Dana in Japan Again....

Wedding(s)!

2007-04-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, after LOTS of planning, hotel booking, plane coordinating and a couple of slightly unhinged emails to Chiang Mai, Ryan and I offically tied the knot (litteraly) on March 27, 2007. It was a fantastic day, mostly due to the increadible coordination skills of JIT, a local gal who put together a formal, and authentic, Buddhist wedding for Ryan and I.

For our 22 guests, the cat's out of the bag, but I'll share a secret with the rest of you. Ryan and I have been legally married since August 25, 2006. Basically, it happened out of laziness. It took less paperwork to get married at City Hall before we left Japan than to go through all the red tape (miles and miles of it) and get Ryan a working Visa in Japan. And, since Japan doesn't awk. common law relationships, we had to get married on paper to get him here on a dependant visa. Thank you Cam and Ann for standing up for us on very short notice, and for seeing the sillyness of it all! :)

But, paperwork aside, March 27 was our REAL wedding day, and it was the only time we actually said 'real' vows (that is, vows that WERE NOT to the effect of "we are not related, nor are we practicing polygamists"), and had our families with us!

We were in Thailand for 18 days this time--our longest trip yet--and I just like it better and better each time. It had its ups and downs (I guess you can't go somewhere three times without some sort of mishap, keep reading!), but it's really such a fab country.

Everyone is so wonderful, and we were treated extra speciall all along the way becuase of the wedding. On our flight there we recieved a card from the entire cabin crew of Thai Airways, along with a goodie bag including a bouquet of orchids, a bottle of champagne, and the first class goodies!

We started the vacation with 9 days on Koh Samui, a lovely beach island south of Bang Kok. I'd been there five years ago, and it's really changed a lot. More and more development. You always know it's time to find a new "paradise" when starbucks and premium outlets start popping up!

That said, it was still a great trip. The Paradise Samui Chaweng was nice, we got upgraded to a large bungalow, again because of the wedding. We didn't do a whole lot but relax during this time. Managed an elephant ride and monkey show (it's almost mandatory to do something this cheesy while there....we decided to skip the gaters this time!), some Thai kick boxing, and a fantastic boating trip to the national marine park for some snorkling and hiking up to a beautiful salt water lagoon (actually, it wasn't quite hiking, but rather scalling a series of ladders masked as "stairs". I made Ryan go before or after me, depending on the direction. At least if I fell, I'd bounce off of him!). Ryan had a particularly good time meeting the Thai "Lady Boys", who gave him...a.......special hug....while taking their photos together! Almost the entire wedding group met us on Samui too, which was fantastic. Got to spend a lot of quality time with both family and friends.

After Samui, we bopped off to Bangkok for a night to meet Ryan's mom, dad, sister, and her husband. We had dinner at the famed Mandarian Oriental Hotel (where Joseph Conrad--of Heart of Darkness fame--used to stay back in the late 19th century. It was pretty chic...to put it mildly. Some day, if we win the lottery, we'll stay there......superior rooms are ONLY $350 a night, afterall.

After our quick stay in Bangkok, it was off to Chiang Mai for the main event. We'd been a little worried before arrival, as we'd been told over and over again on Samui that Chiang Mai was "on fire" and that the air quality was terrible. Apparently, they haven't had rain since November! But, after only a slightly frantic email to Jit, we found out that no, Chiang Mai wasn't on fire, it was Burma, but the smoke was affecting the city. But, by the time we got there, things were much clearer, and all was calm!

The pace of our holiday picked up this time, as we had some last minute fittings and meetings with planner extraordinare, Jit, and also had fittings for our Vancouver wedding gear (who gets a white raw silk wedding dress for $250? I do! I do!). Ryan and I had been to Chiang Mai before, but I think we really fell in love with it this time. We stayed at the Tamarind Village hotel, which was so increadible. It was a modern minimalist, mixed with northern Thai traditional boutique hotel. The service was unbelievable, and after a hot day touring ancient Wats and shopping up a storm (Ryan and I had to buy not one, not two, but THREE extra bags thanks to our "cheap cheap same same" excesses) it was the perfect oasis to relax. And again, Ryan and I were upgraded. We think we're going to be "on our honeymoon" for the next few years!

The wedding day started EARLY. Ryan and I were up at 4:15 for Jit to pick us up at 5am for our "merit making" morning. Using her home as our base, we went to the market to buy 9 meals, 9 specially arranged lotus flowers, and 9 bundles of insence to give to monks as they went from house to house to collect alms before dawn. The number 9 means going on and on forever in Thai, which is why we donated to 9 monks.

Ryan and I had to arrange all the food and flowers ourselves, and stand outside Jit's door as the monks came past. First, we bowed to the monks, then together (I, as a woman, can't give to the monk myself--Theravada Buddhism is rather strict regarding women, no touching the monks) we would give a baggie of curry, a baggie of rice, some sweets, then the flower and incence. Next, we'd get on the ground and bow, while each monk blessed us and wished us a long life together. We did this 9 times until around 6:30 am, when all the monks had to get back to the temples. Apparently, the monks only eat once a day--between 11 and 12--and the food they collect in the morning is shared among all of them at that time. We were blessed by monks young and old, and one even had a very well behaved fluffy dog with him!

Then we had a quick bit of mango and sticky rice (along with a lot of coffee!) and then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the temple. The temple was probably the coolest thing we've ever done. We had a 9 monk panel bless us for about one hour. The head monk (the Abbott's assistant) was a friendly old guy who chatted with us about the temple (the central buddha image was brought from Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai about 500 years ago), asked us to come back for the Thai new year (in about two weeks from now!), told Ryan grooms should develop their patience becuase brides are often "firey" in nature (what? ME firey? :P), and had his cell phone go off at the beginning of the blessing/chant. It was awsome. I think he even got a bit of texting in before he turned it off. By the end of the blessing, Ryan and I had our wrists tied up with sacred string that was attached to the central Buddha, we had had our foreheads dotted with three dots of wax, our heads sprinkeled with holy water, and our photo taken many, many, many times.

Then, outside the temple we released a basket of birds, and at the Chiang Mai moat, we released fish and turtles.

Afterwards, we hit the hotel again for a nap, before we went to the most beautiful place in the world for the "real" wedding ceremony. Jit has built a traditional teak house built out near Doi Saket, AKA the middle of nowhere. We drove for about 45 minutes on a very very narrow road, passing dry dirt country, until suddenly we arrived at a lush, green, increadible acerage where the wedding was to take place. It was wonderful.

It was there we had the knot-tying ceremony where each of our guests tied a knot around our left wrists, and wished us the best for the future. It was a great way for Ryan and I to make our committement to eachother, and again, was all in traditional Thai style. We also had to view the "nuptial" bedroom with our parents, whom Jit asked if they'd like to give us any "bedroom advice" for our wedding night. Ryan immediatly put his head in his hands, and started rocking back and forth. Ryan's Dad then pointed out that people had been doing it for years without any help, so we were on our own. Thank you Mr. Hong! The rest of the night was eating, watching Thai dancing, lighting fire lanterns, and heading home.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and both Ryan and I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Enjoy the photos!

Let's party like it's 1999.....

2007-02-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

And we really did. I can't remember the last time I was out that late! :)

After a long couple of days at a conference, we decided to whoop it up at one of the local "gaijin bars".

It was the longest period of time I've spent in a bar in years--the highlight of the evening was Ryan and I winning a POCKY eating contest, and getting special access to the VIP (and in Japan you say it as a word, not as individual letters!) room. It was the "valentine" night at the bar, so they gave us a big bottle of MOET and a couple of bouquets of flowers.

I gave one of the bouquets to Alisha who put it down on a table when she went to dance. Unbeknownst to her, some crazy Russian guy had picked them up and told his equally crazy Japanese girlfriend that he had bought them for her. They then put them on the table, and when Alisha came back from the dancefloor she picked them up and took them with her into the VIP room.

Suddenly the room was full of a lot of Japanese and Russian swearing, and Alisha and the girl were getting into a tug of war over the bloody flowers. I, of course, thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen (I think the 1/2 bottle of MOET helped me along there).

With a little help from our new best friend the bartender we sent the coo-coo couple on their way, and finally dragged oursevles out at 4am.

We then hit up a Yoshinoya (cheap, mystery style meat dishes) and tried to get into a cab home, although the Australian we were with (he had been one of the speakers at the confrence) tried to convince us he needed to hit a Karaoke bar before his flight at 8:30 AM.

It was quite the night. I think I'm set for a while now!

na na na na na na....

2007-02-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

it's 17 degress C and sunny today.

Na na na na boo boo......

Happy 29th Ryan!

2007-02-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well, Ryan's getting on in years (!) so we decided to skip the typical party this year and opted for a low-key event to celebrate his last year as a 20-something.

So, we went to COSTO, ordered a whole bunch of gross US-style mega food, and tucked into a dinner of "bake" (whatever that is), a combo pizza, and cake courtsey of moi. Probabaly the first time Costco has celebrated a birthday ever. Don't think their caffeteria is usually such a hot spot!

YOU CAN PUSAN...

2007-01-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Alright, the title didn't make much sence, but it's late... Right after Christmas Dave (down from Waseda Uni in Tokyo), Ry and I hopped on the ferry from Fukuoka to Pusan. Not a bad ride. For 150 bucks (or thereabouts) we got a mat on the floor (better than it sounds) and a kick ass sento (Japanese public bath, boiling hot water just to sit and chill in, so relaxing!) and arrived in Korea 12 hours later. Pusan was as it always is--lots of counterfit CDs and purses, (I swear, I was doing field work!), taxi drivers that drive at break kneck speeds (especially when they're pissed off at you for hopping in for only a 10 minute drive), and tons of people. It was also FREAKING cold. Haven't been that cold since Niigata, and we were totally unprepared for it. Thankfully our porno hotel (I'm not joking, it really was a porn hotel) was nice and toasty warm! Overall, you can't beat Korea. More ways to eat a cow than anywhere, porn hotels that cost mere dollars if you can stand looking at yourself from all angles in the many, many mirrors, and GREAT shopping. Even Ryan had fun in the markets!

We tried to do some cultural things, but the cold kept us away. It's hard to admire ancient temple architecture and listen to the monk's chanting when the chattering of your teeth and knocking of your knees is drowining it all out! We did manage to hit up Asia's largest hot spring resort (room for 2000!), which was a wonderful way to escape the cold. A gynormous indoor/outdoor spa where you can let it all hang loose with a whole bunch of other naked people for as long as you want. Lavender baths, pepper baths, ginger baths, cold baths, scalding baths, mud saunas, steam rooms, and for the unadventureous, plain old hotsprings.

It was a pretty unique experience standing butt-naked in a queue to purchase a strawberry juice from the snack bar.

I think my favourite part was the waterfall therapy--you get to sit on some rocks under a POUNDING stream of water for 15 minutes, maneuvering so that you hit different muscles. It feels SO good. The only thing was that it was more or less under the control of the granny mafia. It looked so good I watied in line for 20 minutes while all these little Harmonys (granny in Korean) cut in front of me. finally, I got a space, sat down, and closed my eyes. After about 4 blissful minutes I opened my eyes to see a pair of wrinkly knees in front of me. To the left, another. And behind? Yet another. I got too freaked out to sit out my 15 minutes and gave up after 5. Talk about pressure!

We lasted in Korea for about 4 days, and then made our way back to Japan on the ferry again. The trip home was a little more eventful, the boat was a rocking! Ryan and I were sitting in the lounge around 11 pm (they had cut the power to our room and played good night music--nazis!), and witnessed an orchestra of crashes as the caffeteria and shop fell apart. It was pretty wild, I wish I had the camera with me to get photos of Ryan standing at crazy angles.

Arrived back in Fukuoka early morning on the 31st, just in time to have a nap and get set for New Years. Like just about EVERYONE in the city, we hit up a Shinto Shrine to ring in the new year and pray for luck and happiness. It was neat. No count-down, just the amaizing deep rumbling sound of a TAIKO drum beating from deep within the shrine at the stroke of midnight. Then the doors suddenly opened and at least two thousand people streamed in to throw a coin at the alter, clap their hands together, and make a wish. People had been lining up for hours. Of course we got in right away by cutting in the line.

After the alter we decided to have a more decidedly Canadian new year and hit up a decent house club for some dancing. Lasted about 1.5 hours before Ryan and I began to deam of our new fuzzy jammies (no heating in our apartment and the kerosine heater has to be turned off at night lest we die of CO2!), so we headed home, tucked in to bed, and said good bye to 2006.

Now it's 2007, I'm back at school, and the Thailand wedding planning has begun in earnest. We can't believe how many friends are joining us--it's going to be fantastic.

Happy 2007!

CHRISTMAS

2007-01-10T08:04:00.000-08:00

So, it was Christmas and I'm totally behind in my updates. I wish I could say I was busy working away on the thesis, but alas, I was comatose infront of about a zillion episodes of the Family Guy. My first Christmas away from My and Ry's fam was a little weird. We did our best to make it "real"--avoiding Kentucky Fried Chicken and Kurisumasu Cake at all cost--but it just wasn't the same. Funny, you'd think that the halal turkey I ordered over the internet and the Chingus (AKA Ghangis) Khan Vodka our friend brought us from Mongolia would have done it! That said, we had a fun Christmas Eve party, and Dave and Ry really enjoyed their transformers. I can now cook a turkey in about anything (I am the tinfoil origami champion) and can sing along with laotion pop music--I guess the holiday wasn't a complete loss!

Tokyo

2006-12-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the month (and after a month of preparation) my classmates and I flew to Tokyo for an international negotiation and arbitration competition at Sophia University. We were judged on everything--the type of souvineers we brought for the oposing team, the quality of our business cards, the song we had to perform for our fictional company, how nice we were during the competition....but not on the quality of our work it seems.

That's all I'll say about that, but at least we got to spend a little time in Toyko. Hit up the Meji Shrine for the zillionth time (have never been there when the leaves are changing before...I think I've hit every season now), did some shopping in harajuku, bought some way to cute but way to expensive shoes in the Seibu department store at Ikebukuro, and did some serious party-ing in kabukicho (Tokyo's red light district).

All in all, it was a good trip, but after all the build up and all the work there, I've been a mess for the past two weeks. Thank goodness the winter holiday starts on December 22 and I have two weeks off to sleep, eat, and write papers :(.

The apato's almost totally decorated for the holidays (I'm trying to pretend that I'm not really in Japan, but it's awfully hard when your tree is decorated with evil nutcrackers), I'll post some photos of our fun soon. Feeling a little homesick these days--threw a hissy fit when they ran out of Turkeys at COSTCO--but I supose I'll get over it. CHEERS!

Meiji Shrine...weddings, carvings, and priestly activity

THE COMPETITION (maybe we would have won if we had worn Mexican Wrestling masks to sing our corporate song....)

HARAJUKU FASHION!

Christmas is coming...

2006-11-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

So it's almost December. And, in Japan, the christmas lights are up, the fake trees are out, and the evil-nutcrackers are on sale at the 100Yen shop. It's going to be a weird Christmas for me at least (Ryan doesn't seem to care), we're not doing any major travelling (as we had planned, Ryan has to save all his holidays for the wedding in March), and we're not going home. So, we've bought a little tree (already put it up, couldn't help it) and are having a little Christmas here.

It's going to be very experimental. I managed to find the only two WHOLE roasting Chickens in Japan (bought them out of the back of a Bangledeshi guy's van) which I plan on cooking in my toaster oven. Really. Aaron and Alysha are going to do the potatoes in their toaster oven, and I have a couple of boxes of stovetop suffing to play with. YUM YUM! Going to try and make christmas crackers (minus the "crack") out of origami paper, and we're "acquiring" all the Christmas movies to watch on Dan and Norah's projector.

I think I'm just going to baracade myself in and not admit that I'm in a country where KFC and ready-made hello kitty stockings form the holidays.

Time really is flying by here. Hard to believe that it is almost December. Work is chugging along, and I'm slowly figuring out how it all works at Kyudai. Ryan has become an ebay prostar, and has cornered the market on certian Japanese products that I'm not allowed to mention lest he get any competition. Needless to say, he's having fun, and I can't believe the kind of crap people will pay $50 for. He's also working for an English school out here, so we're doing well.

Here are some photos of a Christmas display downtown we saw the other night:

Fall!

2006-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

So I haven't had much to post as of late, as this negotiation moot I have to do, along with a couple of part time jobs has made life pretty dull. But, Ryan and I managed to get out yesterday to a school trip to the "Kyoto of Kyushu". It was in a place called Akazuki--about an hours drive from Fukuoka, up in the mountains/hills. It was pretty, lots of leaves, temples, old houses, and RAIN. It's been raining for about a week, and I've had my fill. HEard it was snowing in Vancouver...I can't believe it, but I'm actually jealous! Anyway, here are some photos of our damp afternoon...

We went with a bunch of international students, and two people from my program: Aaron and Marose. It was a nice afternoon, just a little wet. My poor suede boots!

MIKAN!

2006-10-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

So Saturday morning I went orange picking with some other students from my program. We went up into the hills to this orchard, and for about 2 bucks we got to stuff our bags (and our faces) with juicy mikan. They're so different from the way we get them in Canada (after they've been picked for a while) and apparently the green ones are great for the diet!

It was stinking hot out, so the sweatter I wore was a bad idea, but we had a lot of fun. The area was beautiful too, which helped!

Bike Riding

2006-10-29T04:34:00.002-08:00

So, as Ryan and I have yet to find a cheap little car, we do an awful lot of biking around town. Last weekend we biked out to this island (recently connected to us by a bridge) that has a huge park on it. We went to the zoo (slightly depressing), the beach, gardens...had a good time.

The weather here is still warm (was 21 degress today, but still feels warmer to me because of the humidity), so it's nice to ride. Gets cool at night now though. Still waiting for fall to REALLY hit, think we'll do some temple hiking when the leaves all change. Everyone keeps telling me to watch out for the cold winter...I'll believe it when I see it!

School is good, the pressure's starting to come on though. They've really changed the program this year, and it's quite intense. Keeping up, and still manging one day off a week, so cross your fingers for me that that doesn't change!

BUGS! Ewww!

2006-10-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, it's finally fall in Fukuoka, so the bug situation is getting a little better. And, unlike my last apartmenti in Japan, the cockroach situation is much improved (although I did see one climbing the stairs up to our landing last night...). All this said, however, we have a bit of an insect issue here!

Petie The Praying Mantis

Meet Petie. He lives on our deck. He generaly keeps to himself, but one night he was really attracted to Ryan's green t-shirt that had been hanging there to dry....

Hanging out laundry seems to be an issue....I was wearing a shirt, for about, oh, 4 hours that I had had hanging up to dry on the deck. Suddenly, it started to get itchy down at the bottom of the side-seam. So, thinking it was the tag or something I went down to re-adjust it. And felt something large, and hard. So I oh so slowly turned up the edge of my shirt and saw something very round, very hard, and very brown and scaly. It looked an awful lot like a cocoon of some sort. So, of couse, I started to pannick.

Forgeting that I had already been "one" with this cocoon for at least four hours, I managed to get the shirt off without pulling it over my head, it took about 5 minutes to do, and I felt like being sick the whole time! Finally got the shirt off and flung it in the corner of the room until Ryan could deal with it later (something that took at least 2 hours for him to build the courage to do!)

Ryan eventually pried the thing off, and flushed it down the toilet. That night, however, something took revenge on us. At about 2 am I woke up to Ryan hollering "Ah! Ah! Ah!". He litteraly flew out of bed and started dancing around the room scratching everywhere.

Some sort of pre-historic misquito (we hope--I swear I heard a buzz) had gotten in through the screen and had eaten us UP! We both had at least 7 or 8 bites, it was awful.

I hink our Karma's screwed right up now!

Check out the Apato!

2006-10-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Ha! And you thought you could do better for 110$ a month! What a palace!

Updates!

2006-10-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

Just a random photo of Keifer Sutherland pimping his 24 fame out for a diet bar. "Situation Free"!

Hey there everyone! Hope you enjoyed the "one grain sushi" article--have to go and check that place out.
Life here is good, school is picking up pace (have to have 10 pages of my thesis "done" by the 30th), but it's still not that bad. I've definately still had time for socializing....We've been having a pretty good time thus far, although maybe not at the party level of my last stint here (my head can't take the mornings after anymore), but we've been having fun none the less.

Last weekend we headed out to Tenjin (the downtown core) and out to a club. It wasn't too bad, the best feature was all you can drink for girls for $20. being the horrible scammer that I am, it turned into all Dana and Ryan can drink for 20$. Sadly, it wasn't that much in the end, but we gave it our best!

This photo is of Aaron and Alysha, two other Canadians. Aaron is in the same program as I am.

Awww....aren't we cute!

This next photo is of Ryan, Tumur, and I. Tumor is a diplomat from Mongolia! He tried to tell us that his job sucks, but then we saw a photo in his apartment of him chilling out with the former PM of Japan, Koizumi!

Kawaiiiiiiiiiii....

2006-10-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Japan's latest gourmet gimmick: one-grain sushi
(By Ryann Connell--Mainichi Shinbun, October 19)

From the land that gave the world such tiny treats as bonsai, midget submarines and shiploads of quaint consumer goods comes, according to Shukan Bunshun (10/19), the latest example of Japanese miniaturization -- single grain sushi!
The delicate little morsel is authentic sushi, but instead of a slather of raw fish slapped on top of a handful of rice, there's only a single, tiny grain of the Japanese staple used.

That leaves only enough room for the fish to no bigger than about 1 centimeter-by-2 centimeters at most.
Single grain sushi is not the latest diet fad to hit the country, it's just the latest item on the menu at Omoroi Sushiya Kajiki, a sushi restaurant with a sense of humor in Fukuoka.

Omoroi Sushiya Kajiki's main chef comes up with a variety of outlandish raw fish dishes daily depending on his mood at the time, according to Shukan Bunshun, which adds that it was this process that gave birth to the idea of single grain sushi.
Single grain sushi is sold in plates of 10 or 12 (arranged in a circle with a couple of strips of leek in the middle to form the hands of a clock) and features all the typical sushi, including makimono, tako, tamago, ikura, kohata, anago, ebi, ika, Otoro and kanpachi.

Omoroi Shushiya Kajiki will make the single grain sushi up for any customer who makes an advance booking, providing they don't want to eat it at one of the busier times of the day.
Considering the minute size of the sushi, it almost seems too much effort to create the tiny taste treat, but chef Atsushi Kajiki wouldn't have it any other way.

"I do it because the girls love it," the crafty itamae tells Shukan Bunshun. "I tell 'em I'm gonna give 'em a full serving of sushi and then bring out a plate of the single grain stuff. They laugh and then go on about how cute it looks. Some of 'em take photos of it with their mobile phones. More than anything, though, I do it because I like nothing more than seeing a woman's smiling face."

Architecture!

2006-10-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

So, it looks like Fukuoka is an architectual marvel......Hmmmm...sitting in my concrete bunker, can't say that I agree! Actually, Ryan and I took a bike ride through the pretty parts of Higashi Ku (our area) and there are some awfully nice buildings. What makes me laugh though, is that the following article from the NY Times says to start your tour at the Kaikan (where we live). Seeing as another student's girlfriend almost ran screaming away when given their keys the other night, I think they should consider another starting the tour elsewhere!

NY TIMES
The Cultured Traveler
In Japan, a Time Capsule of Modern Design

By TOM DOWNEY
Published: September 24, 2006
IN the early part of the last century, Frank Lloyd Wright traveled to Japan, where he designed a series of signature buildings: a regal Tokyo hotel as grand as an emperor’s palace; a remote hilltop villa in Kansai; and a girls’ school in a Tokyo suburb that seems monastic in its austere beauty.

Wright was perhaps the first superstar architect of the West to build in Japan, and one of many Western architects to have gone east to find fame and fortune. In the 80’s and early 90’s — Japan’s boom period — this stream of Western architects became a river. The country’s extraordinary prosperity meant that businessmen had enough cash to commission anyone in the world to build their dreams.

Perhaps nowhere in Japan was the fascination with Western architecture more pronounced than in Fukuoka, a provincial capital in remote Kyushu province. Nearly every time one of a core group of developers there broke ground, they hired a big gun of the architecture world. And so Fukuoka is now both a monument to Japan’s prosperous “bubble” period, and one of the best places in the world to see the works of world-class contemporary architects side by side.

From the futuristic Nexus World housing development with blocks by Rem Koolhaas and Steven Holl to a bank designed by the Japanese luminary Kazuo Shinohara; from a stunning shopping complex by the mall specialist Jon Jerde to a seaside stadium development housing Cesar Pelli’s Sea Hawk Hotel, Fukuoka has so much interesting construction that it has quietly become a pilgrimage site for architecture students from all over Asia. The highest concentration of notable buildings is in an unlikely location outside the city, a dreary suburban district of ball fields and high-rise apartment complexes. A few minutes’ walk from a bus stop, still near enough to hear the din of the highway, lies Nexus World. The roster of names behind this development reads like an architecture hall of fame, with Koolhaas, Holl, Oscar Tusquets Blanca, Mark Mack, Christian de Portzamparc and Osamu Ishiyama all designing units.

The Koolhaas blocks look like enormous reptilian spaceships, but inside the central courtyard each unit has a small, luminous garden foyer. Steven Holl’s clean lines seem to promise the best combination of beauty and livability, and Mr. Ishiyama’s scaffolding-strewn structures make you feel as if you’re living in a piece of conceptual art. Only one small sign, tucked away in a corner of the complex, with both English and Japanese map references, identifies the buildings and their architects. When real estate prices bottomed out during the recession, many local architects snapped up these properties for themselves.

There are no organized excursions to view the architecture of Fukuoka — it’s a strictly do-it-yourself affair — but that’s part of the pleasure. Hidden in the suburbs and the side streets is the physical record of a dialogue between Japan and the West about materials, methods and visions, a dialogue evident in striking housing blocks, sushi joints and majestic greenhouses.

One way to begin an exploration is at Fukuoka’s most centrally located and best-known structure, the Acros Building, designed by the Argentine-American Emilio Ambasz, where terraced step-gardens on the side of a high-rise spill over into an adjacent city park. Toyo Ito’s glass-covered half-subterranean greenhouses, part of the new Island City project, could easily be the next new stop. There are few tourists gazing at these buildings, though Nexus World residents are familiar with occasional architecture groupies angling for an invitation inside their homes, then pondering Mr. Koolhaas’s dark enclaves and Mr. Holl’s rectangular waterways.

Back in the center of town, the Daimyo district has few conspicuous buildings, but its narrow, converging streets shelter some of the city’s hottest night spots and most exclusive boutiques. Since Daimyo originally served as a buffer zone around the city’s castle, the streets mostly end in T junctions, a deliberate strategy to slow down potential invaders that now makes Daimyo feel cozy and contained. The neighborhood has its share of global designer places, as well as local vintage clothing stores. Look for the graceful, slick Comme des Garçons store, or Taco-yaki Sake Akatan, a bar done in the naturalist wabi-sabi style that serves fresh, hot octopus balls.

Daimyo contains the city’s two best bars, cocktail specialty places that take advantage of the Japanese talent for precision and perfection. Bar Oscar (named after Oscar Peterson) is perched on the roof of a building filled with tiny nightclubs and run by a serious cocktail artisan. Nearby Bar Kurayoshi features a dark room pierced by a bright spotlight shining down on a gleaming wooden bar, the place where a master mixologist creates superb cocktails.

Fukuoka is also home to a small-scale architecture and design wonder: yatai, small street stalls unshuttered and assembled each night to become fully functioning restaurants. Scattered throughout Fukuoka are clusters of yatai where office workers sit down after a night on the town to hot bowls of hakata ramen or sticks of yakitori. The best setting for yatai is the banks of the Naka River, near Nakasu Island, where you can glimpse the glittering neon of the night. Two of the most unusual yatai are located nearby, next to Reisen Park. At Hakata Yatai Bar Ebi-chan, a cocktail yatai, the only limitation is that the bartender, Akio Ebina, serves all chilled drinks on the rocks, not straight up, since he doesn’t have enough ice to refill his shakers all night.

Next to the cocktail bar is another oddity, Kikuya Yatai, whose chef and owner once worked in one of the city’s premier French restaurants. Now, with just a couple of gas burners and a tiny countertop, he whips up wonderfully fresh French-inspired cuisine.

Fukuoka isn’t famous for its sushi, but there is one sushi bar, Yamanaka Sushi, worth a trip for both its strikingly fresh local fish and its unusual design. The master architect Arata Isozaki, who designed this restaurant, is best known for his enormous public works projects, many of which dot Kyushu province. Mr. Isozaki knew the sushi chef at Yamanaka and loved his fresh fish, so Mr. Isozaki decided to take on this job, a much smaller commission than he was used to. He brought a large-scale sensibility to the task. Most sushi restaurants are intimate, nearly claustrophobic places. The space Mr. Isozaki built has a vast, beautiful countertop carved from light-colored wood and sweeping 20-foot-high ceilings. The seafood, like kuruma ebi, shrimp harvested in the waters of the nearby Sea of Genkai, matches the grandeur of the environment.

Fukuoka has three hotels designed by internationally known architects — one each by Michael Graves, Cesar Pelli and Aldo Rossi — and a brand-new boutique hotel by the Japanese designer Ryu Kosaka. Mr. Rossi’s Il Palazzo still maintains the same glorious pinkish stone facade that made it an instant icon in the 90’s, but the rooms inside are looking worse for wear. It’s illuminating and a little disheartening to read the coffee table book published when the hotel opened in 1987, which extols the transformative possibilities of architecture and predicts that this striking new hotel will reshape the neighborhood around it. But the most basic transformation so far has been the construction of many “love hotels” nearby, where couples rendezvous for a three-hour room rental. That’s not the sea change Mr. Rossi had in mind.

JUST across the river from Il Palazzo is Nakasu Island, the city’s red light district. At night, local businessmen flood into the tiny place, which packs about 2,000 restaurants, bars and street food stalls — and most likely as many “massage parlors” and “soaplands” — into a few rows of narrow alleys. Nakasu also houses Nakasu Dining, an unusual restaurant and reason enough to brave the sordid isle.

Owned by a man who once worked for Royal Host, the Japanese equivalent of Denny’s, Nakasu Dining specializes in perfectly executed versions of comfort food served inside an old wooden house overlooking a bright green garden.

Opposite Nakasu Island are the Canal City Mall, designed by Mr. Jerde to mimic the canyons and waterfalls of the American West, and the adjoining Grand Hyatt Hotel. In the Hyatt, guests can sip a cocktail in the downstairs bar overlooking the artificial waterway that runs into the shopping mall. This could feel horribly tacky, the Japanese equivalent to hitting the lounge at any chain restaurant attached to your local shopping mall. But somehow it doesn’t. A Western jazz pianist takes requests, then croons out standards, and late at night, the deserted, beautiful mall next door is a strangely haunting backdrop, as if you’re illicitly drinking, after hours, inside a place you’re not meant to be.

An enterprising hotelier bought two cookie-cutter businessmen’s hotels in Daimyo and then refurbished them as well-priced boutique properties: the Plaza Hotels. You can still see the outlines of what these two buildings once were, but the end product is somehow more interesting. The ghosts of businessmen past seem to haunt the halls of these boutique havens. The Plaza Tenjin Hotel houses a dark, atmospheric bar called Bacchus where you can sample well-mixed drinks or in summer eat a spectacularly sweet local mango that costs 3,800 yen, or about $32 at 120 yen to the dollar.

The two Plaza Hotels offer a different approach from the architectural vision of the bubble period, when it seemed to make the most sense to just tear things down and start fresh. This new style — using what’s already there to create something new — seems to correspond to the sensibility of today’s Japan, a country dipping in and out of economic recession but experiencing a cultural renaissance. It probably won’t be long before the architectural legacy of the bubble period is also, somehow, recycled anew. Given the overwhelming power of nostalgia in Japan — a Tokyo teenage hip-hop fan once told me he wished he had grown up in the Bronx in the early 80’s — you can just imagine people soon yearning to relive the boom years by gazing on the wondrous buildings from that time scattered all over Fukuoka.

VISITOR INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

The flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka takes 90 minutes and costs about 15,000 yen, or $127, at 120 yen to the dollar, each way. In a country where airports are often far from the cities they serve, Fukuoka’s airport is only a 10- minute subway ride from the city center. The flagship train of Japan Railways, the Nozomi, speeds from Tokyo to Fukuoka, a distance of more than 700 miles, in just over five hours.

WHERE TO STAY

Plaza Hotel Tenjin, 1-9-63 Daimyo Chuo-ku, (81-92) 752-7600; www.plaza-hotel.net. Doubles from 11,550 yen, about $98.

Plaza Hotel Premier, 1-14-13, Daimyo Chuo-ku, (81-92) 734-7600; www.plaza-hotel.net. Doubles from 13,125 yen.

Grand Hyatt Fukuoka, 1-2-82, Sumiyoshi, Hakata-ku, (81-92) 282-1234; www.grandhyattfukuoka.com. Doubles from 33,495 yen.

Hotel Il Palazzo, 3-13-1, Haruyoshi, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 716-3333; www.ilpalazzo.jp. Doubles from 25,410 yen.

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK

Hakata Yatai Bar Ebi-chan (Cocktail Yatai), Hakata-ku, Reisen Koenmae, (81-90) 3735-4939. Drinks from 1,200 yen.

Kikuya Yatai (French Yatai), Fukuoka-shi, Hakata-ku, Reisen Koenmae, (81-90) 9561-5238. Dinner from about 2,500 yen.

Akatan, 1-13-12 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 738-3253. Drinks from 500 yen.

Yamanaka Sushi, 2-8-8 Watanabe-dori, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 731-7771. Dinner around 7,500 yen.

Nakasu Dining, 2-6-3 Nakasu, Hakata-ku, (81-92) 283-5338. Main courses from 1,200 to 1,800 yen.

Bar Oscar, 1-10-29 Daimyo, sixth floor, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 721-5352. Cover, 500 yen.

Bar Kurayoshi, 1-3-32 Daimyo, La Corte 7F, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 726-9405. Cover, 530 yen.

Bacchus (third floor of the Bassin restaurant), 1-9-63 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, (81-92) 739-3288. Cover, 500 yen.

WHAT TO DO

Nexus World is the place to see many of the world’s great architects in one location. Sadly, none of the apartments are open to the public, but you may be able to persuade a friendly resident to let you take a peek. To get there, take the No. 22 or 23 bus from the Tenjin post office to the Ryugakusei Kaikanmae stop.

Also worth visiting is the new Island City development. The highlight is Toyo Ito’s greenhouse complex. In the center of Fukuoka is Emilio Ambasz’s Acros building, where you can climb up an exterior trellised with green plants. Jon Jerde’s Canal City shopping mall has a water display in the center and the usual consumer offerings.

Fukuoka Now, published by a Canadian expatriate, Nick Szasz, is a good online English-language source of information about the city; www.fukuoka-now.com.

School Life

2006-10-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today was the opening ceremony for the Graduate School of Law. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, being used to the Junior High School variety, speeches, ribbons, and lots of bowing in unision. This was more like a business meeting...we all sat at a big board table in our suits and were told about the program. Very non-Japanese! Doesn't seem too hard at first glance: a 50 page thesis (for those of you still in or just finished school, that's double spaced!!!!!!) and 5 courses a semester. Not bad at all. The downside is that the faculty felt they had to follow a more international (read American) model this year and there are exams and the dreaded bell curve.

The student body is pretty diverse, sitting next to me were a guy from　Tunesia and and on the other side a guy from Lithuania. It can actually be really intimidating, as most of the students are from the TOP universities in their home countries. To make a point, 4 of the 6 from China are from Beijing University--the best in China. When you think about the Chinese population, and the fact that EVERYONE writes the enterance exam, you can imagine that these students are the creme de la creme. Yowza.

Everyone is really nice,and very keen. Paulius, from Lithuania, wants me to compete with him in an IP Moot Court as he figures we'd have no problem with the Aisian nationals and then getting to Geneva...we'll see. I haven't decided how keen I am yet! Want to see how the course load is with Japanese Lessons on top of that first!

We'll that's all for now!

Settling In

2006-10-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm now in my apartment, have gone through a couple of registration sessions, opened a bank account, and have registered at the ward office. Life in Japan again has officially begun.

Fukuoka is an interesting city, I haven't seen half of it yet, we live just on the outskirts away from downtown. It's so different from Niigata, I hardly know where to start.

I realize now, that I was extremly lucky living in the boondocks last go around. There is SO much to see and do here (and only the main streets have names, so I have no idea where I am most of the time) that it would have been totally overwhelming if this had been my first introduction to Japan.

That said, there is something comeforting in seeing a big pink JUSCO sign (a big department store) outside my bedroom window. I can shop in any language!

I've met some of the other students in my program, to girls from the Phillipines, a boy from Lithuania, and "Achillies" from China, who chose his name after being inspired by Brad Pitt in Troy. No Joke.

Our little apartment isn't bad, but it's a little sparse at the moment. I'm trying to convice Ryan to go shopping, but he's not sure we need more than a tea spoon, a pot, and a bowl. :P

I've also found the 100Yen shop, which, many of you know, is VERY exciting indeed.

Well, that's all for now. it's been a whirlwhind of registrations and orientations with more to come. I've got a fantastic little powder blue granny bike again, and have gotten quite skilled at riding fully loaded with shopping bags. I'll explore Fukuoka a little more, and will fill you all in on Japanese University life later on!

Faith Healing

2006-10-02T00:42:00.000-07:00

So, just arrived in Korea after my LONGEST flight ever (11.5 hours, bleh!), and am sick with some sort of nasty cold (dodged three quarintine thingys after getting off the plane, just kept on walking in spite of the signs that say "If you feel like Dana does, go to quarintine").

So, most of the flight was spent snorting and sneezing, and generally grossing everyone else out. 8 hours into the flight (and after I had flushed the last of my cold pills in the toilet lest I forget, and end up taking a banned substance apparently on the same level as crank into Japan) the woman next to me got sick of all the sickness I guess, and asked me if she could pray for me. I was a little startled, and, polite person that I am, said, erm...OK?

So, in my little head I pictured her privately making mention of me in her evening prayers or something---like: "Dear God, please save the red head on the plane from drowning in her own mucus". You know, in her jammies, on bended knee before bed.

Well, the nice lady took my hand (brave soul) and started--her words not mine--channelling the Holy Spirit to help me get well.

I didn't really know what to do (what IS the standard etiquite in such a situation?) so I just sat there with a somewhat bewildered look on my face and let her go to it. I did manage to get it together long enough to at least bow my head (Ok, more like tilting it quizically to one side, but it looked ok).

Apparently the healing flowed through me "like water". Personally, I just think that was my sinuses clogging. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

2006-09-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can all see, Ryan is settling in just fine into life in Japan. Less than 24 hours to go and I'll be there to, but I think I might stay dressed......

2006-09-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

2006-09-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, this is the man I'm going to marry. Whoo Hooooo!

2006-09-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Almost there...

2006-09-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone this is just a test so I can figure out how to use this thing. After being inspired by a plethora of on-line blogs I've decided to go high-tech and give email a bypass. This way you can see photos and read my updates in an easy format, have no virus worries, and post comments for me. SUPA! One week to go, and I still have TONS to do before I head out of town on October 1. Looking forward to getting there though, and giving Japan a go! Ok, more to come in the next few weeks....