こんにちは! 💪
WELCOME TO DAY 10 - First Full Day in Fukuoka
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We are your hosts, Mary and Alexis. Representing Waipahu High School ( O'ahu )
...and Waimea High School ( Kaua'i ).
Health is Wealth
Today, we took it slow. Our crew was getting sick one by one :(
Originally, we were supposed to go to the Fukuoka Prefectural Office, but we decided it'd be best to scratch that plan off since half of the crew felt ill. Though that might've been sad for some kids, we found it nice to have a little more time to rest and relax. We each headed down to breakfast at our own pace.
Originally, we were supposed to go to the Fukuoka Prefectural Office, but we decided it'd be best to scratch that plan off since half of the crew felt ill. Though that might've been sad for some kids, we found it nice to have a little more time to rest and relax. We each headed down to breakfast at our own pace.
Mary and I had the same thing (sausages with egg) except I wanted bread with my meal. We thought it was a pretty decent meal, as some of us collectively missed the buffets from the past hotels because of the variety. - Alexis
Miso soup with rice has been my best friend at breakfast time, and luckily they had it with my meal. I caught a bit of what was going around, so the warmth and aroma of the soup really soothed my sinuses and minor sickness. - Mary Lei
After munching on breakfast, we headed back up to our room to get ready for the day. At 11, we all met in the lobby ready for our journey. We hopped on the bus and rode to lunch.
Udon, Chicken Karaage, and Sashimi w/ side dishes
Fukuoka is known for its tasty ramen and udon. Luckily, we were able to have some for lunch. It was really like no other. The noodles had the perfect softness to it, and it was really tasty, or うまい！ The lunch helped fuel our bodies [even more] for the day. - Mary Lei
Kushida Shrine
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Zodiacs
Some people in Japan would pray for good fortune for the year in February. Specifically, February 4, which is the division of winter and spring in the lunar clandestine; day of division. On that day, Japanese people eat えほまき (ehomaki), meaning a "lucky direction roll".
Multiple Shrines
There are different Gods that they worship, so there are a total of 8 shrines together (as we can see one of them in the bottom right corner).
After we took pictures at the とりい (red Shinto gate), we walked over to
Canal City!!
Upon arriving at Canal City, the first thing that caught my attention was the captivating architecture, with curved buildings, and even water that seemed like a boat could float on. The greenery hanging off of the rails that's visible on the buildings, made me feel like it was part of a dystopia. It felt confusing but appealing to have such natural elements at such a futuristic mall. - Mary Lei
Canal City was PAACked with lots of retail stores, restaurants, and even arcades. This mall felt like a combination of malls on O'ahu like Ala Moana, International Marketplace, and Pearlridge all into one. This mall would also be a dream for all the fashionistas out there, because it had everything. A particular store we all went to was WeGo. In the bottom left picture, you can see Rylen and Kama who won stuffed plushies for the sick people who weren't able to come out with us :(
After about 2 hours of shopping, we headed back to the hotel to drop off our shopping haul and went back to Canal City for
DINNER!!
Thanks to Ms. Li being generous enough to give us 2,000 yen each for whatever dinner we wanted, we each split up into different groups like ramen and omurice.
I was in the omurice group, and we were expecting those popular omurice dishes I saw on Instagram, where if you cut into it, the scrambled eggs would fall on the rice. But unfortunately, we didn't get what we expected. Nonetheless, the one I ordered (regular fried rice with bacon and ketchup) was pretty good to make me feel satisfied. [Thank you for paying for our dinner Ms. Li!!] - Mary Lei
We were given some time to shop around, and then head back to the hotel. We also had the choice to stay and rest or head to Fukuoka Tower. Alexis stayed back, and I went with the group to commute to Fukuoka Tower with Kaniela as our travel guide. - Mary Lei
Fukuoka Tower
almost a mile walk to Fukuoka Tower :')
views inside
Inside, there were also a few things we were able to do like make a wish, add a lock for couples to last, take pictures, and even eat chicken from FamilyMart.
Taking in the views, being able to see all the pretty city lights twinkle was quite relaxing after such a long day and strenuous walk there. - Mary Lei
For Our Future
Note from Ms. Li: Apologies for miscounting the days when giving blog assignments. I should have said 10 instead of 9. Time flies when we are having fun.
"It had been a rejuvenating day, this day was needed ; to just lay back and go with the flow. We had sort of a simple day with just going to Kushida Shrine and shopping at Canal City. The late morning gave the students an opportunity to rest and replenish themselves, because self-care is very important when traveling. I’m not a shopper myself, but with the wide variety of stores there, it’s hard to resist. There was a store that was loved by all! It was called “ We Go “. It was funny because when we asked each other if we wanted to go there, we asked “ we go we go?! “. On my end I didn’t have anything exciting to look forward to after the mall. I chose to stay back at the hotel and not go to Fukuoka Tower. Now that I look back at my decision, I regret it. But hey! I got to hog the massage chair while Mary went out. I hung out with other people who stayed back and chilled. Overall I rate this day a 8.5/10." - Alexis
This was our last full day on the trip, and I can say that I have no regrets - I felt that I spent it to the fullest, really living in the moment and taking in the views. With the long morning, we had to ourselves, I was able to relax and tend to my health since it is wealth at the end of the day. Despite my wallet being completely empty with no cash, I felt that my heart was full of adoration for all of these people that I hung out with. Spending a full day in Fukuoka, made me think of our future together as the 2024 Japan PAACxston group, as this was our last full day in Japan. I hope that we will be able to keep the bond that we all share, strong, through these memories we created. I look forward to the next time that we will all meet again. - Mary Lei
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