I woke up at about 5:45am and decided to head to the onsen again as it opened at 6:00am. I headed up to the 14th floor again, and this time I seemed to be the only one. I chose a locker and entered the bath, soaking in both the indoor and outdoor pools for about thirty minutes, at which time an elderly lady entered the bath. I decided to leave to let her enjoy the bath on her own as I had. As I was leaving, a second lady entered the changeroom. Back at the room we had coffee and packed up our stuff, leaving the hotel room to meet Harith in the lobby at about 7:30am. We did the self checkout and headed to the train station to take the Sakura line to Nagoya station. At Nagoya station we got tickets on the Shinkansen to Kobe where we would transfer to another train to finish the trip to Hakata station (Fukuoka). There were no reserved seats left on the second train and on the first train we each had a middle seat in different rows. 

The first train was only about an hour, so it really didn’t matter that we were seated apart. At Kobe station we waited for the Sakura 551 to Kagoshima and stood at the door for car 3 (as car 1-3 were non reserved). Once onboard, Jives and I were able to sit together and Harith sat two rows back. After one stop however we were able to sit together, as our seat mate got off the train. 

We arrived in Hakata at around 1pm. At the station we found a block of lockers and paid to leave our bags, as we wanted to explore the old district before checking into our hotel at 4:00pm. 

First we walked to Tochoji Temple. The temple was built in 806. There are three Kuroda Clan family members buried here. There was an orange five story pagoda and lovely gardens, as well as different buddhas lining the inner wall. We paid 50 Yen and went to see the 10 metre tall wooden buddha statue. The room with the buddha was dark and filled with incense. You could smell Japanese cedar as well. The buddha was towering overhead and surrounded with smaller buddhas and candles and giant carved floral arrangements. The feeling was serene and lovely. 

We then walked to a temple called Shofukuji which is the oldest zen temple in Japan. The grounds of this temple were very wooded with tall trees and pathways amongst the various structures. There was a little arched bridge over a pond with giant koi in the pond.The roofs of the temple had horned demons on the peaks. We saw some very heavily laden lime trees at the side temple as well. 

We then walked to Kushida shrine. This lovely shrine was built in 757 and is the host of a huge matsuri or festival “ Hakata Gion Yamakaza. There is a huge several story paper float on display, much like the floats in Aomori but taller and skinnier. The entrance to the main shrine had one of those giant knotted cables hanging over the entrance. I have always seen these ropes at temples in Japan, but still don’t understand their significance. There were temple ladies dancing with chrysanthemums in the shrine. An older man latched on to me and told me to stroke a metal crane statue three times and then squeeze a clay fish, miming the actions and going “squishu-squishu”. I wondered if he was just friendly or just very eccentric and strange. We saw some lovely orange torii gates with a note to foreigners on it saying “why not have a memorable experience and bow once to acknowledge the temple spirits”. I bowed once, I had too! 

We exited the temple via the east exit and saw a little shop selling amazake for 200 Yen a cup. I hadn’t tried amazake before so I bought Jives and myself a cup to try. Amazake seems much sweeter than sake, much like rice krispies in milk. We love chunky sake, but I wasn’t a huge fan of amazake, if I am being honest. 

We then walked back towards the station to collect our bags and walk towards our accommodation. We took the metro two stops to our accommodation and then walked for about ten minutes down small streets to our little house. I completed check in on a tablet as the guys took a tour around the house. The house was two floors. The main floor was tatami with a large wooden table and kotatsu-like seating. There was a kitchen, washroom and bathing area with a washing machine. Up a narrow staircase there was a vast room with a dividing wall in between. The floor was also tatami. There were three futons set out for us. We set up the futon easily in three steps; mattress down first with the pad up, then a sheet and pillow, then the comforter on top (with the hole facing up). 

We went back to the seating area on the main floor and enjoyed some drinks and snacks before setting out to Canal city to look around before our 7:10pm reservation at the Kirby Cafe. The decoration at the cafe was definitely the highlight. There was a huge Whispy Woods tree and there were little shelves with plants and Kirby characters set up in miniature on them. We ordered three meals; a margarita pizza, a carbonara pizza and an omelet rice, as well as a weird soda drink you pour over a Kracko to destroy. The food arrived and it was adorable! The waiter told me to eat my rice very quietly so as to not wake up the sleeping dude it was shaped as. I couldn’t help but eat it carefully and quietly. 

After our delicious meal we slowly walked back over the bridge to our accommodation where we had some beverages at our little kotatsu table before heading to bed at 9pm.