few years after she travels and has fun. She and Don hit off quite well and drove me crazy with all their girly talk after awhile. He kept saying things to her like, "You have boob power, girl; you need to flaunt the titties to attract the dickies..." Everything he said was pretty funny actually. Quite a character.



A nice shot of the Nintendo section. I was a Nintendo addict growing up so I felt a little sentimental seeing this in the home country.



More action figures. Yes, cool, but damn, pretty expensive...no wonder they're enclosed in cases. Notice the extremely disproportional breasts on the girls....much worse than Barbie. And flaunting the cleavage - just who are they making these toys for? I guess that's Terminator down below...



Some kind of weird video camera recording game. The Japanese love this sort of thing. I have no idea or clue what to do...



After I had my fill of toys, Don treated us to lunch. I'm not sure what this fish is called but it was fantastic. We all really enjoyed it. It wasn't too expensive either, about $9.00 each. Beers were $5.00 but they were pretty big.



Here's the view from the motel window. It's a beautiful day. Don came by with a bag full of beer he bought in the motel, which was pretty dumb. Each can was $5.00 while right across the street they were $2.00 at the store. "Shawn, I'm on vacation and I just don't care," he kept saying. I couldn't believe it. I had only cashed over about $25 and planned to just hibernate in the room until returning home the next day.



After awhile Don decided to take us out for sushi next. What a lucky day I had. Lunch was great but this sushi was the best I'd ever had. We all felt like we were in heaven. Then Don said he preferred sushi to sex. I wouldn't go that far, buddy. This platter of sushi was about $20 each but highly worth it, and I don't mean that because I didn't pay. Next time I go I'll definitely buy this myself.



Here's another angle with Kathy getting an eyeful of the meal. It was also the best sushi she'd ever had too, she said.



The next day Don and Kathy left the hotel early to get their visas and I think they both got an earlier boat home because they weren't on the one at 4:00. Hope they didn't miss it. Anyway I went walking alone by myself all afternoon. The weather was fantastic. I got sunburned, but not too bad. Though I didn't get any photos of them, I should mention to any single guys out there I found the girls to be extremely beautiful (though nowhere near as pretty as Julie, of course!) I heard this area in Japan is famous for that. They were very fashionable in their skimpy attire and they were everywhere. I didn't see a single person that was over weight either, despite the fact there were fast food chains all over. How do those Sumo wrestlers get so big especially back before western food was available...must have eaten a lot of whale blubber, I guess.



A menu I passed along the way of more sushi. A few years ago the thought of eating raw fish disgusted me. Now I can't express how much I enjoy it, though I only eat it a few times a year.



A shot of a PC room. I guess they are pretty expensive in Japan. In Korea an hour costs under $1, but in Japan around $5.



I love these little cars. Very convenient in such a small country, but wouldn't want to get in an accident in one...



Spiderman 2...Mega Hit Now! I can't believe the amount of marketing in Asia for this movie. I heard it was pretty good but I haven't seen it yet. I'll probably check it out soon. I'm also waiting for Fahrenheit 911 which is opening finally at the CGV across the street from us in Seoul.



Here's the Honda s2000 I used to ogle over back in NY. They sure know how to make cars in Japan...I miss the Civic I used to have, especially long drives in the country. I don't miss throwing money away on a car and gas anymore though.



Time to head off. I gave myself 2 hours and still almost missed the ferry despite the fact the terminal was only 10 minutes away. With absolutely no English on any of the bus signs, I had a terrible time. I should have taken a taxi in the first place. I had no idea it was so close though because yesterday we all took a taxi from the ferry terminal to the Korean Embassy and now I was near the hotel. After an hour and a half I ended up back here where I started and having a panic attack. It was 3:30 and the ferry was to depart at 4:00. If I missed the boat I would have to pay for another hotel, then I'd also miss my train back to Seoul and have to shell out again for that. Not to mention poor Julie would be devastated to have to go another night without me...

Because I thought it would be so simple, I had spent the money I changed over on this cool Japanese edition of the newest Radiohead CD, leaving me almost penniless.


For you Radiohead fans out there, there are also several cool Radiohead Japan ONLY releases...

After the bus ordeal I cursed myself for buying that CD and I could not remember where I got it exactly to return it. You should have seen me when I needed to get a taxi and had no money. None of the cash machines in the area had English on them and they didn't take foreign cards. I was running around with Korean Won begging people in my beginner's Japanese to change me won for a 1000 Yen note only to be told politely no way. Finally I just jumped in a cab and hoped for the best. Luckily the guy was very nice and waited outside as I ran into the terminal to change over the taxi fare, $10 for the 10 minute ride. What an adventure, though. The things I like about travelling...

In the terminal I ran into a guy that has missed his boat back to Korea (different ferry company) and now was stuck for another night himself. I laughed, because that was almost me. I wonder how often that happens to travelers. Anyway I told him about the cheap capsule hotel I stayed in the last time I was here and he moped out the door.

Well, that's it. It was pretty much the best and most memorable trip I've had on a visa-run to Japan so far. I love my life and being able to travel, even it's just a simple trip like a visa-run. There's always more to it than just the going and returning...


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written by klb -|link

Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (part 2)


It was time to renew my visa, so I went to Fukuoka over the weekend. It was pretty much the exact same trip I took before except I met a friend there who used to teach here. He now teaches in Fukuoka. While he loves it there, he plans to return to Korea because Japan is just too expensive. We had a good time except he had no money and I ended up paying for dinner and beers. I didn't mind though as it was nice having someone to hang around with. He took me all over and I learned a lot about the teaching scene there. We also went to a really cool guitar shop where I spent 2 hours contemplating whether or not to buy this really nice Japanese Fender Strat. Unlike the Mexican and Chinese licensed Fenders, this one played and felt just like an American one and it was half the price. Still I wasn't sure I should shell out $550 on a guitar in Japan on a whim. Would hate to get it back here and find some problem with it. So basically I just played it for a few hours and frustrated the shop employees and my friend. Fortunately, unlike in Korea where the shopkeepers never stop bothering you for a second, in Japan, like in America, they leave you alone.


Because the rest of the trip was basically the same as before, I didn't bother to take many pictures and there's really not a lot to say. It was nice to get away from Korea, even though it was just for the weekend. I really like Fukuoka. It's clean and peaceful, cheaper and not as crowded as other Japanese cities. It was voted best city to live in Asia in 2000. If I were ever to teach in Japan, I'd likely start there.


Here are the not-so-hot photos I took:



The only thing different I noticed about Fukuoka since 3 months ago is they added modern safety barriers down in the subway. It makes it harder for a drunk and/or suicidal would-be to jump to his death while leaving his family in debt to the rail company. Personally I don't like the barrier as it obstructs your view. I like seeing the train pull up. Also, while I was sitting on the train I kept on having to stand up to see where we were. On one of the trains I took their was no English at all. Unlike the newer Seoul trains, there's also no electronic sign in each cart showing you the next stop name.


I stayed at the same Capsule hotel as I did last time. I gave a fake passport number just in case they kept mine after last time when I stuck somebody who lost their key with my dinner tab (see the other posts for the story). After a shower I headed to meet my friend in the downtown area of Tenjin.



Not a great shot, but here's the scene coming out of Tenjin station. Like everywhere else in Japan, the streets are neat and clean, orderly with unique, well made structures and lots of huge advteritisng signs. The city looks especially nice at night with most of the buildings lit up with different color lights. Unfortunately I can't take night shots with my camera as I don't own an expensive external flash or anything other than the basic camera for that matter.




A sea of bicyles. Imagine trying to find yours after a few drinks. There seemed to be more bikes than people. The traffic in the area was barely noticeable and the air was much easier to breathe. Also, can't recall hearing a single horn beep. What a change from Suwon or Seoul. Why doesn't this catch on here?



A typical electronics center. This is where you go if you have a zillion dollars to spend on the latest Japanese electronics. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures inside, but I saw some some of the smallest cameras and notebook computers I've ever seen. Why anyone would want such a small computer is beyond me. You need a special pencil shaped rod to use the keyboard. The cameras were pretty cool, yet again I can't see myself spending $1000 on something the size and weight of a ice cube unless it's a diamond (and only then cause I'd be rich when I resold it).



Having lived there for 4 months now, Ben nows all the spots to drink and dine cheaply. You wouldn't be able to notice it from the outside, but this is a real American-style diner. At the bottom of the menu on the left you can see the "egg special". I was amazed really. For only 400 Yen, or about 3.75, we got large two-egg omelot with cheese and musrooms, a regular sized hashbrown, and 2 strips of sausage. Afterward I was stuffed. That's a great bargain in the land where a bowl of noodle soup (U-dong) can cost 700 Yen or more and leave you hungry. The place probably makes it's money of drinks which run from 200 Yen for a cola to 500 Yen for a glass of beer. But if your smart, you just come here for the food only then take off.



Here's the man himself: Ben. He's from Australia. He used to teach at the school I'm at now, that's how I found the job. I respect the guy - after two months back in Australia followed by an expensive month in LA, he came back to Fukuoka with hardly any money and no job. After only a few weeks he's managed to get part time work and an apartment already. Unfortunately he was mostly broke and I ended up paying for our much more expensive shis-ka-bob dinner later (4000 Yen). Oh well, it was actually my birthday by coincidence, so I didn't mind paying for everything myself. (Yeah right! It sucked!) Ben's planning to come back to Korea for awhile to save more money though, so he promised to take me out when he does. He's a good guy. he can speak Korean better than I ever will. Also, he said he couldn't speak Japanese but later he carried on a 10 minute conversation with some goofy Japanese guy with awful teeth who later gave Ben his e-mail address with the enticement "my sister is beautiful" written underneath. It bothers me that some people have a natural inclination to speaking another language. I sound like Elmer Fudd when I speak Korean.



They even had real coffee here like back home. I didn't have any though as we had just had a few beers at the local convenient mart, big spenders we are. Hey, at this point I already shelled out $350 so far on a 20 hour trip...cut me some slack!



Not the best shot of a Japanese girl. They seem to be either hit or miss. Ben took me to the women's floor of some Department store-like shopping center and my eyes almost popped out my head at the beautiful girls in skimpy outfits everywhere. Needless to say, Ben's looking forward to summer.



Another Totoro toy. This one is a beanie-bag Totoro. I was got it for someone special but then I decided to keep it for myself. I'm not a big fan of the cartoon or anything. Actually I've never seen it in English. It looks pretty weird, especially that cat that is also a bus. However, I dig the way Totoro looks. Am I still using the word "dig?" Yikes. Did I say "yikes?"


I'd like to say there's more, but there's not. Everything else was basically the same as before. There's not a lot to do with so little time and sleep. I arrived in Japan at 12:30 on a Saturday and left 9:00 AM the next day.


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written by klb -|link

Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (part 1a)

This section is about the 22 hour trip I took to Japan in order to come back to Korea with a new 90 day tourist visa. That was the only reason I went, so don't be surprised by the lack of excitement to follow. Nonetheless, it's worth reading if you don't have anything better to do.


I got to Incheon International Airport around 9:45. It's in the middle of nowhere, basically. In order to get there on time, I had to leave my home at 7:00. It's an amazing, world class airport, but it's not as convenient to get to as Gimpo was, which you could get to directly by plane from other cities or take a subway from within Seoul (however, you can get certain flights to Japan and China from Pusan Airport and soon Gimpo will offer a route to Japan as well). Now you have to take a bus. The busses run from pretty much everywhere however. Unfortunately, most of them cost about 10,000 Won and take between 60 and 90 minutes.

I wandered around for a while and stopped at Burger King. I was hungry and yearning for some kind of sausage and egg meal. In case you don't know it, McDonald's doesn't serve breakfast here and, I guess, from what I've learned since, Burger King has stopped now. There was no breakfast listed on the menu. Begrudgingly I ordered a chicken set. After I ate I got back in line to order a coffee. There was an old military guy in front of me who spoke with a heavy southern accent: "Yeah, I'm thinking on having breakfast. I guess I'll have one of them sausage and egg deal combination things." I scoffed thinking, what a fool, there's no breakfast here can't you see the menu, buddy?" Another soldier behind me said, "Yeah, that's what I want, too," and yet another one said, "I'm gonna get two of 'em." The women rang up his order. I thought she must have misunderstood him, but to my amazement the guy in the back started cooking up sausages and eggs and another one threw hash-browns in the friar. Huk! Apparently they still serve breakfast by special request, unless maybe they're still in the process of weaning it out. I sighed, got my coffee and headed through immigration clearance without a hitch.



Here's the plane. In about 20 minutes I'll be on the short flight to Fukuoka. Even though I've been there several times, I still get excited whenever I travel. I love flying actually - just not to New York, which takes 10-12 hours. That's a nightmare.




The JAL plane was very nice, clean and modern with pretty decent leg-room - and even personal monitors in economy class! Wow! Luckily the plane was over half empty too. No one was sitting either side of me.




Not much to do waiting for the plane to take off. Maybe I'll get my shopping out of the way.




Maybe not. Why is everything so expensive in these duty free catalogues? This watch costs about 1,400,000 won, or over $1200 USD! I guess the regular price with tax is $350 more. Sheesh!




The flight to Fukuoka is just under 1 hour, so there wasn't much time to do anything. By the time I figured out how to use this remote, we were halfway there.




Here's a shot of the screen. Delightfully there's 12 pretty decent movies to choose from as well as music videos and even some video games. Why didn't they have this on the plane I flew back to Korea from NY?




I was surprised they served lunch on such a short flight. I love these little sandwhiches. On the left is a bagel with tuna. Not bad! While I was still full from the chicken set at BK, I scarfed all this down anyway. Burp!





Approaching Fukuoka already - ahead of schedule. I'm actually disappointed as I was getting into the movie, Contact, which I had never seen.




A shot of the outskirts of Fukuoka from the airplane window. Ooh. Ahh!




Getting closer. Japan is so clean and modern looking, even a smaller city such as this. Where are the massive clusters of highrise apartments?



I passed through immigration and got the standard 90 day entry visa. At customs I was subjected to a drug search by some short ugly Japanese girl with buckteeth. She spoke to me only in Japanese and then searched my bag thoroughly. She asked me a lot of questions and I did a lot of shrugging. Finally she stuffed all my things back in my bag and waved me through.




I took this not-so-hot picture of a gift shop and then my batteries died. I cursed myself for forgetting to charge them up before heading off. Luckily this same shop had a package of rechargeable batteries but they cost me 18,000 Won. Huk! I wasn't surprised, everything is very expensive in Japan.




I got off this one shot of a modern public toilet and the new batteries died. Apparently they were uncharged in the package. Damn! What a waste of money. @!$!#%% ^@%#! Fortunately I still had an extra 2 batteries that were charged. I put them in with two of the new ones and hoped for the best.




I sat on the toilet to try it out. It was warm and comfortable. These seats are common in Korean households, but I've never seen them in public restrooms and I never actually used one. Here's a close-up shot of the toilet controller. OK, let's try that blue button. Whoa! OUCH! Pressure down! down! down! Oh, that's nice. Yeah, ooh, ah!





After a free shuttle bus to the domestic airport, it's time to take the subway to Hakata Station. Now to figure out this ticket dispenser. After looking at this picture I noticed there's a button for English. I didn't see it at the time, doh! I stood there scratching my head for 5 minutes before a friendly Japanese guy helped me out. It's actually pretty easy. You stick in money and the amount lights up on different buttons the more you put it. I had to pay 250 Yen, abut 2,500 Won for a 3 stop away ticket. Outrageous! I miss Korea.




Here's the subway train. If it wasn't for the Japanese writing, it'd be hard to tell the difference from a Korean subway train.




A shot inside the train. I actually took this pic on the way back to the airport, which is the last stop...that's why everyone is getting off. As to be expected the trains are nice and clean. I don't miss the ugly site of graffiti in American subways or anywhere else for that matter.


Stay tuned for more coming tomorrow. I have all the pics uploaded, just tired of writing for now and the PC bang is loud and extremely smoky. ARGH! I can't complain though. In Korea, it's just 1000 Won for an hour. In Japan, it costs 100 Yen - that's about 1,000 Won for just ten minutes!


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written by klb -|link

Korea Life Blog - A Short Trip to Fukuoka (part 1b)





Here is some typical scenery. It seems there are giant advertising signs on just about every building in Japan.




Brought to you by Coca Cola, this is the famous Canal City. It's yet another testament to the wonders of Japanese architecture. This picture is a poor representation. The building is utterly huge and uniquely designed. It's described as a city within a city. If I had more time and money I would have checked it out more. Next time. For now you can read more about it by visiting the website. While I was standing here with my camera out, some snobby, overly fashionable western girl looked at me as if to say, "Chi, what a newbie..." She was on her phone speaking Japanese rather loudly, almost if on purpose to impress everyone. For the hell of it I whipped out my phone (which actually worked in Japan, by the way) and started speaking random words in Korean. Hah! I showed her whose the coolest monkey on the block!




I sat down to take a rest after walking for several hours and noticed this conglomeration of signs. Hmm, let's take a closer look.




That's right - these are signs for their infamous prostitution clubs which you can find on virtually every side street. Apparently the cost at this club is a minimum 22,000 Yen, around $200 for an hour. Seeing as how expensive Japan is, and this is only Fukuoka, I'm assuming that's pretty cheap, albeit I'm not sure exactly what happens during that time. I do know the Japanese are famous for their fetish with young girls. Afterall, the age of consent is only a disgusting 13 years old! After I snapped this pic, some sleazy guy came out of nowhere and offered to take my picture. I got up and walked away. Nobody's taking my picture then running off with my camera. (I've been told that nobody would ever consider stealing my camera in Japan, but this guy really looked like a thug. I imagine if I let him he would have then tried persuading me into the club.)




A couple of average vending machines. A small Pepsi will set you back 120 Yen. They seem to sell everything in these things, from cigarettes to Kit Kat bars and even beer. And to think when I was a kid, I had to hide outside a store and bribe people to purchase me a six pack.




Here's the display in front of a Japanese style Korean restaurant. Everything looks pretty good, maybe I'll give it a try.




Maybe not. With prices from 3,000 - 7,000 Yen, I think I'll try something else.




After walking around for several hours I finally found the Capsule Hotel, right in front of Hakata station where I arrived in the first place. The price is only 4,000 Yen for one night, a real bargain considering most hotels in the area cost around a hundred bucks.




After getting clean in the sauna upstairs you come down here to freshen up. I'll splash on a little cologne and comb my hair to impress all the Japanese guys. Women aren't allowed to stay at these places, except for the massage girls (two of which I must confess giggled and winked at me) who hang out in the lounge giving expensive massages to old guys' feet.




I asked some Japanese guy to take a picture of me sporting this cool robe they give you. Now I thought all Japanese people were experts with digital equipment, especially cameras. This guy fumbled around with mine for several minutes as if mind-boggled, nearly dropped it, finally snapped this pic and handed the camera back with fingerprints all over the lens. Thanks, buddy! Nice shot.




Well here they are, the capsules. There's at least a hundred on this floor.




Not very much room in there. Looks like a luxury coffin with a TV. I sat inside for awhile watching the porn channel (other choices were Japanese golf, a weird cartoon, and a cooking show). Japanese porn is plain weird and symbolic of the sex culture. The flick I saw had a young girl in a school uniform. Three old guys took turns masturbating on her while another guy watched dangerously close to them with his mouth open in apparent awe. Then he had sex with her. Unlike Korean adult movies, the sex is real, but they blur out the hot spots.




A small smoking lounge with some kind of poker video game. Check out the nicotine stained stool. I met this young guy in here that couldn't speak a word of English. I said, "What's your name?" He replied, "I'm from Japan." Then he asked, "Where from you?" I said, "Korea," and his face lit up. He could speak Korean. We had a 5 minute conversation all in Hangul. I was pretty excited. It was the first time I used Korean to communicate out of necessity.



Well, back up to the capsule. Here's a sign in the elevator for massages. Check out those prices. Highway robbery! One of them costs over a hundred bucks! I hope it's not the one shown on the far right with the women grinding her knees into the guy's ass.




Later I was hungry again. Japanese portions are pretty small and that noodle dinner didn't fill me up for long. Not to mention I wasn't about to step foot back in the restaurant, hehehe. I was surprised to find this American style BIG Cup'o Noodles. I hadn't had one of these in years. It tasted pretty good, and not a bad deal relatively speaking at 175 Yen. It's hard to tell from the picture, but that can of Coke is shorter that an American size can, but bigger than the slim ones you find in Korea.




Next I went out to do a little shopping. Unfortunately it was pouring now. I ducked into a store to buy an umbrella, but the cheapest one they had was a whopping $30. I'd rather get wet! I ran down to Hakata Station where there's a pretty big assortment of shops and restaurant. Needles to say, every price tag I looked at made my eyes grow big. I picked up this Totoro set for a special someone in Korea. Pretty cute. Awe, man, I want to keep them! Here they are hanging out with me back at the Capsule Hotel. Judging from the expression on their faces, they find Japanese porn a little shocking too.

While the rain was disappointing I was pretty tired anyway from all the walking around earlier and decided to sleep early. I would have to wake up at 6:30 to get to the airport on time. What a ridiculous flight schedule on a Sunday, but that's they way it goes. I tried to sleep but the odd sounds from the porn channel blared out of every capsule. I finally drifted off only to be woken up by people stumbling into their capsules around 3 in the morning and every person on my floor was snoring loudly. I laid awake cursing until 5:30 and headed to the sauna.


I left pretty early thinking I'd take a few more pics and do a little shopping in the airport. (I should mention that upon check-out not a word was said about the restaurant tab and missing key. So it is true - early bird really does get the worm!)



Here's a funny picture of a bicycle. The Japanese ride them everywhere, which is nice as it cuts down on traffic and pollution, but can make it a little perilous for walkers. I thought maybe that was a pay-meter for parked cars, but I think bicycle riders also have to pay.



Check out this bike. I don't know why, but I really like it. It's compact and looks pretty cool. I see myself riding it on the streets of Nowhere-dong, waving to admiring ajummas selling o-daeng and deokbeoki. Look closely - there's a coin box there. As I expected - nothing is free in Japan.




Well, I got this final picture of yet more signs in front of the airport before the batteries gave out for good. Oh well, I didn't do too bad with the low charge that I had. Note to self: charge batteries before taking a trip.

I hope you enjoyed my short trip to Fukuoka. Now back to good ole Korea. Or if you can't get enough of Japan, check out this guy's blog about his trip to teach English there a few years ago. I read it from start to finish when I had a broken arm and it cheered me up and, as you will easily recognize, inspired the way I write about my own adventures. Thanks, Brian!

One final picture for some of you perverts out there. Click here.


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written by klb -|link