Fukuoka

April 11th
Fukuoka, Japan

Today was off to a roaring start…with me sleeping till about 2:00. I woke up in the morning for breakfast, and then started waiting around the room to hear from some friends about getting off the ship, and eventually just went back to bed for what was supposed to be a short while. Maybe not so short after all. Once I woke up and realized I’d missed most of our port time, I hurried off the ship to make the most of what was left of the day, about 3 hours. I decided not to take a bus into the city today just because I wanted to walk, which ended up working out nicely. I walked for a little ways into the city till I got to an interesting area I didn’t get a chance to explore on my last visit. After a quick stop for a $4 bowl of noodles and fried onion and shrimp thing, I continued through the city till I got to this large mall. The mall was composed of several buildings, between which ran an outdoor stream. It was a really nice design allowing for this outdoor area and sort of refuge from the downtown area. They even had a nice little venue for performances, at which I saw a clown do his act.
I eventually made my way out of the mall, got my bearings, and decided it was about time to start walking back. I wanted to walk back in the direction of a shine I saw indicated on my map, and quickly came across it. I went in to this traditional Japanese shrine area and took tons of pictures. It was a really amazing place and indicative of the culture that surrounds the country. However, I got to excited by walking through the shrine that I misjudged my time and left about 30 minutes to walk back to the ship, about 15 short of what I should have left. I knew I’d be cutting it close, but thought I’d be fine to walk back, so I again got my bearings and set a course to get me back. With about 15 minutes before I missed my aboard time, I figured I was at least 20 minutes away and began running. In all reality, I had a nice run back to the ship, maybe not under the best of circumstances, but it was still pleasant to run through Japan. I made it back with about 3 minutes to spare, but only to find there was a gigantic mass of people waiting to get on the ship. I figured that if I waited in line, I’d likely end up being 30 minutes late, and as I saw a different group bypass the line with some special pass, I figured I’d follow them onto the ship as best I could. I got to the front, tried to sneak in, and then made sure to have my crew ID out and pretend I was important enough to not wait. Well, it worked out fine, I got passed the line and on the ship with out the security guards taking my ID card. Can’t say I wasn’t nervous though.
I didn’t have to work tonight, so I guess that’s about it for the day. I still say Japan is probably the coolest country ever and again, can’t wait to return. Thanks!