Kyushu 2023 - Fukuoka Tower and Momochi Beach Park

 

We made our way to visit the Fukuoka Tower. You can go inside, and I think you need to pay money to go to the top. We didn't bother. We just wander around and came out.

The view was just as beautiful outside, with all the trees lighted up in pink like cherry blossom. It was a very romantic place to be at. A lovely evening.

Inside the tower they also have their own mascot. Everything has a mascot in Japan!

The trees all light up outside. What a romantic place to walk!

Sazae-san cartoon characters <3

There was even a beach park nearby call the Momochi Beach Park. Too bad it was too dark by now to really see the ocean. I would love to come back again one day to spend a day here at the beach. Finger cross, I just entered a lucky draw to win a flight back here as the first prize.

The Beach Park was well equip with eating places. But since we've already eaten, we just went to take a look around. It kinda looked like a themed town to me though. 

There were also broadwalk on the sand where you can walk along. There was also a beautiful building nearby where you could have a seaside wedding at. Along the beach, there were food stalls seeing BBQ seafood which sells wonderful. For some reason, the scene above reminded me more of Korea than Japan. 

Eventually we had to say goodbye to our 1day bus pass as we took our final bus ride back to Hakata Station and walk back to our hotel. I had a light supper in the room of chestnut parfait and hot coffee. A perfect end to the day. We were checking out the next day.

Here is a selfie of me and Fukuoka Tower.

And me again with Fukuoka Tower again ! (the mascot)

Kyushu 2023 - Bus Ride to Fukuoka Tower

 

After dinner, we can't let our 1day bus pass go to waste since the sun was still up! So I decided to take the bus to go see Fukuoka Tower! I like collecting photos of towers around Japan, so let's not miss this chance to do so. It was around late evening that we made our way there. I love the above photo of us in the bus looking out at the highways of Fukuoka, with the Japanese van in focus, and a circle of light around it. I price myself in taking such photos. At first I thought it was skills, but actually it's just a reflection of my phone camera that  made the circle of light, lol.

On our way there, crossing some sea port and seeing some interesting tower.

Sunset view along the highway. Even the highway was fascinating, almost a few storey above ground.

The bus passed by the Fukuoka PayPay stadium. This is where concerts are held!

I snapped the above photo cause I thought it was nice, a red bicycle and a red Tesla. The contrast of the economy scale of transportation, lol. At this point in time, I was a new fan of Tesla. Fast forward to now 2025, I'm still a fan actually, just not of the founder, and definitely not of the cybertruck!

We got down just opposite of the tower. It was hard to miss!

The area was also famous for a cartoon family character which is features in the bus stop above called Sazae-san and family. It was fun hunting down their signs all over the place too.

Kyushu 2023 - Dinner at Hakata City

At the train station before taking a bus to Hakata, I was at some 2nd storey building and took this photo. It reminded me of Shibuya crossing, but smaller, and quieter. In fact, I think this one is a lot nicer as it's a lot more organised and cleaner. I love this photo, so I'm putting it here. 

Back at Hakata Station area again.

I think this was the first time we walk outside the station and see how huge it was. The day before, we were just hazy from our red eye flight and was just headed to our hotel, not really taking the time to look at this grand station.

There was a summer plum wine fair happening here. You could try a variety of wine for a small price. I was surprised my husband wasn't as interested in it.

I got to pick the dinner restaurant, so I went for beef of course! 

Here is the set I ordered. I looked so nice and juicy, but the meat was actually roast meat and served kinda cold. But it was a nice dinner.

My husband had this beef butter rice set which was also great. We don't really spend a lot on high end restaurant. Our price range was usually below 20sgd a good meal a day, and a less expensive meal the rest of the day. Luckily in Japan, you can get really nice delicious meal with that kind of budget. I'm headed to the west next month, and I am wondering how I am going to survive with their high prices there.....

Kyushu 2023 - Dazaifu Temple and Ruins Walk

Finally, we reached the main Dazaifu temple. It was lovely, no doubt. I just don't know why I wasn't more impress with it as I did other things I saw that day. It felt like just a 'need to do' item on my travel list somehow.... Was I getting jaded of Japanese temple? 

We also saw the famous red bridge here. It was made even lovelier by the water, the tress and the blue sky on that day. But it was also quite crowded. Those nice photos you see in these blog, was either edited with the people cut out, or a lot of time was spend waiting for the place to be empty out.

After completing the shrine, it was still early afternoon, so we decided to go explore the ruins! Above is the map we found along the way. Lol. Seriously, this day trip was not very well planned out! We spend the next few hours walking in hot sun, in deserted village roads, in fields of ruins etc! What an adventure!

Ya, I was expecting something like Rome when I see the word "ruins". It wasn't anything like that at all! In fact, there was hardly anything to see except maybe building foundation of the ruins, and maybe some stairs. But they did kept the area empty, so it was fun running around the field of nothingness.

The path also covers some grave of famous monks of the area, and we decided to go pay our respect. I don't know what is it with me and graveyard, but I am always fascinated by them. The famous wasn't like those family grave. It was in fact rather simple looking, and quite wild, in some desert part of the village...

There were also quiet temples you could visit where the ray of heaven shines through....

And some of the temple (actually only one) even has a sand art in the compound area.

It wasn't anything elaborated, just simple designs on the ground. Nobody even got mad if you walk through them. Were you allowed to walk through them? I wasn't sure. I try not to.

There was even a lady that looked Christian near a pond in one of the temple ground.... It was really quite a unique walk with many unique things we saw.

The one good thing about wandering lost is coming across beautiful sceneries like this one above. Sceneries that you won't see if you follow some tour group. Sceneries that you dream of seeing since you grow up and live in South East Asia where the weather is forever hot and humid or monsoon rain. 

To see such vast green field with slopes, and a sole pink sakura tree there! What a dream come true!

Thank you to all the small gods and big ones we encounter here in Japan. Of all the places I've been to, I always find myself coming back to this country. It was kinda like my spiritual home :)

Our walk lead us one station away from Dazaifu main station. We took a local train back to Dazaifu since our ticket gave us the power to take any train or bus in the area! Haha. The power you feel when you own such a ticket. I love Kyushu so far, and I've only been here 2 days!

Around 4pm or 5pm, we took the train back to the one we started from, and then a short bus ride to Hakata City again.

Here's a selfie of us with all the crowd on the famous red bridge of Dazaifu. Crossing the bridge means crossing over to heavenly realm :)

Kyushu 2023 - Dazaifu Doll Museum Tenjin Story Hall

As promise, a post on each and every display of Tenjin's life story. starting from his mother giving birth to him..... There will be no narrative in this post. I took them for keepsake to post here. I guess you could zoom in on each at there are explanation (only in Japanese) on them. But I do apologised if the descriptions may not be too clear. Anyway, enjoy the beautiful dolls and display!