First days in Japan

Fukuoka

First thoughts: Nice city in which you only need about a day and a half (1 night). Lots of shopping, lots of food. I went to Canal City, which is a beautiful mall with a canal running through it. I happened to be just in time for the hourly water show (adjusted to Abba's Dancing Queen). Oh and since Halloween is coming up, everything is decorated for it. After that I walked to Reizen Park with map in hand to find my way to the Oktoberfest that they actually celebrate in OCTOBER (unlike Germany and The Netherlands). This is where I noticed that Japanese people also know how to party German style! Funny stuff.
Fukuoka is not a touristy city, I was walking around thinking that I had yet to find a Western tourist, I've now seen a few. And even though I don't understand most of what is said to me or a lot of the signs, it doesn't bother me. People are really friendly and helpful.
On my first night here I again noticed/experienced that great balance between Japanese madness and total serenity. At one point I was walking through a busy mall (open air) with lots of noise and music and across from it was a river, peaceful, calm, not even able to hear the funny (ha ha) clown/acrobat anymore that was performing at the mall.

Next up is a full day of public buses to visit Fukuoka's hot spots!

Day 2: Wow what a day I had, I was out for about 7 hours of which 1 hour was spent in a few buses in between hot spots, 30 min. on a water strider something..a bicycle on water :), can't resist bikes as a Dutch! I saw beautiful shrines, temples, views, robots hehe and a crazy huge arcade (they love that stuff here in Japan) and I even went to the beach for a walk! It was an amazing yet an exhausting day! Which made me change my mind..you definitely should do at least two nights here if not more :)! There's a few side trips to take as well, like Busan (3 hour ferry ride), Hiroshima (1 hour) and a few others.

I also noticed, what I had forgotten from my last visit, which is that nobody eats, drinks of smokes while walking. They either stop and stand or sit down, but even then it's rare to see someone do any of it on the street. Life here is also a lot less rushed than in Tokyo and the streets are a lot less busy. I felt at ease and Japan once again started to grow on me. I could have spent more days here but will be off to Huis Ten Bosch, Sasebo, Nagasaki tomorrow!

Day 3: Almost ready for check out! Am taking a JR train to Sasebo, Huis Ten Bosch. I just talked to one of the staff members here who asked me where I was going today. I told him I was going to Huis Ten Bosch, to which he replied "but you are from Holland right?" Haha. He said he has been twice and it's fun for Japanese people because Europe is too expensive for them, but he doesn't know how it would be for me because he has heard for other Dutch people it is an exact copy.

Stay tuned and I'll tell you all about it in a few days!

Until then, sayonara or as the Hello Kitty robot knows it: Sayonala :)!