Japan 2020 : DAY 3 - Fukuoka // A Day Trip to Dazaifu

By iameunicegm - 12:37 AM

Since I gotten the weekend to myself, let me just quickly continue writing on Japan Trip 2020. Man, I want the vaccine ASAP so I can travel again! >< 

After a not so busy (Read disappointing) day 2, day 3 was a day filled with laughter, walking, and lots of fun things. Dazaifu is a small town located in Fukuoka where many people (Especially students) head over to Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine to pray for good luck for their exams. It's located in the countryside so it was a nice change from Fukuoka City to a place where mountains are more than the buildings. 

How did we get there? 

We walked from our AirBnB and begin the journey from Nishitetsu Futsukaishi Station where there is a line that leads us straight to Dazaifu Station. The train that we got on is called Tabito, where the theme is seasonal flowers and Dazaifu sightseeing destinations. Different cars have different pattern where it's the five good luck patterns as part of the ambience that overflows with Japanese sensibility. If you want to have a certain wish to come true, you can sit in the car that have the same wish. I managed to write a request on the card but I wrote it for the memento of it when you can put it in Kamado Shrine. 


What did we do? 

Once you reach the station and walked out, fresh air hits your face and you can see the mountains. We had some food here and continue walking in search of the Shrine. There's this street called Tenjinsama-dori where they have tons of shops around, where they sell the local products and yes, there were quite a lot of people who visited when we were there. It's like us Malaysians going to Ipoh or Melaka during the weekend - same vibes. 


Me tryna act cute when Hendriq pulled out the camera while YMK can be seen walking away 

If you did not know, Starbucks in Japan have their own vibes and the one in Dazaifu looks like this. Interesting design huh? 



In Dazaifu, it's well known to try their Umegae mochi (Red bean rice cake). It's being prepared over a cast iron mold over the fire and it's best to eat while it's hot. It's crispy on the outside and goey and sweet on the inside. I took a picture but I forgot to take the picture of the food itself. It ended up pretty quick in Hendriq's and my stomach. 



We finally found the popular spot where people NEED to touch the bull for some extra good stuff and we did! Of course most people are mostly students and neither of us are students, well, except we are students of life. *chewah*


The Lucky Ox


A rare picture of us taken by a stranger


A non existent sakura peeking at us

After going around in the Shrine temple, we finally found a place for food. It is well known to have Gokaku Ramen in Dazaifu, as it is ramen served in a five sided bowl with plum blossom flowers. It's known that after praying for good luck in your exams, students would eat these "passing ramen". The shop, I think many Malaysians would know it, is call Ichiran Ramen. Well, for us, it's just because we would like to try and boy it is the most expensive noodles that I had in my entire life (As of now). Basically, before you enter the shop, there is a machine that you have to use to make your order and pay immediately. Then, you will be ushered into a small-ish bar area where you sit facing a "wall". It's not really a wall but it's a partition between you and the kitchen. Yas, you don't get to see your friends eating and this is suitable for singles to eat a meal. The person behind will lift the bamboo curtain and placed the food in front of you and you eat! This whole meal, cost around 1590 Yen if not mistaken so it's about RM56 if you convert it back to MYR. Expensive no?! but it's a good experience and worth it to try. (Sorry - it's non halal though)


We continue the journey after and there are buses that brings you around for a small fee. I remembered that it was raining and I was glad that we had thick jackets on. 


An open door Shrine


A closed door Shrine


Walking the streets of Japan

We walked and we walked and we continue walking looking for Shrines and historical places. There is one point that we walked till we found this Shrine and boy - you know when you entered a place, and the whole vibes felt off? This was one of the Shrine. There was no one around and the clouds were looking gloomy (It was a raining day) and the whole place looks... quiet.. not quiet in the way that you would like it but more of, let-me-get-the-hell-out-of-here-asap vibes. 


Anyhoos, something funny happened on this day - I fell in love with the pickles in Japan. You know they have side dishes to go with their main meal and they always have pickles and it's kinda hard to find in Malaysia. There is a shop in Tenjinsama-dori street that allows you to get free samples of their food and you can get pickles, puffer fish soup or even rice (Which is super soft). I bought a packet to bring it back to Malaysia and it was in a plastic bag. Now, if you have been to Japan, this may not be a fun fact but...

Fun fact : There is hardly any rubbish bin in Japan. You have to bring home your rubbish and sort it out accordingly. 


So, along the day, we had rubbish of course so I put everything into the same plastic bag. We were in a mall, resting when YMK decided to help to throw out the rubbish. 

Disclaimer : Conversation may slightly differ but the meaning is based on true experience. 

YMK : Hey, I throw this away yea? 
EGM : Yeah, sure. Thank you. 
*YMK threw the whole bag away* 


It was in the train, halfway back to Fukuoka, after a long day, that I realized something was amiss. IT WAS THE FREAKING PICKLES! IT WAS IN THE BAG! I JUST THREW AWAY A FRESH, BAG OF PICKLES! (Technically, I allowed this to happened but sigh)

EGM : *in the train day dreaming* WAIT - WHERE IS THE PLASTIC BAG?!?!
YMK : What plastic bag? 
EGM : You know - the one with pickles? 
YMK : Errrr - I think we threw it out 
EGM : NOOOOO - WHY DID YOU THREW IT?!?!
YMK : Well, YOU TOLD ME I CAN THREW IT?!

And till today, although I know it's not his fault but dang dude - why din check?!?! *sob sob* (A disappointed Malaysian not having her pickles)

Once we got back into the city, we went for another round of food and even had the opportunity to hit a bar. In Fukuoka, there are certain streets that comes to light after sunset and although I don't remember the exact name of the bar (Cause we were just walking around looking for the vibes that we like), it was fun as I remembered the bar was a tiny shop that allows people to sit around the counter or at the table looking out into the streets. We had some drinks and some salted edamame and made our way back home after a long day. 


Dinner set


One and only nice picture of the bar (background) with YMK in the focus 

At the end of the day... 

We walked a lot, see pretty nice Shrines and historical places and even got our reading done but... it was in Japan AND we did not take into consideration that none of us could read Japanese. Dazaifu was one of the nice place that I would need to go back. I NEED MY PICKLES! 

Day four would be a day where we moved out from the city to another city. Stay tuned! 

xoxo,
eunicegm.

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2 comments

  1. never been here, its in my list but got canceled due to covid ! sigh

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