Toto, I Don't Think We're In Korea Anymore

I'd like to start this post by congratulating the Whittaker family on the birth of Sonia Caroline. She is beautiful and I can not wait to meet her. Give her a giant kiss for me. I love you guys.

We went to Japan this weekend and it was so wonderful. We did and saw so many things and had a blast the whole time. We stayed in Fukuoka, which is in southern Japan.  We got the best of both worlds as the area was beautiful, lush and green with a large, clean city encompassing the landscape. There were also canals and water everywhere. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We visited gardens, shrines, the Fukuoka Tower, a robot land, an island, a zoo, arcades, great restaurants and explored till we dropped. I'll tell our story with the photos this time. 

Sushi go round right after we arrived.

The sushi passes you by on a belt. You choose what you want right from the belt. 

Our favorite Japanese taxi. 

This was a crazy adult arcade/casino. There were tons of weird games and it was so loud in there you had to yell to talk to the person right next to you. The guy with the sunglasses offered me a bite of whatever was in his hand after I took the photo. 

Our hotel room. Very nice. But very Japan-size. :)

Rakusuien Park- a Japanese garden and tea room. The tea rooms were so pint sized. It was like we were in a lovely Japanese doll house. 

Look at those coy fish. That guy wanted a treat. 

So many! I like them. 

In Rakusuien Park.

I can't remember the name of this Temple but it was so colorful and cool.

People ring those as they pray.

Inside worship place.

Brendan really liked this one lion. 

Thirsty?

So pretty.

That little guy was hilarious.

Canal city. About a 5 minute walk from our hotel. This place was huge and full of cool places. 

Inside canal city. Brendan likes this guy. 

Toy floor. 

Kushida Shrine. This place was awesome. Wait until you see what's past those gates. :) 

Suntory Boss is the boss of them all, but I'm sure you already knew that. 

The shrines and temples were so elaborate and colorful. 

He' my favorite. 

It was hard to get a clear picture of this because there is a net wall between us and these guys. 

Walking around the city. 

It's Suntory Time!!

Before dinner. Canal city. 

These are everywhere. Picking where to go for dinner. 

Nakasu, one of the "largest entertainment districts" in western Japan. The night after this we went across the water for a drink. Wait until you see our view :)

Fukuoka tower to peep some good views. 

Fukuoka Tower. 

And again. 

Ont he way to Roboland. 

Roboland. 

Toto, I Don't Think We're In Korea Anymore Cont.

About to go get on the ferry to Uminonakamichi Park. People get married in the castle behind Brendan. It is surrounded by water and so gorgeous. 

We rented bikes at the park. Check out the baby in the front basket. That was one of many.

Rose garden.

We kept joking that these trees whisper, "come here."

The roses were giant!

Brendan was eating ice cream and this monkey kept playing with him and making faces and silly gestures. "Pleaseeeee can I have some?" Look at that face.

So pretty. 

Notice how Brendan is riding on the left path? Everything is like that in Japan. Driver seats are on the right of the car, you drive on the left side of the road, and even the escalators are opposite there. 

This was a really cool obstacle course area within the park.

Look at him go.

Rules for the slide we went down. 

Flower garden. 

Second and last night in Japan. Reallly great special dinner. 

Here's that view from the restaurant we had a drink at I was telling you about. Did I mention we love love love Japan?

We had tempura our last day there, and you pick what you want to eat, pay in a machine and get a ticket, then bring the ticket inside the restaurant.  

Inside and arcade. There were a million of giant crazy games like this. 

This was a giant photo booth store where there were a bunch of giant booths with models plastered on the outside of them. Girls and couple dress up in anime-like costumes and take photos in them. You can pick out your backgrounds, themes, and even write on your photos. We did it!!! But no costumes :( We were leaving to go back to Korea as we saw this place. 

My girl and Brendan's domo. 

Here are our photobooth photos. Sorry about the blurry but this is a picture of a picture. We'll have to scan them. We chose the anime option and it made our eyes big and skin white! HA.