23 August 2009 in Fukuoka
6:25am... First thing I woke up in the morning is to get my camera and fling open the curtains very fast... and here's the view that greeted me...
Washing up... Oooo, this Nivea face cleanser rocks like ice on the face! Must try~
Here's another view outta the windows through my parent's room... I love how the suspension bridge looks...
7:14am... Breakfast at the hotel cafeteria: Hana-Cha-Ya...
Its good to start breakfast like a King~
For the record, I love those yellow Japanese cucumbers! Goes well with rice~ Yummy~
I had my very first try of Na-Tou during my trip to Tokyo many years back... and I dun like it... but this time round, I decided to give it another chance...
Here's how it looks like inside... 2 satchets of "i dunno wat...", open and pour them in...
Mix thoroughly and your Na-Tou is ready for consumption... ^^
(I decided to ban Na-Tou for life...)
7:33am... Taking a stroll outside the hotel after breakfast... here's how Route-Inn Hotel looked like in the morning...
Something interesting at the roadside... see this Bollard?
Takes someone with very itchy hands to realised that its not solid stuff... its rubbery!
I dunno why... but the streets outside at 7:30am+ is literally empty... I hardly see anyone walking around...
The road is too deserted for comfort... really.
and these poor taxis been waiting there for customers for god knows how long...
Back at the hotel room... managed to get a nicer shot of the suspension bridge ahead...
a zoomed out view... that Blue tunnel below is a shopping arcade...
7:45am.. Back in the room with my parents... watching anime on the morning TV...
You can catch a glimpse of the girls transforming here... I laughed so hard...
Wakamatsu Art Arcade..
Fukuoka is an hour ahead of Singapore's time, so its considered 10am there already.... but no shops had opened for business yet...
...shop selling household electrical appliances...
Random shot of the street on the other end of the shopping arcade...
Japan has most of their electric cables hanging above ground... I read somewhere before that its because Japan is earth-quake bound... so its faster to reinstate cable lines to restore electric supplies to households. Having cables underground will just worsen the recovery process after an earthquake...
shop selling cosmetics and girly products...
more vending machines selling cigarettes...
A publishing and printing house...
There are many of these "surname seals" for sale in Japan... some people use them for signing or "chopping" documents... I wonder if I were to adopt a Japanese name, which should I choose? Anyone knows any website that shows all the existing Japanese surnames in Kanji and Hanji format?
9:21am... walking back to the hotel... view of Route-Inn Hotel from across the road...
Oh, for your information... this ain't no Zebra Crossing... look closely across the road and you'll see the red/green light pedestrain crossing light...
9:23am... just a random shot of a pretty flower along the roadside...
Back at the hotel lobby, there've a couple of computer terminals for guest to surf the Internet... issue is... I can't find the "@" button at the usual place!
The keyboard had the "@" button beside the letter P...
Can anyone tell me what are these buttons for?
... and this button...?
Dad found a very nice item at the shopping arcade... I've been searching in vain for this in Singapore... Raffia Strings in tape form. This roll here is equivalent to some 10 rolls of raffia strings... imagine the space saved!
Just a random remark: the Green Tea there is at the "OMG-level" of aroma... I can't find any in Singapore good enough to compare...
The hotel lobby also has a little corner with a cigarette vending machine...
Lets take a closer look at what's available...
Ah... the usual suspects... oh, BIG packet ones hor...
... and here's probably the most controversial of all brands... LUCKY STRIKE... (Fukuoka is flanked by Nagasaki and Hiroshima...) ^^
11:32pm... Lunch with Yamamura-san...
hmmm, Teppanyaki restaurant?
Appetizer... Yummy...
Its a hot plate on the table alrite...
We ordered the food off the menu and the Kitchen will have it cooked first... Teppanyaki style...
Then they serve it to the table in one big piece...
and the hot plate at the table will continue keeping the food hot...
... while we slowly enjoy the food and decide how big a piece off the pie we wanna help ourselves to...
There's also a generous serving of condiments and sprinkles that we can help ourselves to...
Oh a book for scribble~!
I left this on one of the pages... (alrite, I dunno why this photo turned up portrait...)
Hmm, Wet towels in cheapo packaging... Ya know what? I ever read somewhere on the Internet featuring a report on Tokyo of these wet towels... said that while the police clamps down on the Yakuzas on taking protection fees from restaurants and service-providers alike, the ruffians resorted to selling such wet towels to them at an insane price. In this way, such exchange is called "Legitimate Business". Restaurants and service-providers willingly order such wet towels to show their "co-operation" for smooth business running... but at the cost of ignorant and the un-informed customers using such wet towels and getting rashes and other hygiene problems from these shabbily packaged towels... oh, I think they recycled the towels...How true? I dunno, you decide for youself. I didn't use that wet towel for all I care.
12:49pm... After lunch... passed by a certain spot and Yamamura-san decided to show us one of his plot of land that he hasn't had time to use it yet... the entire portion above that concrete slope...
Its an empty clearing... any takers?
Beautiful flowers by the roadside...
12:56pm... we were on the road again to another spot...
1:01pm... arrived at one of Yamamura-san's scrapyard... He houses all those engines he bought here...
Random shot of a beautiful flower by the roadside there...
We were here to take a better look at this Yanmar T220-ET Diesel Marine engine...
The one viewed a day earlier in the CYOUSEI MARU was also a Yanmar T220-ET...
We gotta get 2 units of the same type of engine...
Here's the whole thing: Diesel Marine engine with its Cooler and Gearbox... SGD70,000 per unit FOB Singapore, any takers?
Another random shot... I love my camera's macro function...
1:54pm... We arrived at a major scrapyard... To the experts, this place is a Treasure Mountain... to me, this place is a Rubbish Hill... There is something over the hill that Yamamura-san wants to show dad...
For some reason, I didn't wanna follow them and decide to just stay in the car... I have no interest in climbing that junk hill...
2:23pm... We arrived at Kurosaki's COMFORT HOTEL... this is the place my parents stayed the first time they came here... (yea, Ichigo kept ringing in my mind...)
Very nice lobby... Bright, neat, and clean feel... with kawaii girls behind the counter... ^^
No frills hotel cafeteria... free coffee on the house until 2359hrs...
Here's a name card of Comfort Hotel Kurosaki...
I got a room #503 for JPY 6,300 a night... 
single person's room...
Looking perfect to me~! Just the bed...
... and a desk...
... and there's the showers! Simple~ Oh, I think all the washroom doors here opens outwards in order to save space inside...
Its a really cute little toilet...
As usual, the bathtub and the basin shares the same tap; u just have to push the tap over to where u want the water to flow into...
Also, turn the centre lever to switch modes between using the tap or using the Shower Spray...
Oh, one plus point, the tap-water is drinkable. Thumbs up for Japan!
Bidets rule ~ I love them~
Comfort Hotel provides these too~ To me, I think its a must to have these offered to guests, but I always bring my own stuff...
Coming to the bed... I only have one word... FLUFFY~ I took one photo and I pounced onto the bed~
Just look at how much my handphone sank into the quilt... FLUFFY~!
I only have 1 thing to lament... they only have 1 pillow provided... but its a pretty interesting pillow~
Odd shape...
But makes good sense...
oh these pillows are unique to Comfort Hotel chains... but this one below is of limited quantity only and u have to request it from the frontdesk...
Another one of these convenient and easy-to-use alarm clocks by the bedside...
More stuffs hidden in the side of the desk... Hair dryer... a coffee mug, a glass, and an electric kettle...
There's also an emergency torchlight mounted beneath the desk... take the torchlight out and the batteries will come into contact with each other... mount it back and they get separated... Neat.
A standard in most Japanese hotels... one bin for generic rubbish...
and another for cans and PET bottles... I love Japan for their environmentalist mindset...
Here's the view outta my room window...
Far ahead... I see shopping centres beckoning me over...
3:11pm... was leaving my room to find my parents when I see these behind the door... Magnet door signs... Good idea! Rather than the usual cardboard door-signs we hang on the door handle, I think these magnet ones are cooler~
3:15pm... out on the streets... a view of Comfort Hotel Kurosaki~ Thumbs up~
To the left of the hotel, Kurosaki rail station is just a stone throw away~
Oh... Nissan has a sister called Nissay... ^^
Something interesting here... Multi-Storey Bicycle Parking~ The ppl here can cycle to the station, park their bicycle neating upstairs away from the harsh outdoor weather...
... and then cross this bridge overhead to the train station upstairs! So good! So disappointed at Singapore's Govt... (>_>) Our MRT station looks so damn ugly outside with all the bicycles parked everywhere...
Further down the streets... many many entertainment...
3:20pm... IZUTSUYA shopping mall... its like a major Takashimaya there... but this one has several chains...
Tonnes of Japanese goodies inside...
I thought I was in heaven...
I always love the MUSASHI name...
Real seaweed... huge ass seaweed...
many seaweed products to try...
These are 明太子. Some ppl love them like anything... Some fish gall / egg or something I think... err... dunno whats it called in English... anyone care to enlighten me a bit?
Here's a closer look...
These Honey Peach (水蜜桃）were in season, so they are on sale everywhere! Super fragile... and they'll turn bad within like 3 days... Selling for about S$3.00 each. Its so sweet and juicy! Yamamura-san bought us like 12 of these peaches over like 2 days... ^^||
Ok, these below is very similar to that of "Economic rice" in Singapore... the ppl here pick what they like, get a couple packets of white rice, and they can ta-bao them home for dinner!
But I preferred these pre-packeted bentos... I was in Food Paradize there... I wanted to eat everything!
Mouth-watering huh?
Stopped at SHISEIDO with mum so she can get a powder box... Ever heard of the "Chicken talking with the Duck"? 
I speak very bad Japanese mixed with English and the very service-oriented lady there took out a variety of boxes for mum to choose from~ ^^
Spotted some beautiful handkerchiefs...
err... nope I am not a handkerchief user... but I can always pick up the habit! Kekeke...
I love this piece at first sight...
Bought a second piece of a different design for my brother...
Oh, Calvin has a long lost brother...
Alrite, the upper levels of IZUTSUYA basically has nothing that interests me...
The ladies department is filled with clothes meant only for the rich Tai-Tais... they cost a bomb~ O.o
The owner for this shop is still in the process of thinking up a name...
Manicure shop...
Ralph Lauren boutique... You people out there with the habit of wearing Polo-Ts, please please please, do not flip up your collar and wear them like those mannequins... You'll look stupid.
Some newly arrived clothes for the pre-autumn season...
4:06pm... Taking a rest with dad at one of the sofas in the mall... beside was loaded with lotsa travel brochures...
Okinawa is a beach paradise during summer....
More clothes to admire...
The gentlemen's department was boring too...
Suits? (Oh, anyone watched Handsome Suit yet?)
Another Polo Ralph corner...
4:24pm... We moved on to an adjoining shopping mall... a bazaar was going on then...
Lotsa Japanese goodies for sampling~ ^^
A shop selling Kimonos... 
I love how they hang up the kimonos... its like "Omg-so-expensive" level...
4:54pm... We headed down and back to IZUTSUYA... and got really tempted with these sushis...
... so we bought one~! Dinner that evening just buying a little snack here and there already costed S$40.00 worth amongst 3 of us...
5:58pm... more shopping followed... and I was so tempted to buy this HUGE sized 旺仔馒头...
More window shoppings... I enjoyed the time admiring the well-groomed mannequins...
Kimono looks great too~
Newly arrived clothing for the season...
Further upstairs is the 100Yen shop... similar to that of Daiso...
Lotsa impulse buying ensued...
6:31pm... Best Denki was further upstairs... (>_<) but we ran outta time as the shopping mall is closing @ 6:30pm... for a reason I dunno.... I only managed to catch a glimpse of some very nice handphones~ 
Bought a bottle of berry drink...
and grabbed some interesting PINK tea satchets at the supermarket downstairs before heading out of the shopping mall...
... caught a glimpse of these Gachapon machines~ >_< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLI0dZ7gsAY8rrVR7zBm4Cv9AQPBAAuAu3ZggPnI2VCk1DlfGZTkbQdVQbfrD4kRleANytIVbNVGtCX9Hk2SKHOfkIIz318zu8mlywfrX5b8OTipbphyphenhyphenfO_5rBvAnXTk-1zGd/s1600-h/IMG_4807.JPG">
6:37pm... walking back to our Hotel... Comfort Hotel is just a short 10 mins walk away...
... from IZUTSUYA...
... caught a passing train in front of Kurosaki Station...
6:41pm... IZUTSUYA from afar... at night...
6:48pm... Comfort Hotel from afar... at night...
8:38pm... TV time~
Oh~ Comfort Hotel has Massage Service... ^^ dun let your thoughts stray~
10:18pm... Done showers and spotted the hotel robe lying in the corner... I thought it was a Yukata... but it turned out like this... Yuck~
10:38pm... watching Guin Saga on NHK-BS2 channel...
11:10pm... Took a stroll out along the streets to explore cuz I was bored to dead with the TV channels...
spotted this mega-sized mall for Games / Books / CD and DVDs... more like its almost hard to miss... I decided to return there the next day cuz its getting late...
Its located towards the right of Comfort Hotel... some 10 minutes walk away...
12:06am... Ah~ came across this very nice looking samurai movie on TV... Lead actor was a pitiful boy with a tragic childhood, got adopted by a certain master who trained him in swordsmanship. Then many years later after the kid grew up, the master was assasinated by some ninjas... as usual, the ninjas will leave one last breathe for the master to say his last words to the kid, who returned from chopping some wood... then the kid sets out for revenge...
... and eventually he met the big bad guy and got into the fight till the death...
... and as all Samurai fights will always end... its the final stroke that goes "PING~~~~!"... and both of them will have their back facing each other... Guess who won? EPIC right~~??!
I went to sleep happily~
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