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Hey Hive/Steemit!
So if you didn't catch the last couple of posts, we're currently on a journey in Fukuoka that we went on back in May 2017! Neither of us had ever been to that part of Japan before and since there were some cheap flights we decided to go explore a new region together! Here we go!
Last week, we started our day by going to visit Japan's tallest seaside structure - Fukuoka Tower! We went by in the late afternoon in anticipation for the perfect viewing during the sunset. But we were a little too early, so in the meantime we went to explore the beach and had a little picnic!
After which, we proceeded up the tower so we would have ample time to see it in daylight before night fell.
I kinda cut the post a little abruptly so let's get right back to it!
25 May 2017. Thursday.
Here's the view from the observatory, which is on the 5th floor at 123m high!
There are actually 3 observatories in Fukuoka Tower - one at 116 metres, a café/lounge deck at 120 metres, and the highest at 123 metres above the ground. Above this level rises a 111-metre television mast, which accounts for the rest of the height (Cr: Wikipedia).
The tower itself is quite a unique shape; the entire tower is triangular, which looks cool on the outside but inside it actually gets quite cramped.
We actually didn't notice that it was triangular from the outside. I think you have to be at a certain angle to really see it like this:
Source: ZEKKEI Japan
The observatory was actually quite informative; they even showed you which direction this point was facing and which countries were in that same direction! I guess if you have super vision you could really see Singapore from here.?
We initially thought the observatory was quite empty but then we saw a whole tour group, and it got quite claustrophobic pretty quick with how narrow the space was.
There was a 3D ramen art on the floor of the observatory but I wasn't sure from which angle you were supposed to photograph it. And also there was that lady standing right there, so whatever.
There was also this kiosk setup called Lover's Sanctuary, where I guess you could receive a message from the goddess of the moon if you paid 100yen, but the card is only in Japanese so there's not really a point if you can't read it.
But on the other side of the observatory was this whole string of love locks!
I guess that's why it's called Lover's Sanctuary. Tbh I don't really see the point of this but I guess it's just a fun couple thing people like to do. Most of the locks look the same though so I guess it'll be quite difficult to even find yours in the future if they ever came back.
They also had a really nice heart-shaped flower arch setup in the north corner!
And the special thing about this arch was that there were some panels on either side and something special would happen if two people put their hands on it at the same time!
It was so cool! I wonder if this installation is just here all the time, but I imagine so. It seems like quite a waste to have it only for a limited time.
Anyway, the sun was setting pretty soon so we decided to head to the cafe to rest our feet and relax while we enjoyed the sunset seaside view.
Most of the cafe menu were desserts or drinks. They did have some mains there too, but they were pretty expensive (as expected) and since we weren't sure if it was good, we just decided to get pancakes!
Thankfully the cafe was quite empty at the time. We made sure to go there ahead of the tour group we saw so we could get good seats for the sunset.
The pancakes were alright; they weren't that warm though and tasted kinda bland tbh. So I'm glad we didn't have to spend on one dish each at least because it seems like the food wasn't that great. But the view more than made up for it though, so there's that.
Unfortunately, the glass windows themselves were actually quite dirty, so the pictures came out a little blurry. I wonder if they actually even clean these windows, and if so, how when it's so high up??
It was definitely a breathtaking view though, with the sun slowly setting behind the islands in the distance. Man, what a sight.
We stayed in the cafe for about 45 minutes until we couldn't see the sun anymore. I think the only thing that could've made this view better was if the tower had an open-air area like Harukas 300! Imagine feeling the sea breeze on your face as you enjoy the sunset view.
Anyway, after that we took the elevator back down to the ground floor, where we saw this goofy photo standee and couldn't resist taking a photo with it!
After we exited the tower, we found out there was a prime photo taking spot so you could actually see the triangle shape of the tower!
So we managed to get a nice shot of the tower at night, with its many little lights!
It actually looked really nice at night! So I'm glad we came and stayed as late as we did.
After that we were kinda hungry and I was craving some meat at the time. But there wasn't really any Gyu-Kaku nearby so we went to check out this other place that definitely looked too high-class for us.
It's called Jojoen and I guess we went to the one at Hakata station, but they specialise in Hakata beef and we figured why not.
But I could tell that we were definitely out of our league here. I think we were the only young people there and the rest of the tables seemed like business meetings.
The service was really good though, and we even had nice bibs not like in Gyu-Kaku.
Unfortunately the menu was entirely in Japanese so we had some trouble ordering. For how much we like steak we're actually really unfamiliar with the different cuts and stuff since we don't eat it too often. So to order in English is hard enough, much less Japanese.
So we made the huge mistake of ordering horumon (ホルモン) which is basically liver! I think it was probably one of the cheapest items on there so we decided to try it, even though we didn't know what it was! We're not fans of eating organs because of the bloody taste so this was a huge bummer.
I mean we did try a piece or two, but even grilled to crisp it was still the iron taste was still too much for us. I tried to eat as much as I could but we couldn't finish the plate unfortunately.
We also ordered a small plate of sirloin at least, and that one taste decent, but tbh I couldn't really tell the difference between this expensive one and the ones we can get at Gyu-Kaku. So maybe it's just the service and experience that makes it expensive.
But the horumon definitely ruined this meal for us for sure. Sigh. If only they just had English translations! We used Google translate for most of it but even Google didn't know what horumon was unfortunately. Oh well, at least now we learned what it was and will never order it again.
At the end of the "meal", we each got a nice dessert in the form of a frozen white chocolate heart! It was actually quite pleasant in rounding off the meal.
But the horumon definitely scarred us for life, and confirmed our belief that these high-class expensive restaurants are totally not worth it when there are more affordable and accessible options available. Never again!
Welp I guess that's all for now. Tune in next week when we go to another special place! Here's a teaser:
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #98 (Japan 4.0: Fukuoka): Seaside Fun at Fukuoka Tower! 🏖
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