After 26 very enjoyable days in Japan, we finally arrived back in Debs’ old home of Kokura at 11:30am. We were met at the train station by Debs’ friend Asami and immediately set off to drop our luggage at the ‘Toyoko Inn’ hotel. Unfortunately we encountered the slight hitch that we couldn’t check in until 4pm! Leaving our luggage at reception, we headed off for some lunch at Debs’ favourite food place OCM ‘Sandwich Factory’ (she frequented the place so much they gave her a T-shirt when she left Japan! Oops apparently it was 2 T-shirts). The staff were all very surprised to see her again, even remembering her old order! After some very nice sandwiches & salad and a brief chat with Koji (OCM’S owner), we continued our tour of Kokura. Sadly, the city’s main landmark Kokura castle was covered in scaffolding (what is it with us and scaffolding? Everywhere we go seems to be covered in the stuff! I had already renamed Beijing’s Forbidden City the ‘Scaffolding; sadly not forbidden, city’!)
From first impressions Kokura seems a very pleasant city with nice shops, (I got to see quite a lot of these bag shopping with Debs & Asami), pleasant parks and some interesting looking modern buildings. It also has an excellent book shop ‘Quest books’ that carries a number of western titles. Happily stocked up in books and bags, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and rest up until the evening.
Asami had managed to get hold of a lot of Debs’ old friends and arrange a welcome back meal at the Maroon bar. We were joined by Asami, Keiko, Nao, Rie, Abi & Hiro; it was good to finally meet some of the people who I had heard about from Debs. After a pleasant meal Asami, Rie, Nao, Debs and I headed off to Print Club & Karaoke, the others having to go because of work the next day. Having decided that Print Club is really a girl’s thing, I left them to it and had a look around the arcade instead. I tried my hand at an arcade brain training game that looked simple enough; however it turned out that some form of Japanese language ability would be required to navigate the menu system, so I failed miserably. Perhaps that was all part of the brain training!
Rejoining the girls, who had finished doctoring their photos, we headed upstairs to the Karaoke rooms. Karaoke in Japan is a little different from the ‘guy set up in the corner of the pub’ back home. Basically you can hire a private room for a period of time at a fixed price. You can then drink as much as you like during that time. After 2 hours of singing our hearts out and getting steadily more drunk, we called it a night at 2am. Saying goodbye to the others, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.
Trying to get the most out of our trusty rail passes before they expired, we headed to Fukuoka ‘Hard Rock Café’ with Asami so Debs could have a Veggie burger! The trip was made more memorable by the fact that I spotted an entire car park full of yellow cars (email me & I will explain!). After a nice meal, Debs & Asami showed their talents for playing the drums (Debs claims that Asami practises!) at the nearby Game Centre (arcade), before we headed back to Kokura.
Leaving Kokura behind for a few days we headed to Beppu, where we had booked to stay at a lovely Ryokan (traditional guesthouse). Beppu is famous for its many Onsens (Japanese hot springs) and sand baths. I have to confess to not being certain about being buried in hot sand. The sign on the wall said that we would be filled with energy, ready to face the day ahead. Instead, after being buried, showering and relaxing in the Onsen we both just wanted to go to sleep! Heading back to the Ryokan, Debs arranged to try on a traditional wedding outfit and we booked to use the guesthouses Onsen privately. All in all we had a very relaxing time.
Arriving back in Kokura all rested, we checked back into the Toyoko Inn (this time we didn’t have to wait until 4pm) for the final leg of our stay. Later that evening we met Abi & Neil for drinks at the ‘Beer station’ followed by food at the ‘Baseball Yakatori’.
The next day we were invited to Noriko’s house, where her Mother prepared a lovely meal for us and the members of her Ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging). Noriko is a music teacher and very talented hand bells and piano player. We had a very entertaining afternoon meeting her 2 year old child prodigy student Maria, getting dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) by her mother for Hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival or Girls’ day), seeing no flower arranging by her class but hearing a lot of chatter and finally watching a very impressive hand bells demonstration by Noriko.
Later that evening we met Asami & Mayumi for more drinks & food at the ‘Beer Station’ and then finally headed back to the hotel shattered.
With only 2 days left in Japan, we arranged to meet Rie for lunch on Saturday at OCM and Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki, Hisako & Noriko for drinks and food at ‘Xelhas’. We had a great evening and again it was good to meet some more of Debs’ students and friends. Our whole time in Kokura has been great but also very tiring. Trying to arrange times to meet everyone and then realising that there is always someone who you manage to miss has given us mixed emotions about leaving. All in all though, it has been an amazing experience and we will definitely be returning.
Until next time from Japan “Ja ne” (See you!)
From first impressions Kokura seems a very pleasant city with nice shops, (I got to see quite a lot of these bag shopping with Debs & Asami), pleasant parks and some interesting looking modern buildings. It also has an excellent book shop ‘Quest books’ that carries a number of western titles. Happily stocked up in books and bags, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and rest up until the evening.
Asami had managed to get hold of a lot of Debs’ old friends and arrange a welcome back meal at the Maroon bar. We were joined by Asami, Keiko, Nao, Rie, Abi & Hiro; it was good to finally meet some of the people who I had heard about from Debs. After a pleasant meal Asami, Rie, Nao, Debs and I headed off to Print Club & Karaoke, the others having to go because of work the next day. Having decided that Print Club is really a girl’s thing, I left them to it and had a look around the arcade instead. I tried my hand at an arcade brain training game that looked simple enough; however it turned out that some form of Japanese language ability would be required to navigate the menu system, so I failed miserably. Perhaps that was all part of the brain training!
Rejoining the girls, who had finished doctoring their photos, we headed upstairs to the Karaoke rooms. Karaoke in Japan is a little different from the ‘guy set up in the corner of the pub’ back home. Basically you can hire a private room for a period of time at a fixed price. You can then drink as much as you like during that time. After 2 hours of singing our hearts out and getting steadily more drunk, we called it a night at 2am. Saying goodbye to the others, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.
Trying to get the most out of our trusty rail passes before they expired, we headed to Fukuoka ‘Hard Rock Café’ with Asami so Debs could have a Veggie burger! The trip was made more memorable by the fact that I spotted an entire car park full of yellow cars (email me & I will explain!). After a nice meal, Debs & Asami showed their talents for playing the drums (Debs claims that Asami practises!) at the nearby Game Centre (arcade), before we headed back to Kokura.
Leaving Kokura behind for a few days we headed to Beppu, where we had booked to stay at a lovely Ryokan (traditional guesthouse). Beppu is famous for its many Onsens (Japanese hot springs) and sand baths. I have to confess to not being certain about being buried in hot sand. The sign on the wall said that we would be filled with energy, ready to face the day ahead. Instead, after being buried, showering and relaxing in the Onsen we both just wanted to go to sleep! Heading back to the Ryokan, Debs arranged to try on a traditional wedding outfit and we booked to use the guesthouses Onsen privately. All in all we had a very relaxing time.
Arriving back in Kokura all rested, we checked back into the Toyoko Inn (this time we didn’t have to wait until 4pm) for the final leg of our stay. Later that evening we met Abi & Neil for drinks at the ‘Beer station’ followed by food at the ‘Baseball Yakatori’.
The next day we were invited to Noriko’s house, where her Mother prepared a lovely meal for us and the members of her Ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging). Noriko is a music teacher and very talented hand bells and piano player. We had a very entertaining afternoon meeting her 2 year old child prodigy student Maria, getting dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) by her mother for Hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival or Girls’ day), seeing no flower arranging by her class but hearing a lot of chatter and finally watching a very impressive hand bells demonstration by Noriko.
Later that evening we met Asami & Mayumi for more drinks & food at the ‘Beer Station’ and then finally headed back to the hotel shattered.
With only 2 days left in Japan, we arranged to meet Rie for lunch on Saturday at OCM and Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki, Hisako & Noriko for drinks and food at ‘Xelhas’. We had a great evening and again it was good to meet some more of Debs’ students and friends. Our whole time in Kokura has been great but also very tiring. Trying to arrange times to meet everyone and then realising that there is always someone who you manage to miss has given us mixed emotions about leaving. All in all though, it has been an amazing experience and we will definitely be returning.
Until next time from Japan “Ja ne” (See you!)
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