Category: Fukuoka

Nanzō-in Temple / 南蔵院

On July 1, 2018

With Julie’s visit this week, I have been very busy doing all sorts of fun tourist type activities! One of the best trips we did was heading off to Nanzō-in Temple, which features The Reclining Buddha (more on this later).

Rather than bore you with lots of hyper-descriptive prose, I think a visual tour would be much more fun. So let’s get started!

Getting there was pretty easy, just a 30 minute train ride from Hakata station. Once we got off the train and started trekking up towards the temple grounds, we found this family of turtles with their own mini-shrine. They were kind enough to let me take way too many photos as I over-enthusiastically snapped shots from various exciting angles.

Look who came to greet us!

Clearly turtles weren’t the only photogenic fauna around, as this rather large dragonfly posed long enough for me to get a fairly zoomed in photo.

Posed for the photo and flew off as soon as I was done…

One of the first statues to be seen was of this chap with his flames and sword. We originally thought he was some bad guy, but Julie did some research and we discovered he is actually Fudoumyouou who is a Buddhist deity who protects worshippers from harm.

Later learnt this angry looking guy is a protective deity

As we spotted more of the classic Buddha style statues, we noticed they were usually wearing some sort of clothing, be that a hat, a cardigan or the like. It turns out the reason behind this is fairly involved, so check out this post for details.

Lots of little statues, all wearing the cutest clothes

After a bit more walking, we finally made our way to the star attraction, The Reclining Buddha himself! I must say, the statue really is impressive and quite something else to behold. He is the world’s largest bronze statue and is the same size as the Statue of Liberty. He is so large I had to use the panorama mode of the phone to get him fully in the frame.

Even more impressive in person…

You can walk around to his feet and I think the following image really gives you a good idea of the scale of the statue…

Buddha foot with Julie touching the thousand spoke wheel symbol

Once we had seen the Buddha and enjoyed some well timed ice-creams, it was time for some exploring!

The path upwards…

After following a (very steep) trail up and out of the temple grounds, we found ourselves in some beautiful back-country, surrounded by bamboo forest. I love the sound they make as they rustle in the breeze. It was truly a magical part of the day for me.

I love bamboo forests

From the trail, we were able to visit a number of smaller temples and shrines. At one temple, we even had the Buddhist monk come out and offer us watermelon to eat! It was unexpected and very much appreciated on a very warm day. We ventured on each time and were treated to some great views through the trees.

Fabulous views over the countryside

As we wound our way back down the mountain towards the station again, we found many more statues, but the following set were really quite something else. Such a riot of colour and clothing on each of the little stone statues!

Someone likes playing dress up…

Here you can see some up close… adorable!

So dang cute…

Overall it was a brilliant day and even the photos can’t do justice to the adventure we had. If you ever get a chance, I’d highly recommend a visit!

Japanese Calligraphy / 日本の書道

By Matthew

On June 10, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Learning, Student Life

This weekend I had an opportunity to try out Japanese calligraphy at an event put on by the Fukuoka International Student Support Centre (FiSSC). Calligraphy isn’t something I’d normally be very excited about, but I’m a sucker for trying anything new so I thought I’d give it a bash anyway. It also helped that my friend Sora was coming with me, who always ready to help me avoid doing anything (too) embarrassing.

Chilling with my buddy Sora

Japanese calligraphy (shodou/書道) is an art form for writing Japanese Kanji (Chinese characters) using a brush and ink that is taught to all Japanese students in primary school, but it is rarely used after that. As such the event had a good mix of Japanese and non-Japanese people attending, with quite the range of skills on display, from very basic through to really artful. The sensei (teacher) for the lesson was truly an artist and was able to create evocative works with little apparent effort. Practice definitely makes perfect.

We were given our instructions, ink, brush and a stack of paper to practise with, after which we were told to get on with practising! My own works were somewhat less than perfect, but I learnt a trick or two over the period and I really felt that I’d improved at least a little bit over the duration of the class.

The sensei watches on as a student tries to do “光” or “light”

I’m glad I did manage to improve a little as I was “asked” to try out writing a kanji out on one of the larger sheets (the joys of being very-obviously-foreign). I choose the character for “joy” or “喜” as it is simple and represents something I think we could all do with a little more of in our lives. The end result was middle of the road enough to neither attract laughter nor praise. Phew, embarrassment avoided!

My “masterpiece”. On the left is my name in katakana – マシュートイ

My own experiments aside, the work produced by masters of the art truly is something else though. I’m impressed that so much feeling and emotion can be conveyed through a simple black and white medium.

All said, I had a lot of fun and learnt the basics of a new skill. Not a bad result for a Saturday afternoon!

My other creations. One of them isn’t a real kanji, can you guess which one? 🙂

With Friends / 友だちと

By Matthew

On June 7, 2018

In Dining, Entertainment, Fukuoka, Japan

The past few weeks have been a social whirlwind and I’ve had an opportunity to try out all sorts of new and interesting activities . I’ll make sure I do a proper set of updates, but this time I’d like to briefly tell you about an adventure into Thai cuisine.

As a bit of background, there is a regular “language lounge”, where we swap English and Japanese practice with learners from both languages, which is really good fun. I get to meet all sorts of awesome people and learn about Japanese language and culture from them. After one particular lounge a group of 6 of us decided to head off to grab some dinner, opting to try out a Thai restaurant in Tenjin (天神).

All smiles 🙂

This was the first time I’ve tried Thai food while in Japan and I have to say, I found it more “authentic” than what you would normally get in London. Not sure why I think it is more authentic, apart from it not feeling particularly Western in its flavours and presentation. That aside, the food itself was really tasty! Lots of spice though, so those with a sensitive tongue will need to be extra careful.

I feel that this style of setting makes it really easy to communicate effectively with people. The casual atmosphere allows you to relax and banter back and forth, using a mix of both native and learnt languages. I really enjoy being able to try out new words, expressions and such without anyone to judge you on technical performance. In fact the only real judge is whether you are able to effectively get your ideas across to the people you are talking to (eventually).

I made a commitment to use my time in Japan as effectively as possible and I’m super happy I’ve managed to get into more of this style activity, in addition to the classroom education and personal study.

Views of Fukuoka / 福岡市の景色

By Matthew

On May 20, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Nature, Running

One of the things many locals of Fukuoka like about their city is that it has all of the city conveniences but also, not too far away, it has lots of nature and scenery. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to venture outside of the city properly (something I intend to remedy shortly) but I have found many lovely places while out running.

My favourite so far has to be Heiwaminami Ryokuchi Park (say that 3 times quickly) which is only a few kilometre jog from my apartment. Not only is it 100% trails with wonderful green foliage, but it is super-duper undulating. This means I can get all the hill training I could possibly want, all in one handy-dandy park!

Let’s take a quick photo tour…

Heiwaminami Ryokuchi Park

Photos never do justice to how steep a trail really is. But this was super steep, honest! That aside, I love how green and verdant everything looks. Cannot get enough of this sort of trail.

Peeking out through the trees

Most of the views are obstructed by all the beautiful green foliage I was just mentioning, but occasionally you can peek out and see the city below.

View from the observation tower

One unique aspect of the park is the tower you can walk up to get 360 degree views of Fukuoka.

Cemeteries get all the best views

Right next to the park is a large cemetery. Japanese culture includes a lot of respect for the dead, so you can just imagine how this is both immaculately maintained and presented.

I’m a sucker for attractive looking clouds…

On the way back from the park now, waiting at an intersection. Not too much exciting happening, but I do like how the building in front is telling me something is “Good” with a solid thumbs up included. Thank you random building, things are indeed “Good”.

Filled with fishies!

What you can’t see very well in this final photo is all the fishies in the canal. The water is very clear, so you can see all the big buggers and little guys all swimming around.

Movie Night! / 映画の夜

By Matthew

On April 21, 2018

In Canal City, Cinema, Entertainment, Fukuoka, Hakata, Japan

Not long after arriving in Fukuoka, I was lucky to make a new friend who not only shared a lot of similar interests to me, but speaks English very well. These are two essential ingredients to a friendship, liking some of the same stuff and actually being able to communicate effectively in at least one language. I know I want to practice my Japanese all the time, but the truth is it isn’t ready to sustain a full conversation yet. Give me a few more months and maybe that will change, but until then, I’m very happy I met someone I’m able to hang out and compare cultures with.

So this Friday we agreed to go see Ready Player One together at the cinema in the Canal City (it does have canals, and it is as complicated to navigate around as a city) shopping mega-complex. I have a weakness for sweets at the cinema and it doesn’t feel like I’m properly at the movies unless I have several thousand calories of popcorn and cola with me as I enter. Knowing that Japan tends to throw a few surprises at you in even the most mundane circumstances, I was ready for less-than-common popcorn choices and boy, I was *not* disappointed. It was so difficult to choose, that I went for a mix of matcha, salted and caramel flavoured popcorn. The picture below really doesn’t do the popcorn justice; it was both amazing to look at and delicious in equal measure.

Tastes a lot nicer than it looks…

The movie itself was great fun. I’d recommend it to anyone, but especially to those that wasted their precious childhoods playing games on consoles and PCs. There are so many easter eggs that it would take many, many viewings to catch them all. Although my favourite was the Gundam and Iron Giant cameos, those were super neat.

One thing that I found a little different from UK/US/Australia is that the house lights didn’t come on during the credits and everyone sat patiently as they scrolled through. I was expecting some sort of signal of “OK, you can go now” but instead I quietly watched the credits with everyone else. I even found a Quora entry about it, and frankly, they don’t know either. Ah Japan, always full of surprises.

Post movie smiles

After the movie, we had a bite to eat (OK, many bites) and before we finished up we swung by the shrine located right next to the shopping complex. It was mostly closed up at that time of night, but it looked cool, so here’s a photo anyway!

Neat!

In summary, I got to hang out with a friend, see a movie, eat too much food and see a shrine, all in the one super-fun-packed evening. That is Japanese efficiency for you!

Running / 走っています

By Matthew

On April 13, 2018

In Fukuoka, Hakata, Japan, Running, Travel

I’ve been doing a fair bit of running since I arrived in Fukuoka. Since the weather has generally been good, it is too tempting to resist getting out to run without the need for 3 layers, gloves, beanie and a prayer to the god of frostbite. I haven’t done anything long distance yet, but I’ve given a 5km area south of Hakata station a good go.

Let’s go for a little virtual tour…

The first run is along one of the river/canals of Fukuoka city, specifically the Naka River. I quite like this one as it has nice paths to run along the river, meaning I don’t have to stop for traffic every 200 meters.

View along the canal path of the Naka River

The path is really nice and smooth (lowering, but not eliminating the chances of me falling on my face) but also inset from the road, meaning it is quiet and feels fairly detached from the city.

Next up are two photos on the same street at the end of the canal path section which are fairly illustrative of the type of off-main-street views:

Side street in South Hakata

So much concrete…

They certainly do like concrete here. Probably necessary for the whole earthquake thing, so you have to respect the choice of function over form.

The next stop is Sanno park, which is by far my favourite of the smaller parks in the area. It boasts a 1.2km running track (nice and soft), a few little hills to sprint up and a shrine. The shrine is especially nice, sitting in the middle of the park, but separated by sitting atop a small hill and surrounded by trees.

Hiyoshi Shrine in Sanno Park

Apart from the shrine, this park is quite different in that it has actual trees and grass. Most parks are mostly concrete/dirt areas with a small row of trees.

Sanno Park

I’m planning on ranging out more on my runs over the summer and I’ll be reporting back with what I find!

Japanese Language School / 日本語学校

By Matthew

On April 10, 2018

In Fukuoka, GenkiJACS, Japan, Learning, Student Life, Study

I haven’t given much of an introduction to the language school I’m studying at and how the first week of classes have gone. It has all been a little overwhelming so far, making it difficult to put into words, but I think I have pulled enough of my thoughts together to make a reasonable stab at it.

The first question most people ask is “why go all the way to Japan to study?” which is valid, since there are a number of good schools in London I could go to for only a mildly outrageous London price.

The main reason is that while in London, everything is in English and you can’t get away from that. News, people, advertising, stores, all in English. So your chance to apply anything you learn in class is immediately limited to the things that you actively seek out in your target language. Even if you did a full time course in London, you aren’t going to apply that knowledge in very many places outside of the classroom. In Japan that issue is taken away – everything is in Japanese and straight after a class finishes, you see the kanji you just learnt or hear the grammar point you have been discussing. In the past week, I feel like my comprehension has gone up a lot (although speaking/writing is still lagging behind) and my appreciation for learning to read all the kanji has risen in proportion to my desire to actually know what is written on the packages of food I’m eating or on the menu I’m ordering from.

So much to study, so few brain resources…

So having established that studying in Japan is more suited to applying what you learn into real life, how’s school then? I choose to attend a school called Genki JACS (Japanese and Cultural Studies) as it had a good curriculum and excellent reviews on the web. They also focus on small class sizes (2-9 students, with my class being 6) and a highly interactive learning environment. They also arrange a lot of extra-curricular activities in conjunction with the local universities and the like. For example, last Wednesday I attended a casual Japanese calligraphy session with the local Women’s university and then an English language conversation meet-up for Japanese people studying English to speak with real-life English speakers. All these are excellent opportunities to learn new things and make new friends.

If you look closely, you can see one cheeky chap has written the kanji for haemorrhoids

My timetable for school is 4 hours of face to face study (morning or afternoon) and anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours homework. Repeat this for 5 days a week, with extra homework for the weekends. It sounded a lot easier when compared to my 9am to 6pm job, but I’m completely mentally exhausted at the end of each day and I literally could not cram any more into my head than I am right now.

A lot of this is because the classes themselves have been quite intense. That isn’t because the teachers are overly strict, but rather it is because in the 4 hours of lessons each day we are taught nearly 100% in Japanese and I’ve jumped into a class that is half-way through its course already. So I felt like I’m playing catch-up right from the start and as anyone who knows me would vouch for, I’m not overly fond of being bad at things.

So I need to catch up on the material I missed and try and stay ahead of the new information being taught. My final challenge for the classroom is that my brain has been on a learning vacation for 18 years and it really needs to whip itself into shape (neural plasticity anyone?) and get itself together. Seriously, my ability to memorise things is horrific!

Overall it is the massive learning experience I was looking for. I wasn’t engaged with my work and really felt the need for a challenge. Well, I’ve got my challenge now and it is a doozy! So all is well and I’m hoping that after a period of adjustment, it will be a manageable one.

Now, back to study…

Review: Suntory Strong Zero – Bitter Orange 9%

By Matthew

On April 7, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Reviews, Suntory

I spend a fair amount of time at convenience stores here in Japan. Those of you who have been to Japan will understand, and for those who haven’t, please allow me to explain. Convenience stores (or konbini/コンビニ) are everywhere in the city, and just about everywhere not in a city as well. There are at least 3 within 150 meters of my apartment, and I’m not even in a downtown area. Anyway, there are many of them and they are great for:

They have very tasty pre-made meals (more on this another time)
They have all the little knick knacks you could want (tweezers to noddles to pet food, etc)
They are open fairly late
They have a fun range of alcoholic beverages

There are many other good points, but that last one is the reason for this post. I’ve decided to to a semi-regular (i.e. when I feel like it) series on the myriad of various drinks available from these convenience stores, from the straightforward to the silly. All in the name of science! And also in the name of recovering from a whole day of Japanese study. But mostly it is about the science.

Anyway, first a disclaimer:

I make no pretence of having any real skill or knowledge of alcoholic beverages, above having drunk them and also being in possession of taste buds and a keyboard.

So please allow me to introduce the inagrual drink… The Strong Zero Bitter Orange 9% from Suntory.

Suntory Strong Zero Bitter Orange 9%

By the way, I’m not going to structure the reviews along any specific lines, mainly I just want to have a bit of fun, drink new drinks and maybe learn something new and interesting.

Anyway, moving swiftly on, the Suntory corporation helpfully provides some suggestions right on the can:

Those being:

A warning that it is a strong drink at 9% alcohol
It is not sweet and contains fruit peel
Have with a meal

Good advice/information to know.

So how does it taste? Well, as the can rightly says, while it has a strong citrus flavour, it isn’t a sweet drink. It has a strong, unmasked alcoholic flavour that would not appeal to those who enjoy a drink that is mild and understated. It is very fizzy and is kept very cold, which only sharpens the experience for me. Oh and I should point out, it is quite bitter. Like, “my face might collapse inwards” bitter. Which is great if you are into that, but if not… Well, you shouldn’t have bought a drink with “bitter” written on it and you really only have yourself to blame.

I’d say this drink is for those occasions when you want something a bit refreshing and surprising. It isn’t a session drink, where you could finish one after another, but on a warm evening after a long day at work/practising kanji, it is quite enjoyable and thoroughly intoxicating. I’m about three quarters done and I am already thankful for spell-check, if that’s any indication of strength.

So there you go, my first review done – I feel a warm glow of satisfaction/intoxication now.

Sakura / 桜

By Matthew

On April 1, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Sakura, Travel

Today was spent exploring Fukuoka City’s various ins and outs. I am very lucky that I have arrived just as the cherry blossoms have started to bloom, and I was able to see lots of them on my walk around.

Fukuoka Canals and Sakura

Oh look, its a selfie!

When I wasn’t watching for the cherry blossoms, I meandered around the city, past most of the large shopping areas, through a few parks and along many streets. At first glance, Fukuoka is a fairly normal, medium sized city. However it feels a little different here and I’m not sure I can put my finger on why that is yet. Might take more than a few hours of strolling to get to the heart of this city!

Another street, another cluster of cherry blossoms

One thing I found today that isn’t your everyday occurrence (maybe it is in Fukuoka, that’s yet to be established), is I happened across a festival, or 祭り (matsuri), at one of the parks I visited. It had all the stalls you would expect, fried chicken, fried noddles, candy floss, samurai on horseback… wait, samurai what?

Just your everyday Samurai on a horse

Japan is always full of surprises 🙂