I began my journey around 7:30am, checking out and leaving the hotel. With my luggage in tow, I headed straight for the Shinkansen to Nagoya. Since that weekend was the SKE48 Harucon concert series, they were also selling concert-related goods. And considering I didn't win a concert ticket (despite my application), I felt this would at least be a consolatory "prize" of sorts. So I planned to make a brief stop at Nagoya before heading to Osaka for a quick lunch.
Little did I know that when I arrived at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya at around 10:30am, the lines were huge. Fortunately, I didn't have any fixed plans or appointments that day, so I could afford to wait. Nevertheless, I severely underestimated the queues, perhaps thinking wrongly that the queues would be fast based on the assumption that the NMB48 concert queue was fast. Except that concert series was held over 10 days and this one across two. Thus I ended up queuing for over an hour. Luckily, I managed to buy the goods that I wanted - nothing was out of stock. Massive hit on my wallet though, as you'd expect from idol concert goods' overpricing schemes.
After spending big at Nippon Gaishi, I continued my journey towards Osaka. Now there was a fairly moderate earthquake earlier in the morning around the Kansai region and I expected quite a number of train cancellations and delays, judging from all the news reports on TV and online. Fortunately, when I got to Shin Osaka around 1:00pm, most trains were running normally. This was going to be a quick stop anyway for lunch, so after dumping my luggage at a coin locker, I headed down to Dotonbori where, upon reading up online and feeling the urge to satisfy my inner gourmet foodie, I continued my splurging and went to eat some crab at Kani Doryaku (easily recognisable by the giant crab at the front of the shop or, failing that, a bunch of tourists usually hang around there for photo ops).
I went for a lunch set, complete with crab legs (in both fresh and grilled variants), crab gratin, crab sushi and steamed egg with crab. You pay for what you get though - the crab, whatever style it was presented in, was exceedingly fresh and juicy. Easy to eat, too, with the supplied wooden scraper. Definitely one of the best crab courses I've had the chance of eating.
Continuing that day's theme of incessant money throwing, I decided to have afternoon tea at the AKB48 Cafe at Namba. This time, I wanted to try out Paruru's blueberry and cream sandwich, along with savouring Milky's drink without the rushed feeling like last time. I didn't realise that you had to order Paruru's sandwich with the drink, so I ended up having two drinks. Thus the entire meal ended up being atrociously fattening: obviously you have the cola, but they really loaded up on the "cream" portion of the sandwich. A simple sandwich of blueberry and cream, yes, but a lot more cream than blueberry. Given her concoction, I wonder how Paruru keeps her physique in check. The mix juice was as good as ever, though. Better still, the customer next to me tapped me on the shoulder and, because he had doubles, decided to generously give me his extra Milky drinks coaster. So I ended up becoming a grateful fatty for the rest of the day.
It was time to leave for Fukuoka, so I headed back up to Shin Osaka station for the next train to Hakata station. I boarded the Sakura service, and I was surprised. Now I thought the Tokaido Shinkansen services were already great, even in N700 form. These JR West trains were even better, at least in reserved seat form. Even in mid-tier 8-car Sakura form, not only were they all N700s (which means free power at window seats), but the reserved seating layout was in a surprising 2-2 format. This meant the seats were wider, plusher (with retractable armrests, too!) and, overall, more comfortable than their Tokaido Shinkansen N700/A counterparts. They even have free cupholders, along with an overall nicer, warmer wooden decor, rather than the somewhat sterile design scheme of the JR Central Tokaido Shinkansen ones. Easily one the better Shinkansen to travel on when you're in Japan if you have a JR Rail Pass. Therefore, I had a comfortable 2.5-3hr train ride to Hakata station.
Hakata station has the coolest looking decor for a large JR train station, what with their gunmetal facade and multicoloured LED lighting signage setup.
It's also one of the easiest cities to get around, and I'm not just talking about its subway, as I later realised. From my hotel location smack bang in the middle of Nakasu, the subway entrances were literally 1 minute away and the river canal (where all the yatais (street food stalls) were) was a measly 5 min walk. I could even walk to Marine Messe tomorrow if I wanted, taking only 20-30mins of my time. Once you get used to them, and if you have Google Maps Transit, the buses were a piece of cake to use too. And of course, the subways were refreshingly simple: compared to the intertwining mess of Osaka, Nagoya and (especially) Tokyo, Fukuoka's system only comprises of a mere three lines (and only one of which would be heavily utilised anyway as far as I was concerned).
As I mentioned before, I stayed in the Nakasu area, at Best Western Fukuoka Nakasu Inn. When I arrived, I was surprised at how small the room was. Now Japanese hotel rooms are normally tiny anyway, but even considering all the Japanese hotel rooms I've stayed in so far, which have (almost) all been your typical business hotel with small rooms (by Western comparisons), this one ranked as the tiniest I've ever been in, this side of a capsule hotel. How do I know? I couldn't even find a proper space to place my luggage without blocking the main pathway (whereas I could manage to with other places I've stayed in). On the flipside, it has the funkiest, modernist decor and design I've seen. Take for example, the lack of a proper bathroom door; instead, replaced by a glass facade, which meant I could (theoretically speaking) watch TV as I showered (no bathtub to speak of - it wouldn't fit anyway) or, oddly, doing my business. Also, a brand-spanking new washlet, too. Couple that with matte black wood trim nearly everywhere, and it somehow makes for a classy feeling. Internet speeds were fine, too.
It's also in a very good location, as I mentioned. Just a minute outside of my hotel, there's a 7/11, Mister Donut, Matsuya and only another minute away lies a Tsutaya and Don Quixote.
The only concern (for me at least - I don't know about some of you readers out there...) is that Nakasu is also a red light district. There's a flood of hostess clubs, cabarets, sex shops and bars in the area, with no shortage of slightly shady looking men hanging around in the evening. Oh, and incase you forgot what type of area you're in, a giant building overlooking the canal with "Adult Entertainment Zone" proudly being lit up. Needless to say, I obviously didn't bother with any of these shady establishments (which may disappoint some of you, I don't know...).
In more family-friendly matters, I headed down to the canal later that evening for dinner. There's a real vibrant atmosphere amongst the yatais: vendors beckoning would-be customers to sit in, smoke and steam from the grills and woks defining the air around you, a very social, open air setting (there's almost little to no chance you would not have a conversation with either the restaurant owner, cooks or the other diners around you) and some amazing street food. It's simply buzzing with activity, especially during the weekends.
That evening, I went into one of them, sat down at a small bar-like counter with stools for chairs and had a slightly small but sublime Hakata ramen. They added some sesame seeds to the soup base, which enhanced the flavour greatly. Yet it was a perfectly simple bowl of ramen: pork cooked just right, great tonkotsu soup base and chewy noodles (the Hakata way, so slightly harder than your average Tokyo-style ramen). All for 700¥.
After dinner, I continued to explore the district for a bit, including walking to nearby Canal City.
Which, incidentally, had a Starbucks (or at least somewhere to sit and drink), which I wanted to quickly find thanks to a not-entirely-helpful-timing SKE48 group shuffle (just announced at Nippon Gaishi that evening) disrupting my tourist mood. In the end, after settling down at Starbucks for a while, I decided to head back to my hotel, in little mood to continue exploring the city for the rest of the evening.
Breakfast: Baumkuchen
Canned coffee of the day: Georgia Emerald Mountain (gold blend)
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