Asia Trip 2012 - Day 1 in Fukuoka

A long and exhausting day, but I wouldn't trade it in for anything.  It was the first in Japan for both of us, so we were big wide-eyed sponges, ready to soak in the new experiences that awaited us.  Even our breakfast stop at Mr. Donuts was an exciting cultural foray for us, most notably the mochi-esque chewiness of the ringed glazed donut.  

On our bus ride to Tenjin, Fukuoka's downtown, we observed how folks boarded the bus through the middle doors and exited -- and paid, based on distance traveled -- via the front.  Bus drivers cut the engine at extended traffic lights instead of idling, presumably to reduce air pollution.  Love it.

We spent our lunchtime with BT's English teacher friend and her three 12-year old students - a great opportunity to hang out with locals.  Two of the three youngsters had studied English for 6 years already, and through their coy shyness, they let us coaxed a few conversational phrases out of them.  We soon discovered the trigger points that got them talking: manga and anime characters for the boys, and J-Pop idols (like AKB48, a 48-member girl band from Tokyo) and "purikura" (photo booth pics) for the young lady.  Adorable.

After buying our Beetle Ferry tickets at Hakata Station for our upcoming one-way trip to Busan, we headed to the Nakasu-Kawabata, where we explored and ate the rest of the day:
- Kushida shrine, where tourists and worshippers intermingled.
- A museum of traditional merchant's house, or machiya.
- Ramen Stadium, where we sampled "mini" portions of three different kinds of ramen noodles, including the distinctively local Hakata Ramen, with its thinner noodles and pork bone (tonkotsu) broth.
- Canal City, with its long hallways and multiple stories of mall shops, including ones that specifically featured Domo, Totoro, Sanrio (of course!), and other Japanese creations.
- Yatai, or an outdoor food stall, where we spent too much on ramen that was better in the Stadium, but was worth the one-time experience.

Awesomely tuckered out.