Kyushu Trip Part II Fukuoka
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| Fukuoka Phantom Castle |
Day 5 Fukuoka
We visited Maizuru Park, in the park are also the Fukuoka Castle ruins. Since we were there during cherry blossom season, they had the Cherry Blossom Festival with food trucks and vendors at the park. They also had a phantom castle for nightly light-up events. Next to Maizuru Park is also Ohori Park with a pond and a walking path around and through the middle of it too. It was busy with people out for the cherry blossom season, there was even an area where you could reserve barbecue picnic areas. The day was spent mostly walking around the area and enjoying the parks. We, of course, had to make our obligatory stop by the Pokmon Center at Hakata Station. We wrapped the day up by getting dinner at a yatai, a Japanese food stall. All of the stalls had a line going even though they had just opened for business for the night. They are usually open from roughly 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. We got lucky and found one where we got to be first in line. Yatai are quite small with only a handful of seats available.
Day 6 Day trip from Fukuoka to Dazaifu
There is a bus from Hakata Station to Dazaifu. But we opted for the other option: the subway/train. Part of the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine is under repair until 2026 but they have a cool temporary hall with grass and trees on the roof available while that’s happening. This shrine is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, a scholar and politician. His rise in power resulted in rivalries and led to him being exiled. He passed away a few years after being exiled and after his death there were many natural disasters that happened, and as a result people thought it was his angered spirit that was causing it. To appease him they made the shrine on his grave site and made offerings. Many students now make a visit to the shrine and pray for academic success. Near the shrine is the Kyushu National Museum. We explored it and after our day at Dazaifu we returned back to Fukuoka.
Day 7 Day trip from Fukuoka to Kumamoto
This day trip to Kumamoto was via bullet train. On a normal train the trip would have been closer to two hours but with the bullet train it was less than half that time!
Kumamoto Castle is, at least by some measures, one of the three most famous castles in Japan. The other two we have visited already—they are Osaka Castle and Nagoya Castle. Most of the buildings are modern reconstructions. Historically it played an important role in the Satsuma Rebellion, a famous even that occurred when Japan was beginning to modernize in the late 19th century. In April 2016, the castle suffered damages from an earthquake and many parts are still being rebuilt. There is a tall platform to get to the castle grounds while repairs are being made for the next few years, with an estimated completion date of 2038.
After the castle we went to Suizenji Garden. It is from the 17th century and belonged to the Hosokawa family. It even has a small Mt. Fuji, which is more like a small hill, but the garden is general is meant to represent an important road that connected Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto in the Edo Priod (1603–1867). Inside the garden is Izumi Shrine. Once we were done exploring the garden and shrine we caught a Shinkansen train back to Fukuoka.
Day 8 Pikmin Bloom Live Event in Fukuoka
Pikmin Bloon is a free mobile game, kind of like Pokémon Go. My friends and I have been playing. There was a live game event that was also free, but you had to get tickets as it was limited to the number of people who could participate. Our friends, Sydney and Ryleigh, met up with me and Blake for the day of the event. We got a paper Pikmin sun visor, Pikmin Ramune salt candy, and a map of where to walk around for the special locations. A lot of the spots were ones we had done on our first day in Fukuoka in the Maizuru Park and Ohori Park area. A new area we went to was Nishikoen and Terumo Shrine. There were some people enjoying hanami on the grass and watching a monkey performance. Food stalls were also lined nearby and we bought some delicious sakura ice cream to enjoy the time. The shrine was the last stop of our Pikmin event and so we took a train to Canal City Hakata for some shopping and possibly to check out the yatai again. This time there were additional stalls and live performances and it was even more crowded.
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