Shikanoshima

Today was my first day after exams finished and it was a beautiful sunny, warm day so I decided to take my most ambitious bicycle ride yet. Ena had to go into work so I was on my own, but I rode my bike all the way to Shikinoshima, which is an island connected to the mainland by a really narrow spit of land. It was about a 2 hour ride but it was well worth it. The ride took me across Island city, which is a large artificial island near our place that is currently the site of a half-built mini city that is quite nice. I also passed by Uminonakamichi, which is a huge amusement park. I didn't stop at either though and just kept on riding until I got to the island. This is the spit of land that connects it to the mainland, you can see its only about 30 or 40 metres wide with the sea on both sides. The water on the left is Hakata Bay, the water on the right is the open Pacific Ocean (well, actually I suppose technically its the Sea of Japan):
There are miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches leading up to Shikanoshima with some really excellent views:
Me on the beach:
Unfortunately it took me so long to get there (and I had to get back to town by 4 to meet some friends) that I didn't get much of a chance to explore the island. I did however manage to take in this Temple, which had a plum tree in blossom overlooking the Ocean:
A little further exploration turned up this nice waterfall:
I'm definitely going to go back there with Ena sometime to explore the whole island, probably in the spring though!

Sean and Ena do Fukuoka

I decided to take a break from studying today and go for a bike ride with Ena. What started out as a little ride ended up being an 8-hour cycling tour of half the city. First we went to Hakozaki Shrine, which is near the Kyushu University Campus:
After that we rode downtown, stopping here and there to do some window shopping. We ended up at this interesting temple in the city:
In the building behind me (with the orange walls on the side) there is a giant statue of a seated Buddha (it takes up the whole building). Under the statue there is a tunnel called "hell" tunnel. When you go in, there are a bunch of paintings of the Buddhist hell with pictures of demons eating people, etc while a recorded voice explains how bad it all is. Then after that the second half of the tunnel you have to navigate in pitch blackness. You just feel your way along by holding onto this railing. It is supposed to be a kind of spiritual experience, though its kind of scary.

All in all its probably the best free entertainment in town!

After that we stopped at Canal City for cake and coffee, which we always end up doing when we are in town.

Then we ended up cycling all the way to Ohori Koen, which is way further than I thought we would end up going. Its a really nice park with a big lake and some islands connected by footbridges. This picture of Ena was taken on one of the little islands:
I made good use of the panorama function on my camera too:
Finally we ended up having dinner at a restaurant in Youme town, a big mall. Its crazy how much cheaper you can eat out in Japan, this whole, quality meal with drinks and dessert only set us back 20 bucks:

Oh no! Snow!

Much to my surprise we got a lot of snow yesterday, so much so that it was still on the ground the next day (though most of it melted today with some rain in the afternoon). On my way home from school I got caught in a pretty heavy snowfall (on my bike):

After Ena came home we went over to the shopping centre across the street and she made a snowball:
This was the view this morning from our window:
We saw my friend Augustine and his wife Anna from the Philippines making a snowman and joined them for a little while:

We tried making a little boulder of our own but I gave up half-way through because my gloves got soaked:

Downtown Fukuoka - rained out

We had a day off together on Sunday and tried spending it downtown. Unfortunately it stated pouring rain in the afternoon, but not before we had done a few things. First we took a walk along one of the rivers near Nakasu Kawabata station:
Then we happened along a shrine which had this absolutely massive float (a portable shrine basically) that they use in festivals:
Then off to Canal City to escape the rain (I think my expression is "nonplussed"):
We stopped at a cafe on one of the upper floors for a drink and cake:
And then we went to see nearby Sumiyoshi shrine and get our fortune told. Thats where the rain started to come down pretty hard so we called it a day after that:

Kyushu University Hakozaki campus

I did a little exploring of the Kyushu University campus on the weekend. I usually just stick to the part of the campus around the law building, but the rest of the campus is kind of interesting too. Its got some nice older buildings like these ones:


And some palm trees:
And the main gate:

A sign of things to come though is this nice old building, which sits abandoned with its windows broken, weeds growing everywhere and its doors boarded up:

Our campus is in the process of slowly closing down. They are building an entirely new campus in another part of town and as each new building there is completed another one on our campus closes down for good. In about 6 or 7 years or so the whole place will be abandoned to its fate (not sure but I've heard they are going to turn it into a park). So parts of the campus have the look of a ghost town, which is kind of eerie and a bit sad. This building has some nice architectural elements that are rare, but its probably going to be torn down in the near future. I thought I'd take some pictures of it for posterity's sake while it was still standing!

Hair Cut in Takamatsu

While we were in Takamatsu Fumiko was nice enough to give me a haircut, so now I look handsome. This is the first time I have ever been photographed while having my haircut. First I got a shampoo:

Then the haircut proper:

And voila:
We liked the haircut so much Ena and I went downtown so I could pose:

New Years in Takamatsu

We went up to Takamatsu over the New Year's break to spend it with Ena's family. These are some pictures with Ena's family:


It was my first time back there in about 4 years. I had seen Ena's parents a few months ago but it was the first time I had been able to see the grandparents in a long time so that was nice.

On New Year's day we climbed up a mountain behind their home to visit a temple. This is what everyone in Japan does on New Year's day to make their wishes for happiness in the coming year. Its quite a nice temple and mountain, loads of people were there (though most of them took the cable car instead of climbing up like we did). It is Temple number 85 on the 88 temple Shikoku pilgrimage route (about a 40 day hike that hardy pilgrims make around the island to visit the 88 temples of the Shingon sect). This is a picture of everyone lining up to make their wishes at the Temple's main building:
Ena and I at one of the vendor's stalls holding up a Japanese New Year's decoration:

Me ringing in the New Year: