There is a new tourist bus in Fukuoka called the green line. It was introduced almost one year ago and seems like a really good idea for new tourists in Fukuoka! It costs 250yen to get on one time, and 750 for a one-day norihoudai pass. The bus stops are strategically placed on famous sights throughout the city, including Tenjin, Canal city and Fukuoka Tower.

The interior is completely different from the other “normal” buses. It has wooden and green design and it is definitely more comfy to sit in this bus for a longer time. There is also guidance in several different languages, including English and Chinese.

Me and my friends took the bus from Canal city to Fukuoka Tower and took a look at the city from up high. The only problem is that the green line bus stops quite early, so we had to take a normal bus back to Tenjin.

IMS, or InterMediaStation, is a shopping and culture center in central Tenjin. It is accessible from Watanabe dori and from the Tenjin Chikagai. The building is round and very easy to spot. The first couple of floors in the building is all about shopping. There are several different brands, and be sure to check out the first floor for a 300-yen shop and an International Plaza with various international products (including Swedish!).

Higher up you can find car retailers, so if you are looking to buy a car this is perfect for you I have no idea how they got the cars up to those floors in the first place, but that’s just a part of the magic I guess.

In the middle of the building there are usually some activities or commercial of some sort, and in February there is a “Love Festa” here where you can write your secret love message to your special someone.

It might be good to know that there also is an “International Forum” in IMS, so if you are foreign visitor, or want to make friends with foreigners this is the place for you.

Kego koen is a park in central Tenjin, right next to Solaria Plaza. It is quite easy to get here so it is natural meet up spot. The park has a beautiful pond in the middle which is decorated with amazing light shows in the winter. In the middle there is a wide open area where skateboarders and other cool younglings usually hang out. There tend to be a lot of activities here in general including musical performances, campaigns and other things.

Directly connected to the park is the Kego shrine. This is very beautiful shrine and it is nice that is located so centrally.

Tenchika (天地下）, or Tenjin Chikagai (天神地下街） is an underground shopping street that runs along Watanabe dori. Here you can find a lot of nice shopping, but mainly smaller independent shops. Some of the bigger chains, like Comme Ca Mono, are represented however so you will probably find what you are looking for.

The Tenchika is connected with the surrounding buildings, so it is possible to go practically anywhere underground. So for example on a rainy day you can go from the subway through the Tenchika directly to IMS, Tenjin Mina or Solariza Plaza without getting wet!

Tenchika was extended to the south a couple of years ago, and the new section feels more modern and looks nicer. This means that the subway stations Tenjin and Tenjin Minami are now connected, and you can walk between them without any hassle. 

Canal city is a shoppers Mecca. It is an artificially made shopping city with hundreds of shops and restaurants conveniently placed between Hakata and Tenjin. There are so many shops here that you could not possibly finish them all in one day, and there are different sections for different shopping styles, including a kids corner on the lower floors.  

The city itself is built around a “water canal” that hosts different water displays, including a 10 meter high fountain accompanied with a musical concert.

I love just to walk around this place and look at people and couples having fun. It is a great place to go with your friends as it is quite easy to continue to other parts of the city from here as well.

On the picture to the top left the main stage is shown. If there isn’t any show currently going on, then your are free to go there and take a look at the beautiful architecture. The first floor usually gets really crowded with kids and families, but you can see the performance from the other floors as well. The stage is perfect for performances that require a lot of open space vertically, as it is some 20 meters to the ceiling. The ceiling however is half open, so the canal is still under bare sky.

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On the top floor there is a massive cinema complex that runs the latest movies. I’m not sure whether or not they have 3D movies, but I think so. This is one of the biggest cinemas in Fukuoka and it really fun to go there.

Fukuoka tower is on of the main attractions in Fukuoka, and as a tourist you should definitely not miss it. You will get a great overview of the city, and lots of guidance and information about various parts of the city as well. If you have a Fukuoka Welcome card (available at the airport etc.) or a Green line bus pass you can get some discount on the admission.

The tower is also used as the radio transmitter for the local radio and television station, and in fact most of the inside is just empty space even though it kinda looks like an office building. The observation decks are on the top two or three floors and there a restaurant as well.

To get here, you either get on the green line bus, or you take a normal bus and get of at the Fukuoka Tower (福岡タワー） bus station, which takes about 20 minutes or so from Tenjin.

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Once it turns dark, the view changes dramatically and the city comes to life. Night time scenery (夜景） is really beautiful, and especially this close to the water.

This time of year there is a special valentine days theme to the whole building, and you can even get your love fortune read. On the side of the building is big red glowing heart that.

Even though the tower is a little bit far from the center, I think it is a very good place to start your sightseeing at. In the vicinity there is a shopping center and the massive Yahoo Dome so there are definitely other things to do as well.

The hawks town, named after the Fukuoka Softband Hawks baseball team, is relatively close and is worth a visit if you have time for shopping.

So if you have time, please do visit Fukuoka Tower! It will definitely be worth it!

Today I arrived to Fukuoka. Its been more than year and half since my last visit here, so there was a few things that I felt I had start with.

I’m living at a hostel called Khaosan which is really near the airport. My taxi driver had some problems where it was located, even though I had a map and the exact address printed out He called the hostel however and got instructions. 5~10min and 1080 yen later I arrived. Very cozy place with nice personnel and  free internet access and stuff.

After I got out from the hostel, I started walking towards the central parts of Hakata and Tenjin instinctively. Bought on the way; hot coffe from a vending machine (good since its actually quite cold), and an onigiri with mentaiko flavour. Yeah, things are looking good so far.

Quick visit to Yodobashi camera which is on the way to Hakata station. Subway to Tenjin, and without realizing it I had walked to my favorite gaming center: Sega GIGO Tenjin. I got beaten’ up by some bloke, but I was sooo close to beating him this one time

Onwards to BicCamera too look at some more tech. Then past Kego Koen, a park behind Solaria Plaza, onwards to Best Denki.

After all the tech hunting, I was pretty hungry so I headed to Ichiran Ramen. This place is the best. Best noodles ever, and the best service one could possibly ask for.

And now, for dessert, I’m sitting at Seattle’s Best coffee with free wifi and a macha.

I have been using Anthy on Ubuntu for quite some time, and I think that it has worked perfectly up until 9.4. I didn’t have time to explore that release so much, but I noticed now that in 10.04 the Japanese input does not work out of the box.

First thing first; install language support if you haven’t done that. (System->Administration->Language Support-> Install)

Install Anthy if you haven’t done so:

sudo apt-get install scim scim-anthy anthy kasumi scim-tables-ja

sudo apt-get install ibus ibus-anthy ibus-gtk ibus-qt4

Next, add Japanese input through the IBus. (System->Preferences->IBus Preferences-> Input Method tab)

Now, we can type in 日本語 again! The familiar panel in the lower right corner will appear if you touch the 半角/全角-button. Note that it will not appear if you are not in a text-input area.

In February I’m finally going back to Japan. First stop is of course Fukuoka, but I plan to do some travel around the country. Especially I’m planning to go to Hokkaido so I’ll definitely put up some pics here.

I have a long list of things that I have to do during me short stay, but I’m expecting to get them all done!

• Eat too much tonkotsu ramen
• Play Tekken6, and win at least one game
• Go to an izakaya
• more,more,more!

Tekken6が。１年間ぶりにもう一度一番好きな勝負ゲームをできるようになった。今はPS3を持っていないけど、PSPの改作。いろいろなチャラを思い出した。そして、習った手法をもう一度完成した。でも、PSPはやっぱ見にくいなぁ…PS３買ったほうがいいかもなぁ。