Japan trip 2024 day 15: Kasuga and last night in Fukuoka

Goodbye Kumamoto. 1 day was not enough.
 

Back at Hakata station. Put my bag down in hotel.

Tried to use my suica to get on the Nanakuma line and confirmed my suica is dead. I had been using my JR pass and card stopped working in or before Nagasaki but did not occur to me that card could die. Was it the heat or just that the card was super old?

Station guy said I have to talk to JR in Tokyo since it is a Suica. At one point I had about 15000 yen on my card and before it died, it had about 4600 yen on it. I think the maximum you can put on a suica is 15000 yen. I am glad it did not die when I had 5 digits on it. I was using my suica a lot because a lot more places accept payment by IC card.

Now I have a Sugoca. When I got back to Tokyo I was told my card was dead and there is no way to get my money back. Noooo. Could have had a very, very nice dinner with that money.

Anyway, my next stop was Kasuga station. I did not go to Kasuga just because it is the name of the Ryu ga Gotoku main character, my main destination was the Surugaya in Kasuga which google tells me is a 40 minute walk.

Is this photocalysts air purifier panel thing real?

I don't think I have been to a Hotto Motto since my first trip.

The main thing in Kasuga is a jietai/SDF base right behind this building.

I was getting hungry and I spot a KFC. Do I want to waste one meal on KFC in Japan?

I soldiered on, went past a Pizza Hut and half an hour later arrived at Surugaya which is right next to a bookstore.

Unfortunately they did not have Breath of Fire 2 GBA which is the last must buy game on my list.

First time I have seen Panzer Dragoon 1&2 collection.

As well as Willy Wombat on Saturn.

GBAs are not cheap.

Didn't buy anything expensive. Drag on Dragoon 3 is supposed to be janky but its a Yoko Taro game.

Very nice house on way back.

Caved in and got a tsukimi burger at KFC. Not bad but McDonald's was better.

Taking train back to Hakata station.

Cheerleading competition at Hakata station.

This is an earthquake simulator. People are lining up to sit down and hold on for dear life.

Looks like Japan has got their fair share of vaccine deniers but at least they are peaceful.

Went to Junkudo.

Looks like they have a new print of Sanctuary, one of my favourite mangas ever and they have this guy's face to promote it saying that he recommends it.

Bought a kanji book for JLPT N1. I already have mock exam book for N1 and the day before this year's registration opened I tried the mock exam and the vocabulary part made me sweat. I watch the news, movies and play games and vocabulary should not make me sweat. Made me realise the jump from N2 to N1 is larger than N3 to N2. If I want to pass N1, I have to actually study for it and not just learn from gaming/jdorama/karaoke. I don't think I can find the time though. 

Went back to hotel for a rest and Yoshitaka Yuriko was promoting Hikaru Kimi E on tv. The fans were really into it and the program was saying how popular it had become taiga dorama based on Genji Monogatari had become. 

I was killing time waiting for the Nakasu branch of Issou to open since it only opens at night. Now to find out whether the original Issou is not as good or I have been eating too much Hakata ramen. A queue had already formed right before opening.

Getting hungry.

I can confirm that Issou Nakasu is awesome. Soo good! Might give the original shop another go one day but glad I have not eaten too much Hakata ramen.

So many years I still have not eaten at a yatai. 

Canal City.

Ichibankuji and still no Berserk. What is going on?

Hi, I recognise this dude! RIP Tsugawa Masahiko who I will always remember as the boss from Salaryman Kintaro. This was a program about Asadoras and he was playing the dad in Miotsukushi who disowns his daughter because she wanted to get married to someone he did not approve of.

Japan trip 2024 day 14: Kumamoto and All About Suomi jmovie review

Kumamon head at Kumamoto station. I actually wanted to go back to Fukuoka to take it easy but I could not get a hotel there on this Sunday. Getting hotels on Sundays is difficult and it was a 3 day weekend as well. My only choices were Kokura and Kumamoto and I decided on Kumamoto since I have not been back in ages.

Kumamoto sake festival next to the station. It was still early when I arrived and it had started to rain.

It was not as hot but it was miserably muggy. I was just glad that I have gone past the halfway point of the trip and no typhoons, quakes, heatstroke, covid and I was doing very well budget wise.

There is an Amu Plaza next to Kumamoto station now.

And a Bic Camera on the other side, albeit a smaller than usual one. Kumamoto has changed. The train station used to have nothing.

Went into Amu Plaza and they had this nice waterfall going on.

 

Put my bag down and went straight to Komurasaki, the OG Kumamoto ramen.

I will never forget the first time I had Komurasaki at the Shin Yokohama ramen museum and my mind was blown away. Now I would rate it as not bad.

Forgot that the old arcade in the basement has been replaced by a bookstore and Tsutaya. Finally time to buy Berserk.

Ended up buying 41 and 42 because I forgot if I had 41 so I now have 2 copies of 41.

I also received a gift from my friend, a Micchan towel from Slam Dunk.

You can see a suspicious looking fella waving from the top right of the building. Hard to see in the photo. Maybe time to spend money on a phone with good camera.

Food stalls with the concept of food that goes well with rice. It was drizzling and miserable weather.

Kumamoto castle in the distance...

Had a bit of Unagi to kill time.

I had decided that it was a rainy day was the perfect time for a movie.

The movie was Suomi no hanashi wo shiyou or All About Suomi by Mitani Koki. Nagasawa Masami plays Suomi, the wife of a wealthy. The rich guy gets this police officer played by Nishijima Hidetoshi to help investigate her disappearance but doesn't want it reported to the police. Nishijima also happens to be Suomi's ex husband and the the rich guy and police officer find out that both their idea of who Suomi are very different.

We are then introduced to the other husbands who were each married to a very different Suomi and comedy is who is the real Suomi. This is very much a Mitani Koki mystery movie set mostly in one set, which is the rich guy's house. Its is more similar to a two part episode of Furuhata Ninzaburo.

Sequel movie to Oda Yuji's Odoru Daisosasen. I never understood why it was so popular. Anyway, Nagasawa Masami steals the movie but I did not find it as funny as it tried to be. The worst part is when the truth was revealed, it gave me a feeling of so what?

There is an ending song and dance at the end about a certain city but there was no point to the movie unless you found it that funny. All About Suomi is a very meh movie. I don't dislike it but there is not really a story there. Better to rewatch 2 episodes of Furuhata Ninzaburo.

Went to Katsuretsu Tei.

And ordered the roppaku kurobuta (black pig) roast katsu with prawn.

So effing juicy. I love kurobuta tonkatsu. So good.

Went for a walk and came across this yatai village.

Did not go to Kumamoto castle in the end.

There are more tourists in Kumamoto than I can remember.

I was walking around and realised all the bars I used to go in Kumamoto are gone. I'll save my drinking money for Tokyo but Kumamoto is cheaper.

1 streetpass! I wanted to go to Tengaiten which was my favourite Kumamoto ramen place but it only opens at night. They actually opened one at Kumamoto station. Unfortunately I fell asleep because I was too tired.