I leave Kagoshima on the on the 9.42am bullet train. And when they say 9.42, they mean it. They leave dead on time. When they stop at a station you have about two minutes to get off and alighting passengers to get on. They announce when the stops are approaching and that is your cue to get ready and wait at the exit door. This is an extremely efficient system that is only possible with the Japanese tenacity for rules and order. It would never work in Australia.
I arrive at Fokuoka at 11.07am just as it said I would on the ticket. Starring out at me from the cover of a tourist brochure is Nick Cummins (or better known as the Honey Badger). He is an ex wallaby rugby player who has signed up to play in Japan for a season or two. He’s playing for a Coca Cola sponsored team here in Fokuoka. I manage to find my hotel via the subway.
Across the highway is a park and historical area. The park has a lake and is a popular, comfortable public space surrounded by city. The historical area used to be a baseball stadium, which ironically led to preserving a very important archaeological site. There used to be a palace here but well before that, in the seventh century, it used to be a guest house or Korokan. These Korokans were Japan’s contact with the world. International diplomats were hosted here and Japanese diplomats launched from here on diplomatic missions. There were only three Korokans in all of Japan but only here in Fokuoka have they found hard evidence of one. The locations of the others are only speculations. Archaeologist know how far and wide this diplomacy travelled by the ceramics that have been dug up here. A palace was later built on top in the 1800s I think, then after WW2, a baseball stadium. With the stadium here, the city developed all around. The stadium has since been moved and this site has been preserved for further investigation.
Ironically it was a pathologist, Dr Nakayama Heijiro, that theorised there was a Korokan here. Sadly he died in 1956 before his theory was proven.
Fokuoka is famous for its ramen noodles so I find a little place down near the harbour. Unfortunately there’s no English so I’m not sure if I got the special local version of ramen noodles or not.
angusmccoll 