Hot Eats and Cool Streets

Since I've arrived in Fukoka, I've been oot and aboot here and there looking for housing and a job and all of those other boringly insignificant things that keep us all from dying in the street, or wearing tinfoil hats. Well today, I came across what I'm assuming is Fukuoka's big signature mall, Canal City. It's huge. And its really funky looking. For starters its got about 6 floors of shopping, dining, a movie theatre, a musical theatre, and a Grand Hyatt Hotel. Also, its not so much one building as a series of buildings built together, with connecting bridges, and forming a huge courtyard, featuring.... dancing fountains.. Its like the Bellagio show in Vegas with less Celine Dion.

Well all that looking at stuff is pretty hungry work, so I went off to find myself something to eat. I managed to find some of the best unagi (eel) that I've put my lips on since I got to Japan. The eel was good, the rice was good, the miso soup was good. It was all good... with one minor drawback. Cleverly disguised in amongst all that deliciousness was a head... an eel head. But even that couldn't spoil this meal.

(sigh) now back to finding work...

Engrishified

I've been pretty impressed so far at the general lack of Engrish that I've encountered thus far in Japan. Sure there are the the occational "L" and "R" swaps, but that's not too terrible. And with North American 12 yr old girls walking around with "Jailbait" shirts, it's not too far of a leap to see a middle-aged Japanese lady walking around with a shirt that reads "I like it from behind". That being said, I was pretty amused to find a gold-mine of Engrish in my hotel room.. Here are some excepts of what I think they are trying to say (as translated from the Japanese) and what they actually write

Intended: When leaving the room, the small thing on the inside doorknob is the the lock

Actual: Still a key of door in outside room (a lock) of a doorknob of an inner door is small

Intended: If there are any unclear points, please don't hesitate to ask at the front desk

Actual: If there was an indistinct dot without hesitation to the front desk

Dunno; reeks of babelfish translation to me.

Hiroshima

The Hiroshima manga library

The most obvious thing to come to mind when thinking of Hiroshima is the dropping of the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 (8:15 am local time). While a lot of the city seems to stand as a monument to those who died in that horrific event, there are a lot of other areas of interest in Hiroshima as well. Now I've never been called a great lover of art, but I was impressed by the outside of the Hiroshima museum of art, which features a sculpture garden and a really cool staircase with mini-waterfalls. I have been called a great lover of food (or a lover of great food, or a great lover, who eats food), and so I was all to eager to chow down on the Hiroshima version of Okonomiyaki, which is pretty famous. I would have posted a picture, but the thought of taking one only occured to me about 3/4 of the way through eating. For all the manga fans, Hiroshima has a library that exclusively carries the further adventures of all your favourites. Food, shopping, and culture are just some of the things that make Hiroshima an intersting place to visit.

monument to the victims,
depicting a clock frozen at 8:15

All that being said, I would be lying if I didn't say that the Peace Park, dedicated to the A-bomb detonation wasn't the most dominant aspect of the city, and the main reason that I came here in the first place.

I'm sure that most people have seen pictures of the Atomic Bomb dome, which was formerly the Hiroshima Industrial Promotion Hall. It, being one of the few buildings left standing near ground zero, stands as-is as a monument to the destruction. The surrounding area, which was levelled in the explosion has been converted to the Peace Park, the main attraction of which is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It's the best 50 yen you can spend. Most shocking displays: photos of victims in the aftermath; a cement wall with shards of glass embedded in it from the explosion.

All the photos are here

Thank you, good bye (again)

Well, my Christmas vacation has come to an end... I just want to wish a happy belated New Year's to anyone I missed while I was in Toronto for what turned out to be a way too short holiday. My extra 5 pounds and I will be heading back to Japan very early tomorrow morning. I hope that everyone had a good holiday themselves and thanks to everyone for showing me a good time while I was back in the old T-dot. In response to everyone's incessant complaints, I'll try to update my blog a little more often. :)

Here's to 2007. Let's all make it a good one.