Taking the Romancing Saga train from Nishitetsu Karatsu station to Nishitetsu Minami Tenjin station. Something tells me I will be back one day.
Took train to Hakata station and then Shinkansen to Kokura. I think this is first time using Shinkansen without JR Pass. Learned that you get two tickets and then put both in when going through the ticket gate.
Damn, the price of the FF collection on switch has gone crazy. Maybe should have bought it but replaying FF6 and finishing FF5 is low on my list of priorities.
Went to this shopping centre called ChaCha Town in Kokura.
ChaCha Town has a nice big Book Off, Nitori and Ferris wheel as well as a stage in the middle where there are performances everyday. Feels like a retro shopping centre.
Dinner was Tenjin Horumon which was pretty good but a big expensive.
Kokura lit up like a christmas tree, same as Fukuoka. The words on the right say Kokura and the building on the right is the NHK building.
Same christmas market stalls and food.
First time staying overnight in Kokura despite coming here many times. I also could not get a hotel room for a reasonable price in Fukuoka. It was all booked out on Thursday to Sat two months ago!
Kouyou and lights always look amazing.
They had a light show with music going on at the river.
Kokura castle was lit up as well.
Castle gates.
Going up the castle steps. Too bad the leaves have fallen.
This looks so nice with the water reflection.
Kokura castle garden.
View from castle gardens.
Christmas tree in the NHK building.
Nothing like finishing your night with chicken skin.
DQ3 and Fantasian are new and I've finished Dark Souls twice but I would be nice playing it handheld. I should have spent a bit more money and gotten Biohazard 4 Gold Edition new. Oh well. Happy to have a physical copy Ouendan 2 after spending so much time playing the games.
Woke up in the morning to news that the non-reserved seats on Nozomi shinkansen are being reduced! Noo! I like using tthem because they are slightly cheaper than reserved. I would not pay reserved for Hakata to Kokura.
Arriving at Karatsu station.
Dropped my bag and off to Karatsu castle
Nice to see autumn leaves still around.
Beautiful.
Karatsu castle.
Beautiful views.
Anyway, I did not go on this trip to watch NJPW. After I booked my flights, I started to look around for any events I could go to and what do you know?
This place is so retro, especially the signs.
Got the yakisoba which was nothing special.
I love how retro this shop looks.
UNESCO heritage Kunshi floats.
I originally booked a hotel in Saga city since I assumed that the event place must be near the capital city of Saga prefecture.
Then luckily my friend told me that Karatsu was not easy to get from Saga. Looked it up and there was a bus to the gymnasium from Saga but it only ran until a certain time and and might take close to an hour. Luckily managed to book a hotel in Karatsu.
So the question is why would NJPW run a show in a small town like Karatsu when they could have run it in a bigger town like Saga?
The answer lies in this promo video from NJPW promoting Karatsu-shi that they played at least twice before the show started. Do not watch this video if you do not want this song in your head and it basically became the soundtrack of my trip. lol
Tomoaki Honma was the shilling his own t-shirt. First thing I noticed was his biceps were crazy huge.
Tanahashi and Liger book promoting Karatsu.
Tanahashi came out and talked about how Karatsu approached NJPW during the pandemic to do shows in Karatsu and that this was the last year of the 3 year deal. The pandemic really screwed up NJPW because they rely so much on tickets for revenue. In the end Tanahashi asked if it was ok for NJPW to come back to Karatsu again.
It took me 40 mins to walk from my hotel to the Karatsu City Cultural Gymnasium.
Gabe Kidd got a decent reception from the crowd.
The 2nd best thing of the night was Gabe Kidd putting the beatdown on a young lion and then asking for a microphone and singing the Sagaken Karatsu-shi song and purposely ending it badly. Hilarious and it got him over with the crowd.
Heel SANADA dragging Yoshi Hashi around. When you are watching on tv, it looks boring but when you are at the show it is exciting because you get to see the wrestlers up close.
Umino Shita doing his 5 minute high-fiving, baby kissing entrance.
I did not sell out and high five Umino Shota.
The funniest thing was Umino Shota getting a beatdown but the crowd was not reacting. Then Honma's raspy voice reverberated shouting Shota! Shota! before the crowd joined in. Honma does a great job helping Shota get cheers but Shota's clean babyface shtick doesn't work.
At least I got to see Tanashi before he retires in a year plus. He can't run properly and he has got no lift anymore.
The main event had Hiromu doing a fake heel turn. I could not believe I was witnessing history because I starting this that HoT has too many Jrs already.
The highlight of the night was of course, Naito's daigasho or roll call. So good to be able to chant along live!
Walking on narrow inaka streets with limited lights and cars passing you closely can be scary. I walked to the nearest train station and then took a short ride back to Karatsu station instead of walking all the way. My friend said don't worry because there are no drunk drivers in the inaka but inaka roads are just not made for walking.
Just returned from a 13 day Kyushu trip and I am so tired and my brain is mush.
Went straight to Kurokatsutei at Hakata station for black pig goodness!
It was raining and while that was bad for the outdoor seats, it was great for the ground because the water reflected the illuminations outside Hakata station.
First time I had flown into Fukuoka international airport. The most amazing thing is that the airport is on 2 stops from Hakata station!
It takes 1 hr plus to get from Narita to central Tokyo using normal train. I think Osaka was 40 mins?
Whoever had the great idea to make the airport that close to the city centre is a genius! It does take 10 mins to take the bus from international to domestic to catch the train but that is a small price to pay. You can see the poster for Doctor X Final movie which came out yesterday I think.
New ramen place I tried called Ichiryu in Nakasu.
Not bad, they went crazy on the sesame seeds which I assume is their signature. Would definitely go again.
Went to Shinshin under Kitte on the basement level. Got chahan beside the usual kaedama.
Went to the Kurume central park.
Found this game shop called Vita. At first I went to the shop one the left which only had manga and trading cards. Luckily saw a sign that said game shop in the next shop.
Found a decent priced Initial D and Big 3 Gun Shooting.
Went to Taiho ramen Kurume again and it was very ok. I do not know why it gets talked up so much. I don't dislike it but it loses to so many other tonkotsu ramen placed.
Caught up with a friend who brought me to Tomimatsu Unagi.
This is actually koi or carp meat. First time ever.
Then it was unajyuu time. The muddle one was salted unagi.
Went to the Kurume art gallery to feed some koi to say sorry for eating them.
You can buy the feed for 50 yen I think.
Then we had Yakiniku at Niku no Nakatsuru. Fun fact, the building it is situated in a used yakuza building which has a car park.
Yum, Nagahama No.1!
Fukuoka really getting into Xmas.
A lot of stands selling mulled wine and food.
Kuroge wagyu burger and Moss chicken from Moss Burger. It has taken me so long to realise that Moss Kitchen actually does chicken! Unfortunately the burger and chicken were just meh.
Sazaesan has it's first new character in 39 years. lol.
Do not ever eat ramen at a shopping centre. Horrible excuse for ramen at Lalaport.
Giant Gundam at Lalaport.
My favourite find of the trip, a Metal Gear Solid jacket from GU!
I love how it has the name of all Cobra Unit members at the back
Steakhouse Volks: Not worth the money. Would have been happier at Pepper Lunch.
Went to the Gion branch of Hataka-ramen issou.
Not bad. I think Nakasu is still my favourite of the 3. Can't believe the main store is the worst one though I have to give it one more try.
Bought some nice reading material from Maruzen. Did notice it was difficult to find older artbooks in Kyushu.
Same christmas market stalls and food.
First time staying overnight in Kokura despite coming here many times. I also could not get a hotel room for a reasonable price in Fukuoka. It was all booked out on Thursday to Sat two months ago!
Kouyou and lights always look amazing.
They had a light show with music going on at the river.
Kokura castle was lit up as well.
Castle gates.
Going up the castle steps. Too bad the leaves have fallen.
Kokura castle garden.
View from castle gardens.
Christmas tree in the NHK building.
Nothing like finishing your night with chicken skin.
DQ3 and Fantasian are new and I've finished Dark Souls twice but I would be nice playing it handheld. I should have spent a bit more money and gotten Biohazard 4 Gold Edition new. Oh well. Happy to have a physical copy Ouendan 2 after spending so much time playing the games.
