| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kitchen table in my first Fukuoka apartment.
Viewed: 199 times.
|
| Kotatsu table in Justyna's apartment. Justyna's first job in Japan was to teach english full-time in Yamaguchi City. We visited each other on weekends.
Viewed: 204 times.
|
| Fukuoka Nihongo Center. My purpose in Fukuoka City was to study Japanese, which I initially did full-time.
Viewed: 172 times.
|
| Justyna and me at the Immigration office, where we would visit a number of times during our stay in Japan. Justyna moved to Fukuoka to enroll in school and I eventually quit school to work full time, both of which required status changes.
Viewed: 165 times.
|
| Here is the apartment in Fukuoka that we found together. The Ooshima Building is ugly inside and out, but our place had an unusually high amount of space. And the location put us very close to the center of town.
Viewed: 176 times.
|
|
| | | | |
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
We also had two large balconies, from which we could see both the sunset and the shinkansen bullet trains off in the distance.
Viewed: 166 times.
|
| Ooshima Building storefronts. The store pictured here is a dry cleaner. To the left is a noodle shop we never visited in our two years at this address.
Viewed: 170 times.
|
| Our local bus stop. It was nice to have the bus schedules posted right on the stop. And of course, being Japan, the busses were always on time.
Viewed: 173 times.
|
| Although our surroundings were as ugly as most Japanese neighborhoods, we were very fortunate to live near a beautiful park, San No Koen.
Viewed: 162 times.
|
| On the left is a gigantic pachinko parlor. On the right is Japan's worst takeout food chain, Hokka Hokka Tei. I guess their chicken was OK, but not worth the $5.
Viewed: 176 times.
|
|
| | | | |
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beer and Sake vending machines
Viewed: 166 times.
|
| Japanese "kissaten" coffee shop. Until the arrival of Starbucks and SBC, most cafes in Japan were of the kissaten variety; full of thick comic books, thick smoke, bad coffee, and weird snacks.
Viewed: 189 times.
|
| Fukuoka was famous for one cool shopping mall: Canal City. This vertical, mostly outdoor mall, actually had a man-made canal running through the center. This picture shows the entrance.
Viewed: 193 times.
|
| View from the bus window
Viewed: 161 times.
|
| Justyna enjoys a delicious meal at one of our favorite restaurants in Japan. This exclusive eatery was situated in a beautiful setting adjacent to a Shinto shrine. Every item on the menu included tofu.
Viewed: 158 times.
|
|
| | | | |
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yamakasa Festival
Viewed: 174 times.
|
| "Marine Catcher!"
The object of the game was to capture a live lobster with the bear claw. Yes, it actually comes out the slot in the bottom!
Viewed: 172 times.
|
| Fake Food, restaurant window
Viewed: 170 times.
|
| Yakitori stand.
Viewed: 170 times.
|
| One era of our stay in Japan ended and another began right at this moment, as we were confronted by Paul, proprietor of the until-then only western coffee shop in Fukuoka. He caught us sitting a the newly opened SBC coffee shop. Justyna and I would later be pictured on the cover of Fukuoka Magazine sitting in this same spot.
Viewed: 211 times.
|
|
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Album: 1998-2001 
1 
