Truth to tell, I was a little apprehensive about the walking tour scheduled for Day 02 from mid-morning onward — specifically because the first day’s weather was so humid that I wasn’t looking forward to another day perspiring buckets in the hot sun again. Thankfully, the weather was significantly cooler on the second day. I reckon it was several degrees lower in fact, with highs reaching about 28 degrees Celsius, and there was also a strong breeze throughout.
Even luckier was that I turned out to be the only guest on the walking tour. My host was a middle-aged lady — probably in her early fifties — Miwako Okada, and she spoke pretty good English. We didn’t have any language problems when she shared the history of Fukuoka City: its origins as a port city, why the port quarter is well away from Ohori Park and the castle ruins (historically, the residences and merchants in between were intended to act as a buffer in case of invasion), and each place’s significance and meaning. Our conversations even wandered into photography and Adobe Lightroom, on account that she was a Canon DSLR user.
The 2 hour 40 minute walking tour covers a number of locations, in this sequence: Hakata Station => Jotenji Temple => Tochoji Temple => Hakata Machiya Folk Museum => Kushida Shrine => Kawabata Shopping Avenue => Hakata Traditional Craft Center. There were limitations to photography in a couple of places too, but there were no issues with photo-taking on the exteriors of each place we visited.
Brief notes on Hakata Station: the station underwent a major refurbishment eight years ago, and there were plans underway for a grand celebration and ceremony on 12 March 2011. But the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami the day before that far up north put a serious dampening of spirits in the city as well. Miwako also gave a quick orientation of Hakata City — the shopping mall that sits on top of the station — and especially where the restaurants for casual dining were. Something I’ll definitely check out soon!
The first stop: Jōten-ji, a Rinzai temple that was completed 850 years ago. It’s gone through several rounds of refurbishment, so it doesn’t nearly look its age. There weren’t any other visitors on the temple grounds in the mid-morning.
Summary: Beautiful temple and worth a visit of around 30 minutes.
The walking tour continues in the next post!
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