Miyajidake Shrine: The Three Number Ones

My flight from Fukuoka to Kansai was mid morning, which gave me enough time to make a quick trip out to Miyajidake Shrine. The three gods of Empress Jingu, Katsumura Okami and Katsuyori Okami are enshrined here and many people come to pay their respects and to pray for business success and for their family's safety. My interest in coming was to see the oshimenawa, or giant straw rope, that decorates the main building. This is the largest rope in Japan, weighing in at five tons. Yep, a massive five TONS. It was gigantic and impressive. There is also a giant drum and bell which are the largest in Japan, giving them the title of "The Three Number Ones". Unfortunately, I was unable to get photos of the last two because of time constraints (missing my flight wouldn't have been very good...), but I was still grateful to be able to finally see the giant straw rope up close! Can you imagine how the shrine manages to hold up all that weight for years and years? O.o I just can't fathom it! Japan's shrines and temples never cease to constantly amaze me :)

Amazing view of the city from the top of the stairs.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Nanzoin Temple: Reclining Buddha

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! It hasn't been as hot in Kobe as it usually is so I have absolutely no complaints here :) Onto today's post now! ^^

Many people know about giant bronze Buddha statues in Kamakura and Nara, but the reclining Buddha at Nanzoin Temple isn't as well-known despite being one of the largest bronze statue in the world. Nanzoin Temple is about a twenty or twenty-five minute ride from Hakata and only a few minutes walk from Kido Nanzoin-mae Station. Numerous shrines are scattered around its complex (although I didn't have enough time to visit them. The mosquitoes did a wonderful job of keeping me away as well...) and the temple was actually moved from Mt. Koya, a famous pilgrimage destination located in Wakayama, in 1899. Nanzoin is also a famous for its Sasaguri Pilgrimage which is a 1,200km course that includes 88 temples.

While the daibutsu at Nanzoin may not be as tall as the ones in Kamakura and Nara, it has an impressive length of 41 meters and weighs in at 300 tons. Pay 500 yen and you can go inside the body! The reclining Buddha is quite rare to see in Japan since many of the statues seen are in a sitting pose so it was a first for me to see a daibutsu in this pose. 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Canal Views at Kusukawa

Yanagawa is quite famous for their unagi seiro-mushi (eel steamed in a basket) and consequently, many restaurants specializing in this dish can be found around the canals. I wasn't sure which one to go to since all of them had good reviews and were recommended by various sites. This particular sight listed quite a few that also include set meals to go with ticket packs. After walking around for awhile, I stopped in front of a restaurant called Kusukawa and went inside. It was a good size-- not too big or too small and took a window seat to see the many canal tour boats pass by. I placed my order and then enjoyed the view while I waited and waved to the boats that passed by.  The number of pieces of unagi changes the price and my lunch with four pieces was 2,300 yen. 

I've been lucky enough to try unagi from a variety of places in Japan (particularly in Tokyo since my aunty and her good friends enjoy it as much as I do!), so my expectations may have been a bit high. No disappointment at all :) The unagi came in a beautiful red wooden box that instantly made me think of the red torii that can be found at shrines. It was smothered in the signature sweet and thick sauce with kinshi tamago (finely chopped omelet) sprinkled on top and a generous portion of rice on the bottom. Needless to say, I finished the entire meal :)

Some tours offer meals for people to cook and eat as they relax and enjoy the views :) 

Quite a friendly boat where they weren't shy to smile and pose for a picture from my window seat! ^^

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Venice in Japan: Yanagawa Canal Cruise

With just one full day in Fukuoka, I had a fairly long list of places that I wanted to go to, and Yanagawa was at the top. Yanagawa is located southwest of Fukuoka city and has a total of 470km of waterways and canals that were said to strengthen the defenses of the castle that was built in the 16th century. As such, it is also known as "the city of water", or the Venice of Japan. Their boat tours are popular with tourists, although it seems that not many foreign tourists know about it since I didn't see another foreigner (or a western one) while I was there. 

There are a variety of Nishitetsu Train Value Tickets that are available for people to purchase, depending on what they want to do. I opted for the Dazaifu and Yanagawa round-trip ticket (despite not going to Dazaifu) which also included a ticket for the canal cruise. It cost 2,930 yen which still saved me some money since a round-trip ticket from Tenjin to Yanagawa on the Tenjin-Omuta line would have been 1,700 yen and the cruise ticket is 1,500 yen. 

The tours start at Shogetsu and ends at the Okinohata and are conducted every thirty minutes or so starting from 9:00. They provide a free shuttle bus service from the station to the boarding area which is five minutes away. I was in the first boat (called donkobune) with four other people and the boatman and although I didn't understand a good deal of the stories that he was telling as he steered us downstream, it was still nice to just relax and listen, especially when he sang a couple of traditional songs for us! The canals varied from very wide, to narrow enough where a car couldn't fit through, but our guide was very skilled and steered us through it with no problem at all :) There were quite a few bridges where we had to duck our heads to avoid bumping into it, but that made the experience that much better. The entire cruise lasted about seventy minutes or so and we were dropped off at another dock where numerous restaurants specializing in unagi seiro mushi (eel steamed in a basket) were located. Definitely something to try if you're in Fukuoka! It got rather crowded as the day wore on, so, like I always recommend, come early if you want to avoid the crowds and have a quiet ride :)

Bridges got quite low...

...and NARROW!! 

Traditional fishing area

Our guide for the day! :) He was really nice ^^

We were taken to this dock before disembarking and then going our own ways.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! :)

City Views: Fukuoka Tower

I hope you're all keeping cool this summer! Today's post will be the first of several from my trip to Fukuoka a couple of weeks ago. I usually do day trips on my own, but haven't been entirely on my own for a weekend trip. Cheap airfares and a spontaneous decision made me book a ticket to Fukuoka :) 

My first stop (after dinner, of course) was Fukuoka Tower, which offers stunning panoramic views of the city from the observation deck 123 meters off the ground. I was given a bunch of information from one of the employees as we rode up the elevator. She spoke not only in English, but in Korean as well for the Korean tourists! The tower (234 meters high) is a well-known symbol of Fukuoka and is covered with 8,000 mirror panels, reflecting the sky on any given day. It is also built to withstand earthquakes up to a magnitude of 7 and winds up to 63 meters/sec. The tower is lit up at night with various designs depending on the season. Impressed yet? I was! The view from the observation deck was truly spectacular-- thousands of bright jewels just glittering at night ^^ By the way, foreigners get a 20% discount on admission tickets so be sure to show your passport! 

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!