Today we wanted to spend some time in Fukuoka before leaving to see what we could, before making the long journey to Tokyo by train to meet up with Friend B and Friend C! We didn’t have much of a plan for today, we originally thought about going to the Sakurai Futamigaura’s Couple Stones but decided that it’d be too risky to pull off since we might miss the train we had reserved.
A Morning in Fukuoka
We woke up at 8:30 or so since Friend J wanted to get breakfast. I was thinking of skipping so I could sleep more but I said something along the lines of “Whatever we’re in Japan why am I thinking about sleeping when we can go experience more things?”
And so we walked to a place that Friend J found called NOOICE which I thought was a weird way to spell “NO ICE” but it turns out it was more of a “noooooice” since it was actually an Australian brekkie place!
We got a big variety of food and drinks, maybe even too much for us, but it was all really good. We had a lot of fun jiggling the pancake and pouring the sauce over it.
It makes sense that the waitress was able to speak english fluently, but it was pretty interesting for me to note that as soon as someone starts speaking english to me the part of my brain that’s trying to think in Japanese gets confused almost instantly and shuts off. It just reminds me that I need to practice a lot more to really get used to it. Once we finished eating, Friend J called a taxi to take us to the Fukuoka Castle ruins, since we saw in Google Maps reviews that the sakura blossoms were just starting to appear there.
Walking around the perimeter of the castle, we could see groups of people gathering underneath the sakura trees looking up at the blooms. The flowers were really pretty, and it really started to make sense to me why so many places get crowded. The castle itself seemed to be in the middle of being repaired so we couldn’t get close but we did walk around the perimeter to see the views.
Despite our planning we still made it back to the hotel behind schedule, and so we threw our final things into our suitcases and rushed over to the train station. Fortuantely we had a bit of a buffer still cause of our speed walking, and so we managed to get on our train on time and started heading out to Tokyo!
And a Evening in Tokyo
The train ride itself was pretty uneventful for the most part. We had to stop by Shin-Osaka on our way up and transfer because the direct Nozomi line required an additional fee for the ticket (for the convenience), and we figured it wasn’t worth the price to not have to stop. I felt bad for one of my seat neighbors since it was an office worker who was eating a simple meal and drinking, while slumped in their seat.
Once we reached Shinagawa station we figured it’d be a good chance to try and buy a ticket for the Fujikyu Railway, however we waited 30 minutes in line to get help just to find out that the JR ticket office doesn’t actually sell the tickets, and we’d have to figure out something else for our Fuji day trip in a couple days.
We already had plans to meet with Friend B and Friend C though, so we couldn’t spend more time on it and instead took a taxi to the hotel while trying to figure out a place to meet up. We decidd to meet at Hanamaru Nemuro Kitte, which is probably my favorite sushi restaurant. Friend B and Friend C got there before us, and grabbed a reservation ticket. Fortunately the line wasn’t that long (only about 40 minutes), so we just walked around a bit and chatted while waiting.
We ended up eating about 70 plates combined between the four of us, and it left my physically dying but afterwards we went for a walk to settle our stomachs. We wandered down the street and over to the imperial palace gardens, which were already closed for the night but the area itself was really peaceful.
After hanging out and chatting for a bit, we talked about plans for the next day and then went back to our respective hotels.
Thoughts
Day 6 was a bit less eventful overall since it was primarily traveling, however we still got to see some new things and had fun chatting and hanging out with friends! This ends what I would consider chapter 1 of our trip, since at this point we’ve done a big loop around the south side and now we’ve reached Tokyo, the city we’re most familiar with. From here we had two more overnight trips planned, as well as plenty of events and day trips, so plenty to see and do!
Day 6 Travel Numbers
~5.5 hour and ¥22,950 yen covered by JR Pass
JR Pass Value after Day 6
Cost saved: ¥83,880
Time Travelled: ~21 hr
Not covered by JR Pass
Cost: ¥2,620
Total Transportation Time
Time Travelled: ~22.5 hr
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