Last day in Fukuoka

We took it easy with Haruko on our last day in Fukuoka... a late start to the day, then some coffee and cakes from the big Iwataya department store next door to our hotel. I ordered the cakes myself - in Japanese!!! Three white bean and two red bean - but I don't know how to say please yet!

We did some souvenir shopping, then took a bus to the Hakata JR station to activate our JR Rail passes and book seats for the trip to Kyoto tomorrow.

The city was crowded with shoppers today. The Fukuoka Baseball Team won a big national game last night so the city was celebrating with big sales in all the stores and the team's song blaring from the loudspeakers in all the shopping centres!!!

Like most big railway stations in Japan Hakata is lined with shops, department stores and cafes and restaurants everywhere. Haruko took us into one of the big upmarket food halls, and introduced us to the Japanese custom of sampling the produce and learning about the food culture as you go, all for free .....

 We spent a good hour of fun trying everything.... and learning a lot in the process.

 This was a very slippery sample of squid and sea urchin!

Haruko has taught us to buy our own local line train tickets. It takes an enormous amount of concentration on our part!

We met up with Nozomi our wonderful young masseuse again tonight at his favourite ramen restaurant. But I always get performance anxiety eating in front of the fastidious locals - they are always amused by our chopstick capability (lack of).

We finished up the night with a coffee at Starbucks and a great conversation (with Haruko translating) about politics, schools, marathon running (Nozomi is a keen runner) and life for young people in Japan. We both really like Nazomi's spirit and appreciate his great care for us. 

We had to say goodbye to Haruko tonight after a wonderful week of unique experiences with her in Kyushu. Thank goodness we'll see her again in Tokyo at the end of the week!