Where's the Fukuoka?!

Lindsay has now arrived in Japan. For the first few days I gave her the best Shizuoka foot tour I knew how. After feeling that we had exhausted everything of interest within a sneaker’s range, we opted to vacate the city. I had been bouncing around and making inquiries as to different locations to visit over break. We decided to not decide our plans until Lindsay had arrived and caught her breath, fair enough.

We felt cool to both the hot and cold climates. Okinawa would be a mild temp at this time, and we would be visiting Hokkaido in a couple months, so we were not especially tempted by any temperate details. With enough time to cover some distance, but too short of notice to leave the country, we went for distant domestic. By some combination of a Lonely Planet guide book, websites, and a map, we set our sites west, to the modern city of Fukuoka.

Around lunchtime on the 27th of December we strapped on our packs and hoofed down to the JR Station downtown. At the ticket purchasing machine I could not get the price I had found online, so I went to the window. The ticket agent gave me the same price as the machine. Wise as I am, I pulled out my laptop that still had the corresponding webpage queued up. The agent immediately understood, and gave us the proper price.


The train rides were fine. We were headed a little south and a lot west. We set out on the Shinkansen (bullet train), and with three transfers, worked our way down to the lesser, regional trains. Covering so much turf, I loved that we never really left the mountains. We zigged away, but would always zag back. Soon after leaving Shizuoka, the snow caps popped out a little more. As the day of travel progressed, the snow dropped from the summits and into the fields. Suddenly, I was in winter again.

At about 7pm we arrived at Fukuoka Station. We stepped off our small train into a small station. It was cold, and it was snowy. At a loss for any flashing arrows or trail of crumbs to guide us, we approached the one visible being, a lone station agent.

Davin: Fukuoka?

Agent: Hai (yes).

Davin: points to the station on the Lonely Planet map of Fukuoka.

Agent: No Kyushu! …as he says this he crosses forearms to mimic an “X”, a national sign for absolutely no. (I am acquainted with this gesture, as I use it with my students all the time.)

The agent then pulls out a map book and shows us where we want to be, in the city of Fukuoka on the north end of Kyushu Island. He flips a couple of pages to show us where we are, Fukuoka Station in the town of Takaoka, a bit west and well north of where we began. In a quick conference, Lindsay and I determined that we did not pack sufficiently to make this our destination. The Agent then laid out a travel itinerary that would get us to our proper city. We stepped outside, made a snowball, and then back tracked a half hour to a bigger city, Kanazawa.


We were fortunate to find a room in a ryokan, a Japanese style hotel. The place was great, with a wonderful older couple running it, but it would be a brief stop for us. Wandering the city to find dinner, I was rather bummed for my shotty navigation, but Lindsay did well to keep the night upbeat. Kanazawa seemed like an acceptable place to spend a stranded night, but we were worn out, and had to catch a 6:30 bus for a 7am train.


Day one route: brown
Day two route: blue

more to come...