This is Japan's 6th largest city. Never heard of it before the trip, but we love it. It's big, but not crazy like Tokyo or Osaka. And it has a great subway and bus system.
Christmas is big here. But shopping is bigger. We've stumbled on 4 European style Christmas markets. The one outside the main train station had groups of dancers in a competition when we arrived.
Every other building is a mall. These people love to shop. Outside of malls, there are nonstop clothing stores separating the malls.
The best part of our visit is that we just so happened to be in town during a Sumo wrestling festival. What luck. We spent hours at the arena and it was super fun and pretty interesting.
There's not one thing I don't like in this country. Ok, they could use some public garbage cans. It's so clean here, but where are the garbage cans?
We walked a lot, saw some fun neighborhoods, drank at a Christmas market and befriended a Japanese couple over drinks and Google translate. The food never ceases to amaze and delight us. We had a wonderful French meal including lobster, a bottle of French wine, steak with fois gras and a live piano player playing on stage. It was well under $100 out the door. Unbelievable.
You could probably pay for your trip here if you brought all your old clothes thst have anything in English written on them. The only expensive thing here is vintage Americana, especially US university sweatshirts. In one vintage shop, they were selling for over $300 a piece. We've seen several UW sweatshirts and even an Iowa State one.
Kyushu is amazing and we would love to come back. We're heading south next, to some tropical islands in Okinawa.
JapanFukuoka33°35’4” N 130°24’59” E
JapanFukuoka33°35’4” N 130°24’59” E
What a phenomenal experience you’re both having. See you soon! [Lisa H]