Fukuoka (and Dazaifu)

My Rating: 9.2/10

(For rating details, click here)

First and foremost, after combing through the photos I selected over 120 photos to go on the Flickr for Fukuoka...so without a doubt this was a brilliant spot to visit.

Never heard of the Fukuoka? Most people haven't, but Fukuoka is the gateway to Korea, in fact, and pretty awesome. Home to hordes of happy young people like myself, its considered the hub for youthful spirits in southern Japan. I was amazed at how young the population was, really. Maybe that's just because where I live in Ibara, there's a city ordinance prohibiting residents between 18-38 year of age. Just kidding, but not really.... anyways...

I got off a night bus at 4:30 A.M, pitch black in the middle of downtown Fukuoka. Busted out the GPS on the IPhone to steer me towards Fukuoka Castle with the hope that I'd be seeing my first bunch of cherry blossoms. After a 30 minute walk I arrived, hopped the fence (castle didn't officially open till 9 and, well...I wasn't waiting) and crossed my fingers for some fun. After watching the sunrise I started to snap away.

View from the top of the castle ruins

The direction of the sun wasn't all that great at the castle, so I decided to run off and explore a nearby (open) park which was unexpectedly awesome. Check out some of the shots.

Ohiri Park

Silhouette of some pink cherry blossoms in the early morning sun

High schoolers out for an early morning jog

And some beastly hawks out for an early morning snack

A massive pond decorated the center of the park

I swear this carp could swallow other carp whole. He seriously must have weighed 4x or 5x more than your traditional Asian Carp found throughout Japan.

Nishi Park

I strolled onward to another popular cherry blossom spot, Nishi Park. It was starting to get late for the soft morning light so conducive for photography, so I stopped near the entrance before turning around. I had a number of spots at Fukuoka Castle that I had scouted that looked good. Little did I know that Nishi Park was home to thousands :*( of trees. The park is one of the famous 100 cherry blossoms spots in Japan. Oops. Oh well, at least I got some flicks from the staircase leading up...?

Ninja warrior (not really though)

The oh-so-rich weeping cherry tree

One of my favorite photos of the day

Fukuoka Castle

By the time I got back to Fukuoka Castle the sun was just where I wanted it. Some of the trees were just absolutely massive. On average, the cherry blossoms of Fukuoka had only blossomed 50% (the weeping trees were considerably less), but for the first time I saw a cherry tree in full bloom. How pretty it was against the castle walls...

The braches created waves and shelves of flowers

I thought the castle architecture was pretty neat, too

Walking out of the castle I stopped dead in my tracks. In front of me was my first full dose of a cherry blossom tunnel. (This tunnel will have a special entry at a later date)

I must have stood in that same spot taking the same picture over and over for 30 minutes. Every time I lowered my camera it went back up again to snap the exact same photo, as if something had changed from the second before. I just couldn't help myself. Soon I found the sense to move on. I was jealous of this dude I found right around the corner...

Sleeping under the stars and sakura

I thought my day of shooting was about over when the morning light had passed. I decided to head downtown to get a small taste of what the city was actually like. What did I stumple upon? More...flowers...

Tulip heaven

More tulip heaven

And some daisies

My favorite of the garden

Now, for those of you familiar with DSLR camera, you may know of their ability to rip of as many as 9 photos in a second, sounding like a small little machine gun. I rarely rip photos like that, but I saw a scene worthy unfolding. Poor dog. What else is a DOG supposed to do when some lady is 6 feet away eating a CHEESEBURGER?!

cAn I hAz ChEeZeBuRgEr?!

I'd like to consider this dog's owner what my middle school friends used to call one another, a 'cockbag'. Slapping you dog for looking at a cheeseburger? Real big of you, douche.

Ok, Ok, I could keep stories like these all night. If you've gotten this far, why don't you check out the album on flickr, there's 121 photos for your viewing pleasure (without the stories im afraid). As for the rest of the day, here are a few brief highlights.

A roller-skating monkey

A authentically holy cow

More cherry blossoms in unexpected places

And an absolutely bad-ass water show synchronized to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Followed by live music.

Fukuoka and the first day of cherry blossoms? Awesome.

The Rating System

The Rating System:

100% subjective, as it should be. Frankly, all ratings will have a lot less to do with the actually quality of the spot, and more to do with the experience at that particular time. If a T-Rex jumped out and ate like 29 old people right in front of me, that's definitely gonna get a 10/10. Why? WHY NOT!? Have you ever seen a T-Rex eat old people? Neither have I! To hell with the sakura, this is an 'awesomeness' scale, not a 'how much the flowers fancied me' scale. So straight scale, 0-10. Ya dig?

Its Sakura Time!

That's right. Fasten your seatbelts! Who would have ever thought you'd anticipate some silly internet posting about a flippin FLOWER. I mean, these 5-peddled, non-fragrant, short lived little buds hardly have much going for them in life, yet somehow they're as much a part of Japan's national identity as the geisha, samurai, and sushi. Hopefully these next dozen posts or so will help educate you.

So how are we gonna make this fun? With RATINGS of course. Everyone likes ratings, right? From the suckiest of the sucky to the grandaddy cush of sakura that'll tempt you to roll em up and try smokin em. Although, I assure you that won't work. Anyways, I spent a few days scouting Japan like a madman in pursuit of the best of the best. All will be posted on the blog.

Tokyo

Well, you've all heard of the place, right? If you ever want to know what it feels like to have 30 million people in your pants, boy oh boy is this is place for you. It's safe to say that I'm not much of a fan of Tokyo. While I love the fact that everything imaginable could probably be found/done here, its just not my speed. You could spend a week trying to find out what to do. All those choices are aren't healthy for indecisive people, you know.

I only had 2 days in the big city, so I just decided to do what every other tourist would do - go to the main attractions.

I visited on March 27th, right before the cherry blossoms started to bloom. I was hoping to catch an early glimpse of them. So, we decided to go to Ueno Park right off the night bus (6:00am arrival). Endowed with thousands of cherry trees, the park had no signs of flowers. After combing the grounds we found a single tree that had seemingly just opened the first buds of the season.

The most popular cherry blossom in Japan, the somei yoshino

We continued to meander through the Ueno Park. Of course, what would a park anywhere in the world be without a bunch of pestering sea gulls.

Apparently Japanese sea gulls have better manners than American sea gulls. They completely avoided crapping all over this statue. Amazing, isn't it?

An early blooming breed cherry tree

Next we went to Ameyoko Street, apparently an old black market area that developed after WWII. Now, its home to an amazing fish market, and lots of things you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. All legal, of course.

Ameyoko Street

6,000 Yen ($70) for a massive Octopus leg

A bunch of seaweed freshly yanked from the ocean...

Not a fan myself...

Seafood heaven, in fact.

Next, we decided to get a taste of some Japanese architecture. Nestled next to the Tokyo Central Train Station was the International Forum, which is said to resemble the inside of a whale.

Thought the reflection was pretty cool

Finished off the day headed to Odaiba island - a man made island built on trash if I'm not mistaken. I hoped to get a nightscape shot of the city, but the earthquake damage threw us a curveball; all observation decks were closed, and many of the city's main attractions like Toyko Tower and Rainbow Bridge weren't lighting up... Bleh... Nevertheless, got the best shot I could.

I did a post about Tokyo city and how it was affected in the aftermath of the earthquake and posted it on Japan-guide.com. It can be found here.

Anyways, the clouds were dancing that night so I couldn't complain all that much...

That's all from Tokyo. If you want to see a few more flicks without the stories check out the Flickr. Over and out.

Ryouanji

Ryouanji is considered one of the 'Big Three' Zen rock gardens in all of Japan. Visiting Japan 5 years ago it was one of my favorite destinations. So, I decided to visit it once again.

As soon as I walked onto the temple grounds...wait...what? Are they FEEDING that tree BBQ Sauce?

Somehow cherry blossom trees manage to live over a 1,000 years old in some parts of Japan (as well as other mid life expectancy trees). This may be the secret reason why!

Aaaanyways, that was strange. As we entered the grounds we were greeted with a beautiful late blooming plum blossom tree before entering the garden.

Unfortunately, the experience of Ryouanji just wasn't the same. It seems that the 'peacefulness' of the Zen Garden is inversely proportional to the amount of people there at the time. Said plainly, having 100 people around you all battling for peaceful seat at the temple is hardly....peaceful. I can only imagine what a solitary experience would be like. And, given the never-ending crowds that swarm Kyoto's most popular destinations like Ryouanji, experiences like that will be left to the imagination forever.

What began as a hope to capture the 'peace' of Ryouanji quickly changed script. There was little peace to capture that day, so I captured something else....

Lots of feet.

I stuck around a while and tried my best to get some good snaps, but I just couldn't create a garden perspective with lots of people in it...

Finally I decided to get a bit closer to garden's rocks to try and capture some of the perfect details that have come to define Ryouanji.

I thought the photo would look best black and white

On the way out there were some pretty neat hand sketched walls and doors inside the temple structures. With no tripods or flash allowed, I had to anchor myself against a wall to get a steady shot.

Don't you wish you could some old monk to do this to a room in your house?

Arashiyama, Part 1

After the treacherous bike trail, we needed a much needed rest despite only having one day in Kyoto. So, we decided to head to the Arashiyama area. The quiet pocket of Northwest Kyoto offers the most relaxed setting in the city. Here, you can find the rolling mountains, the famous Hozu river, Togetsukyo bridge, and tons of quiet little shops to enjoy.

First, we decided to ride the Saga Romantic Train. With no particular useful destination, the train winds through the scenic western mountains flanking Kyoto. The views carried many pleasant surprises.

For being a "romantic train", I never really figured out why they had this total creep in a mask going around and bothering people.

Nevertheless, we had time to relax and enjoy the trainride. 75% color desaturation, very simple effect.

Relaxing by the river in Arashiyama

Getting to see Arashiyama was a great chance to research the cherry blossoms that would soon cover the mountains and fill the streets. I had a feeling I'd be back soon enough...