Fukuoka

We made it to Fukuoka and, despite the fact that we had been traveling go 18 straight hours with only a little sleep, we took the subway into the city (it's really easy).  We stopped first at the train station to pick up our rail passes.  The only reason I mention it is that the employees of the railway companies are so polite - dressed in clean uniforms and, when they leave your presence to go to the back room for some paperwork, they exit walking backwards, bowing as they leave.

Our hotel (Hotel Okura Fukuoka) is modern and very nice.  The bellman (actually is was a young girl, but bell girl didn't seem apt) was really taken in a very sweet way by Andrea's facility with Japanese.  After we had gone out of the hotel (more on that later), when we returned she left her post to greet us and walked us to the elevator, chatting us up (or at least chatting Andrea up with me playing Charlie McCarthy!).

The eel restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, but the original one, from which this one was spawned, was a short walk away.  We decided to go out.  The walk there was through an "entertainment" district in Fukuoka - lots of clubs, bars, dance places, etc.  A lot of activity for a Monday night.  Hostesses - who appeared to us at first to be "working girls" - stood outside these establishments urging patrons in.  The patrons appeared to be mostly Japanese businessmen, usually in groups of three or four, a number of whom seemed to have been pretty drunk.  It was all a little sketchy if you ask me.

Tuesday on to Karatsu.  The weather is gorgeous.  Yay!

The eel restaurant was great.  A real hole in the wall, with seats at a bar for 5 and three booths that could accommodate 8 more people.  When we arrived, there were 4 businessmen at the bar, finishing up a night on the town.  The place was the "real deal."  No English menu and no English spoken.  But good eel on rice and a beer hit the spot after what was not pushing 20+ hours of traveling.