Our last full day in Fukuoka. We tagged along with Brian to the Seinan campus, where he's taking intensive Japanese. Grabbed a gourmet spicy noodle lunch for 350 yen (about US$4) at the university cafeteria, then headed out for some sightseeing while he went to Kanji class. Nathan brought us to the landmark Fukuoka Tower for a sweeping view of the city and sea; and RoboSquare, where we met Paro, the fluffy robot seal pup that has lifted the spirits of many senior home residents; AIBO the dog that eagerly responds to greetings and commands; and an impressive Samurai-bot that performs a complicated sword dance to traditional music.
In the afternoon, the four of us made a stop at Ohori-koen (Ohori Park) to relax at the lake, gaze at beautiful Sakura (cherry blossoms) in bloom, and chuckle at couples struggling to control their Swan-shaped paddle boats. On our way back home, we picked up some takoyaki (fried batter stuffed with octopus) and crunchy melt-in-your-mouth croquettes for a tea time snack.
We hung out with two of Brian's friend that evening -- cheery young ladies, English majors -- over homemade avocado burgers. It was cool to hear about their plans for the future with their English skills and learn about their lives: one comes from a family that owns a rice and potato farm, and works part-time as the Helen Hawk mascot for the local South Bank Hawks baseball team. Cool folks! Enriching interactions like these continue to motivate me to try and connect with locals everywhere we travel.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
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we got to meet the rice queen of Fukuoka. that was cool. really wanted to go through disaster drills - but the disaster center was (unfortunately) closed. -a
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