Day 21 & 22–It’s the Final Blog-down!

Well, Carey linked back to my blog from hers (http://kunobot.blogspot.com), so I guess I have to do the final entry – the last 2 days I spent on my trip. It's been about 2 weeks since I got back, and I'm working from home all this week. The motivation to complete the final entry was lost as soon as I was on my way home... I think in my head, I felt that if I never completed the final entry, it would be like I stayed in Japan, in some parallel universe. Ah wells, I'm sure there's some Bizarro Hugh who is having more strange and wonderful adventures. Ah wells, this Hugh is happy to be home.... mostly.

We wanted Day 21 (Thursday) to go as sloooooow as possible... so we did absolutely nothing but stay at the Kaikan and watch the clock tick. We may have watched a movie here or there, and didn't do much else. We did ride bikes to one last sushi that day though, and afterwards we got yummy parfaits at the corner store.

As my final weird sushi, I got mini-burger on sushi! They love their burgers here... only they don't eat them on buns, they eat them like mini-Salisbury steaks with too much A1 sauce.

We hung out for the rest of the night and packed. Man, I'm a great packer. Although Carey is a good assistant, because she has good "big picture" ideas on what should go where, and I have the technical nuts-and-bots stuff down (ie. maximizing available space and making items as compact as possible... it's like Tetris!). I got all my clothes in, two jackets that I bought (including a vintage leather motorcycle jacket), and all the gifts and souvenirs... all into a 25” spinner suitcase and small duffel carry-on. Not bad! I think we'll travel well together in the future, we have complimentary skills. We went to bed early, because we had to wake up at 5:30AM, to get to the airport by 7AM. Ughhhh.

So Day 22 finally came. Bleh! It was still dark out... we wheeled the luggage to a nearby 24/7 McD's to grab some breaky to go... We then hailed a cab to the airport (with a gruff-talk taxi cab driver, I love the old men who talk in gruff polite Japanese, it reminds me of old Kurosawa samurai movies) where we hung out and ate our McEggies before I went through security for my connecting flight to Tokyo.

Checked in, got through security, and I was on my way back home! The flight to Tokyo was smaller than the Air Canada, but I got the whole 3-seat aisle to myself! Whaaaaaaat! And it was even relatively crowded on the rest of the plane! Soooo lucky! Especially since the seats are smaller than the international flight, it was great to be able to lift up the armrests and stretch out! Landed in Tokyo, and I had a good 6 hours before check-in and boarding of the Air Canada Toronto flight. Ho hum. So I spent it wandering around Narita airport and catching up on blog posts.

I finally catch a squat toilet, at the international airport of all places! I was chicken and didn't use it, though... but went next door to enjoy my very last bidet. Oh, and this bidet came with instructions! After three weeks in Japan, though, I was a pro and didn't need any help. I even know what pressure settings I like!

While we're on topic of poop culture in Japan, I should talk about the toilet paper. Toilet paper in japan is very infrequently perforated; it doesn't have "squares" like back home. It either has crazy long rectangles, or no perforations at all! At first, I was ripping and tearing it all messy like, and was thinking, "This doesn't seem very Japanese, the paper is so messy and unkempt! But after a bit, I figured it out! Every toilet roll holder in Japan has this little metal/hard plastic cap that goes overtop the roll... and you're supposed to push down, and then use it as leverage to tear cleanly across. Haha, neat! Poop science!

See? The TP at Narita didn't have perforations at all – just one big roll! You only take as much as you need, no waste! Ahhhh, soooooo Japanese!

After wandering around, having a final lunch in Japan, and looking at all the kitschy cheap J-P souvenirs at all the gift shops, I boarded the plane and settled in for my 12 hour flight. So, we started our take-off procedures and I looked to my right to see...

... nothing! No one in the aisle seat, yet again! I've lucked out on every flight! I could get used to travel, if it's this easy!

Both flights to and from Japan were easy, I don't know what everyone was talking about. Free booze and movies and reading and a chance to relax for 12 hours, can't go wrong. So finally, back home to get picked up by Kevin for some beers and catch-ups and try to beat the jetlag over the weekend!

My first meal back home, Gamjatang! Yay, I'm home! And I got my hammy back! I got back my hammy!

All in all, a great trip. A lot of fun memories. It's a really beautiful country, and I'm definitely going to go back sometime within the next 5-6 years. I hope to even be able to pick up enough conversational J-P to take the lead on the interactions. Poor Carey had to lead me around the entire country, because once you leave Tokyo, you're pretty much useless if you don't speak Japanese... English in Japan is like French in Southern Ontario - you learn basic words like counting and days of the week in high school, but everyone has forgotten it. Anyway, would definitely visit again... and I'll blog about it!

So, that was my trip. I think I have one more blog post in me after this, to recap and talk about overall impressions of my visit and of Japan in general, as well as post a couple picture collections I started of a couple of things I saw a lot of (stay tuned to see what they are!). Heheh, I'll post it in a few days. Anyway, feel free to comment about your overall impressions of the trip, using the link below! Matte ne!

Last vendy pic! It's a drink concert!

Day 20 – Daiso, Garbage, and Raw Octopus

My last outing in Japan was back to downtown Hakata. We were going to do Daiso, which is a dollar store company… and the one in Hakata is the largest in the city.

We started off by having lunch at Ippudo in Hakata station. This is a well-known chain of restos that specialize in ramen… Kyushu is ramen capital of Japan, and the ramen we had (I forget the name of it now) is a specific regional type that is famous across the nation. So I knew we were in for some good noodz. If I ever open a ramen shop, that’s what I’m going to name it: Good Noodz.

The place itself was all bench seating with only one or two tables within the entire place. It was during the off hour, and there still was a line-up… Although the pork tonkatsu was a little fatty, this was the best ramen I’ve had so far… it was seriously awesome. The gyozas were tiny (called Hakata Gyoza, apparently?) and like little crispy bite-sized dumplings. Chomp!

You’re shuffled in and it’s like a quick stop lunch, very quickly served and then you leave quickly to make room for the next people lined up outside. There were quite a few people catching lunch on their own. And we were the only foreigners in the place. From those signs alone, even before I slurped my first noodle, I knew it was going to be good stuff.

After the ramen, we headed over to the Daiso. Daiso is a dollar store, where everything in the store is 100 yen… but the quality of goods is amazing. It’s on par with the stuff at Wal-mart or even Shoppers… but it’s all a buck. Crazy. And they had everything, too – kitchenware, household goods, textiles and towels, and it’s all super clean and spacious, with various huge labelled sections. It was huge, too – pretty much the size of a medium Wal-mart (not that I shop there >.>) Now, I’m not dollar store crazy like Carey is, who loves a good deal, but I could see why she goes nuts over it. You can get all your basic daily goods, all high quality, all for a buck a piece. The overall standard of living may be high in Japan, but I think I would spend less here than in Canada on a day-to-day basis between the Daiso, the cheap food at grocery, and the konbins - I’d just have to give up fresh vegetables… which is no big loss for me anyway. :)

After the Daiso, we went to Tokyu Hands, which is a 7 floor department store, focussed on crafts and hobbies. They even had a counter in the hardware section where you could get your shoes expertly re-soled.

I saw this display wall and immediately thought of my sisters.

Bought more stuff and souvenirs, then bought some coffee and donuts for a midday recharge. It was a perfect example of Japan’s crazy obsession with packaging. The over-package and wrap everything, then put it all into another bag and tape it shut. It’s astonishing, considering everything else is this country seems so efficient and eco-conscious. And while there’s no litter anywhere on the ground ever, you have to wonder where all this garbage they create goes. Oh yeah, they separate all their burnables (which includes all plastics, for some insane reason), and use it as combustible fuel for power generation! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! They burn garbage for energy!?

This is what two drinks and two donuts “to go” looks like in Japan. It equals three paper bags, a plastic over-bag, two separate cardboard cup holders, two plastic wetnaps, two wax paper sheets for holding the donuts while eating, and pre-packaged creamer/sugar/napkin sets. Ready for the incinerator!

Wait, so they give us wetnaps to clean our hands at the start, but ALSO give us wax paper sheets for holding the donuts while we eat (because they have a germaphobe thing with touching food with their hands)? I’m getting mixed messages here.

I came up with the idea that maybe it’s a psychological thing – Japan is so against eating on the go or in public spaces that aren’t designated eateries, that they’re trying to shame you into eating in the store - because it otherwise generates so much garbage. Maybe that’s it? Like, this is just one example, though. When buying pretty much anything in the store, you can usually expect at least one wrapping and one taped-shut bag. You get the clasped-hands mid-ranged bow at the end of transaction only sometimes, though.

After some more walkabouts, we did claw-game. We went to three different arcades this time, and even took a 100 yen bus to the other downtown (Tenjin) to go to a different one. We’ve become discerning; we know the good stores and the good toys, and we don’t waste our time on the easy plushies anymore. Sadly, I forgot to get pics of our haul this time – but I won a box prize this time! Wooo! We got a couple of boxed dolls, and 2-3 plushies… one of them being a battery-powered cat about the size of a basketball that wobbles around from a little motor inside! Carey has a serious toy collection now. She’s worried about how she’s going to get it all home, haha.

Lastly, we stopped by a 270 for dinner and a couple drinks. This one was a lot less English-friendly than in Tokyo, but we managed. Thankfully it had pictures on the electronic menu. Some basic finger foods (wee-nah!) and some drinks. I’m an expert now: “Nama biru. Futatsu.” (“Two draft beers, please.”) I don’t even have to point at the picture on the menu anymore. Ehm! (/head nod)

I had wasabi-tako again. Not as good as Tokyo – the wasabi wasn’t strong enough for me… but this one had pieces that had suckers on ‘em! Click the picture for my detail of its goodness! Carey even tried some! Nummers!

Then home, to have my final day in the Land of the Rising Sun. It was a good day, lots of fun stuff. A good closer to my trip… I like the mundane stuff like shopping and noticing little things, as opposed to the touristy stuff. I mean, seeing crazy stuff like Roppongi Tower or the Monkey Park is nice and fun enough, but daily life is a lot more interesting to me. Seeing the school kids in their little uniforms and all wearing the same yellow hat, or noticing that all the public facing attendants (bus drivers, subway guards, etc) all wear white gloves. Anyway, tomorrow will be quiet… last day. :(

This vendy is short and stubby!)

Day 18, 19 – Vacation Hugh-style: Eating & Movies

The next few days were to be recharge and relax days. After doing so much for the past couple weeks, nights out drinking, wandering around red light districts and prowling claw game arcades, we both were happy to stay in and watch movies and play on the Internet on Carey’s laptop.

Day 18 (Monday) was a lovely quiet day. We stayed in, snacked, and watched some really awful movies on Carey’s laptop. Stay away from Pandorum and Mr. Nobody, they’re both seriously bad movies. We also tried to watch The Tree of Life as well, but stopped it about 20 minutes in…. way too art house for either of us. We prefer narratives and actual story, thank you very much.

We ordered pizza that night… Pizza in Japan is seriously weird. And EXPENSIVE. They have tons of choices, but they’re all weird. Lots of options for corn. Shrimp is a basic option. They love mayo as a sauce… and they have stuffed crusts, like Pizza Hut - but they’re stuffed with little cocktail wieners (aka “wee-nah”). Still, it was a welcome meal, because it was somewhat familiar. We managed to find two “normal” options on the menu. Also, the delivery guys ride little motorbikes around (you see them all over), and when the transaction is done, they give you a full-on bow, about 50-degrees with hands clasped and head down. Makes you feel much better about yourself when you’re receiving your fatty junk food.

The next day (Day 19 – Tuesday), we felt guilty for being hermits and decided that we should go outside. So that evening we went to the nearby mall and grocery store…

More creepy-cute kid mannequins! Carey was getting weird from the J-P passerby looks while she posed for this shot. But COME ON, they’re CRAZY-LOOKING! They’re straight out of a horror film.

Why did we go to the grocery store? For CRAB’S LEGS to have at home, of course! Fukuoka being a coastal port city, they had a HUGE fresh and frozen seafood section… so we bought some fresh crab!

Don’t worry, this is just the first helping… we had a huge pot filled with 3 large snow crabs’ legs… we had 3 more plates after this, once we took care of the pesky space-taking potatoes and beans. With a dipping bowl of yummy melted butter. So fresh, so delish… and no need for fussy cracking! They are cracked, cooked, and flash-frozen on the fishing boat! We just boiled for 3-4 mins and it was ready, as if straight from the sea!

And after our awesome crab dinner, we went back to the mall to get some real crepes!

These were the crepes Carey was wistfully talking about while we were at a crepe-stand in Harajuku, and she was so right! I now understand why she was so upset when we were in Tokyo, eating our inferior cardboard-tasting crepes! These were so much better! The crepe-part was much chewier and had real taste, creamy ice cream, not-too-sweet syrup. Perfect capper to the crab meal. Yum!!!

All in all, a great couple days of doing nothing… these are my kind of days, hehehe. All it needed was some Xbox and it would have been 10000% (Japanese exchange rate) complete. The next day (Day 20 – Wednesday) was to be final shopping day in Hakata. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more….

I never got over how much of a smoking culture Japan is. It’s like Canada in the 80’s. And yet most major city streets are non-smoking, and they have these little glass bus-shelter type areas that are designated smoking areas. Seems arbitrary to me. Hanging my clothes to Get The Stink Out (brrrrrrrrrrow!) became a daily affair.

Day 17 – Hakata

On Day 17 (Sunday), we checked out of the swank hotel in Tenjin.  We were going to hang around in Hakata right from there, but we had won so many prizes from claw game that it made more sense to head back home and drop stuff off… so we did that. 

Not much picture-worthy stuff in Hakata, but it was still fun.  We went to a kooky store called Don Quixote.  It’s like a weird store that sells all sorts of kitchy-gifty type stuff, along with a little bit of clothes and accessories.  It reminded me of the old It Store in Thunder Bay.  Got lots of fun souvenirs for people back home.

While walking, Carey pointed out this multi-level building… apparently it’s a high-end designer building filled with ritzy boutiques like Gucci, Coach, etc… only it’s called ‘eeny meeny miny mo’.  Hah!

It was raining again today, as we walked around town.  We went to Canal City, which is a great open area-type mall with multiple levels, that’s built over a part of the river… so you can look over the edge of the curvy concrete walkway and look down to see the canal, with plants and trees and stuff.  Very nice and serene… but again, rainy.

It rained for the majority of the time I was in Fukuoka…. just like our trip to Montreal.  It seems I bring the rain when I take trips.  Funnily enough, it stopped on my very last day in Japan…. and it will be sunny all next week.  Hrmph, figures.

That afternoon we went to a movie in Hakata.  We saw Hugo, in 3D.  It was an OK movie, better than most we had been watching at home lately… though all the previews were in Japanese with no subtitles, and we got nervous; we thought we had screwed up and got an all J-P movie… but when the main movie came on, it was English with J-P subs.  Phew.  Same deal as Tokyo: really expensive tickets but cheaper food, assigned seating, only allowed to enter theatre 10 mins before showing, people stay sitting in the dark until the end of the credits… even still, it felt like I was at home while I was in the dark.

By this point, my tourist muscle was exhausted.  There was still a Daizaifu shrine to see, and I didn’t visit a true sushi bar (where you sit at the bar and order straight from the chef, etc.,) but I only had a few more days in Japan with Carey… so I was more than happy to have the next few days be lounge days in joggers, with some low-key doings… mainly focused around food!

Not much to this vendy, just a Sapporo one… but I’m actually running out of vendy pics!

Day 14, 15, 16 – Back to the Fukes, then Tenjin

Well, Thursday (Day 14) was mostly a wash, in terms of blogging material… we got up and took the train back to Fukuoka. Quiet trip… we both had aisle seats, so no pics out the window. Not much else pic-worthy happened on Thursday. That eve we played M:tG with Carey’s friends Joel, Tash, and Patrick… we wanted some late night sushi, but the ladies gave us the “X” sign when we got there because they were closing in 20 minutes. So we went across the parking lot to have some cheap Italian with Tashrick… not bad…. but why are there so many Italian restos? Why do the Japanese love Italian food so much? Seemed random to me. After some maudlin conversation with the younguns, we headed home and went to beds.

Friday (Day 15), we were going to Tenjin, one of the downtown areas for shopping. Beforehand though, we got some more 100 yen sushis with Carey’s friend, Leah!

Decided to try some huge roe sushi! Tastes like tapioca balls filled with seawater. Not entirely bad.

We signed into our hotel… this time it wasn’t near the red-light district. It was actually relatively swank.

The floors had this kind of 60’s mod theme, with sea-foam green and those sparkly-star accents in the font. They lightly piped in classical music over the PA system. It seemed ridiculous to me.

Still small rooms, but better bathroom amenities and interior design than the red light district Best Western in Tokyo… same price, though. Oh yeah, the space toilet had more options.

We settled in, got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner at a place Carey knew in the area, called J-Cafe. It was a loungey place, low-lit, and served little tapas-type dishes. We had a beef dish that was dreamy… sadly, no pics because it was so low-lit I couldn’t get a good pic surreptitiously… but it was nice. What was notable was that although it was a little more upscale than we usually go for, and it was totally Japanese (no English menus, leave your shoes out your booth, etc) – they had some art murals and basic accoutrements that I would consider a little “kitchy” and stereotypical. Like, there was a huge slightly-cartooney kirin dragon mural on the main wall, and the chopstick stands were little origami cranes… like, it wasn’t a lounge resto marketed as being “Japanese” for foreigners… it was just a J-P resto. I guess I just expected that kind of thing to be a show and not be in a true-blue J-P place. I guess stereotypes exist for a reason.

No pics of the awesome food, sadly…. so here’s a pic of our delicious faces before we went out.

After the awesome dinner, we went out with one of Carey’s friends to a couple of bars. Again, no pics because of the situation – didn’t want to be the lame gajin tourist busting out the camera in these cool places. It was a fun night, but nothing really to note. Less conversation for me, I suppose. Blank smiles, not really knowing what people are saying, and hoping they’re not making fun of me. So yeah, no difference at all from the bars back home. One thing we did notice is that while they were playing dance-y music… no one was dancing at all. They all stood around and looked cool, but no dancing. Even at the end of the night. Thought it was weird.

Before we went out, we watched this hilarious TV show that taught business English in the form of soccer exercises.

Late night home, fell asleep easily… Ah, how I missed a double bed. Caught up on fitful sleep after a week of sharing a twin bed at the Kaikan.

Day 16 was a day of shopping…. we went into the shopping area, and started with a great ramen lunch.

Ramen setto! I have a newfound respect for ramen… the dishes are hearty, delicious, and bear no resemblance at all to Mr. Noodles. I’m making Carey take me to one more ramen place, Ramen Ippado – a famous ramen chain in Japan, before I go.

We did a bit of shopping, and then oh nossss, we came across another claw game arcade! Carey was on fire today, she got a bunch of good ones, including some serious box prizes. She’s getting really good at them, she knows the good ones, and can tell if it’s do-able in 1 or 2 tries. Look at this latest haul!

She got the box in the middle in one try! Her face when it dropped into the pickup bin was priceless.

Oh yeah, here’s the prizes that I won.

I’m not as good as she is.

After that, we dropped off our stuff and did more shopping. I bought some awesome models at some J-P hobby shops… the hobby shops here are great… while they don’t have much in the way of fantasy gaming or board games, etc., they really have anything and everything when it comes to the modelling aspect. I picked up a pair of nerd models...

Just a shot of street we came across while walking around downtown… I love these kinds of alleys, so busy and chaotic. Reminds me of Ghost in the Shell. Lookit all those cables!

So in addition to the nerd shops, we hit Loft, a huge 7 floor department store of weird stuff… we spend over an hour in there, it was an awesome store. Tons of souvenirs and gifts! :D

Sadly, this fugu hat stayed at the store.

Sorry about the lack of pics – shopping doesn’t really make for good photos. That night, we were exhausted from all the walking and the late night before, so we stayed in and watched weird Japanese TV.

So, tomorrow we’re heading over to Hakata (the other downtown-ish area) for more shopping, then back to the Kaikan for the last few days…. not much more interesting Japanese-specific stuff happeneing, I think. I’m surprised at how tired I get after these full tourist-y days… I need a few days of just watching movies and eating in bed. Hehe, so the next update may be a few movie reviews and talking about the differences between Canadian and Japanese takeout pizza.

Today’s vendy is for vitamin drinks!

Day 13 – Monkey Park in Beppu

Sorry for the lack of updates, folks. I’m on the final leg of the trip now, and not much going on for the past week, in terms of touristy things we’ve done… so I’ve been slacking… still playing catch-up. It’s actually the start of Day 19 here, but the next few days are going to be chill, so I’ll be posting more than one a day…

We woke up relatively fitfully today – those futon beds were surprisingly comfortable, for sleeping on the floor… and we got ready for our true Japanese breakfast. Carey said I had to try it at least once…. although she had a smirk and a twinkle in her eye when she said that.

We got dressed and went down to the dining floor, and were surprised that all the other people were still in their yukatas while they ate breaky. Oops, we did a dame (dah-may: bad thing). We sat down and were served by an old cute mama-san and enjoyed our J-P breakfast… complete with fish we roasted ourselves with a table candle thing, and a flamed hotpot of cubes of soft tofu!

It was actually pretty good. Most of the tastes were salty with mild rice/tofu to balance it, so something I’m not used to right in the morning… but it was tasty! Even the roasty fish thing! Not pictured here is a bowl of steamed rice.

It seems that a great deal of the veggies in traditional J-P meals are pickled, and this was no exception. The foods were all tiny, many no more than a single bite. Hehe, we also noticed that the mama-san gave us a hard-boiled egg, but for the other two tables (the people seated there were japanese), she served raw eggs. I guess they get a lot of foreigners at that hotel, and play it safe…. but I would have done (and have done before) the tamago-gohan. It’s actually tasty, it’s a nice saucey rice, almost like an undercooked risotto, and the hot rice cooks it slightly, so it’s thick and slightly sweet… and I’m a lazy cook, so it works!

After breakfast, we took a bus outside of town (missed our stop at first, and ended up in west Oita, oops) to Mt. Takasaki, a reserve park for my favourite kind of monkey, the Japanese Macaque!

Most of Japan is covered in mountains… we’re in the rainy season, so they’re all misty-topped… all the train and bus rides through the country had amazing views. This set of mountains out of town held over 1,200 monkeys as part of a natural reserve park.

There’s a couple colonies of monkeys on the mountain, and they come down to the base of the mountain every day to be fed by the keepers. On the walk-up, we saw some warning signs telling us NOT TO LOOK INTO THE MONKEYS EYES and other stuff like that, so we started to get a little freaked out.

DO NOT MAKE FUN OF THE MONKEYS, THEY HAVE POOR SELF-ESTEEM AND ARE SENSITIVE TO YOUR CRUEL WITTICISMS

At first we saw one or two monkeys walking around with their big swollen red butts hanging out, and thought it was cool… then we made it up to the main ridge at the base of the mountain and there were hundreds of monkeys everywhere! All over the building roofs, on the ground, on a little play park, on the ground, walking between your legs, etc.

There was the main part above that had a small fence, where they were fed by the keepers… but that was to keep the humans out, not the monkeys in… when all the food was ate up (you can see how crazy they go), they start walking out through the fence, between your legs, and just start sprawling over the entire area… like they own the place, jeez!

There were many, many photos; you can walk right up to them… in some cases, I was less than 2 feet away from them. Even so, “No touching!” We stayed away from the Big Boss monkeys, because they were intimidating and gruff.

They were all over the place, sitting on posts and mainly just cleaning and hanging out.

The younger ones were the fun ones though, they were small and cute and liked to play.

They had this weird game that a few of the younger ones played…. they gathered up little pebbles and stones in their cute little hands, then squished them on the ground and rubbed their hands back and forth on them… and then they started all over again, gathering up the rocks so they could squish them down and rub them. They looked like little monkey DJs!

After about an hour and a half of adorable cute monkeys, we headed back into. We had a ramen lunch at a random shop, not bad… a little salty. No pictures, it was just us in the tiny bar-sit-only shop, so I felt weird taking a pic… after that – back to the ryokan for more onsen!

This one was actually in a building next door, so we had to run across the small alley-type street in our sandals and yukatas. This one was a ceramic mosiac tile, it didn’t hold the heat in the room itself as much as last night’s wood room onsen… but the water itself seemed hotter.

If I ever come back to Japan, onsen is definitely at the top of the list of things to do. It was so relaxing.

After some onsen and relaxing, we walked around the town looking for something to eat/do. The town was pretty dead, so we ended up at a small izakaya and had some drinks and little foods… had more omurice, some fried stuffs, etc.

Oh yeah, I also did some salted raw squid! Not bad… too salty, though… so far the wasabi-tako at the 270 has been the best squid/calamari type of stuff that I’ve had here. Oh yeah, and of course… I had more hoppy!

We walked around some more, but all the fun-looking bars we passed by during the day remained closed at night…. must be off season. People come here to play pachinko and onsen, it seems…. and not much else. Replace pachinko with bingo and onsen with the beach/cottaging, and it may as well have been Port Elgin during the winter. *shiver* So we went back to the hotel and hit the sack early.

Beppu was great… If I come back, it’ll be a stop on the trip… more onsen, want more onsen! Next time I’d like to see the town in the summer, when the place is really hopping.

Finally! I finally found a vendy that serves alcohol! It was in our ryokan, and it was a gouger (500 yen for a tallboy)!

Stay tuned for more updates as I head back to Fukuoka and see the downtown!