We made it to Hakata Station in Fukuoka City at about 11:00 (45 min train ride from Orio). The races weren't scheduled to begin until 13:30 so we had some time to explore and look around. Just like Kokura Station, Hakata Station has its own AMU Plaza. Theirs is even nicer and larger. We looked around inside at the different stores and found a huge UNIQLO on the 8th floor. Before that, we walked by niko and ... and I kept walking because I knew that if I went inside I would buy something. They were having their summer sale and some of the pieces I had been eyeing were already marked down. It was tempting, but I held out.
Our next stop was the Starbucks in Canal City. Canal City is very similar to the Riverwalk near Kokura ... it's just better. They have H&M, Uniqlo, Zara, Disney, ... and many other stores. At Starbucks I bought a Fukoka cup to add to my collection. I also ordered my signature grande soy latte, hot.
I cannot say enough how efficient Starbucks in Japan are. They're always crowded but you don't realize it because there's not a lot of downtime. The line keeps moving and even if you're waiting in line there's wifi, or a barista has given you a menu to look at, or they're even trying to take your order ahead of time.
Here's how it played out:
We found a rooftop patio park where we could watch the event from. The view was amazing and I felt like I was worlds away.
We never actually saw the SUP Race, but we watched SUP Polo and SUP Yoga. The race was a mystery because I saw all the buoys and the actual course, I just never saw the competitors. Maybe I had the times wrong or maybe I completely misunderstood the event website. It was all in Japanese.
Dean and Deluca had their booth but they weren't selling their Frappes. They were selling drinks though!
We eventually moved over to the canal where we watched the events from the sidelines and drank champagne. It kind of felt like were at a Yacht Club for the afternoon.
For lunch we had ramen in Canal City. We tried to go to the Craft Beer Garden but it wasn't open for lunch. We also tried a pizza café on the water and ran into the same problem. It wasn't open until dinner. The ramen we had at Canal City was really good though.
After lunch we headed to Nishijin Station and took the train to Fukuoka Tower. The tower is right across the street from the beach and is a well known landmark and tourist attraction in Fukuoka City. I have been wanting to see it ever since I found out that I would be coming to this area of Japan.
So we ended our day with more champagne on the beach.
Disclosure: I had one major failure today. I lost my IC card for the train. On the train ride back I must've dropped it. Luckily, when I got to Orio and went to the ticket/fare exchange booth to explain what happened, the guys were very understanding and one even spoke English. I explained that I didn't need my card returned (I had receipts to show I reloaded it with money), I just wanted to pay for the fair so I could leave the station. They told me not to worry about it and they waived the fare. So even though I lost my card there was silver lining at the end of the night. And I'm going to be positive and hope that someone finds my card and actually uses it. For them it will really be free train fare. -- positive vibes yield good karma. That's what I'm telling myself.
& thank you to these three for adventuring with me today. Especially O, my photographer. Maybe we'll be back July 29th for the "kind of sort of" Kygo Show.
