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We were picked up by Hamada-san in Karatsu and he drove us all the way to Dazaifu Shrine in Fukuoka City. He was really friendly and said he knew Peter must be an American because he had such a “cute face.” He said it twice and then as an after thought said about me, “And she’s pretty too.” We think he was gay. Never been married and he said by his own choice. I didn’t pick up any gay vibes from him, but Peter did and maybe he would know better than I.

This is him, anyway.

We strolled through Dazaifu pretty quickly because we had both been there, done that. We had a hard time getting our next ride because we were in the city and buses and trains are so frequent. Eventually this old man offered us money for the bus, but when we insisted on hitching he told us we would have better luck if we stood on the actually freeway. So he drove us there and that’s where we quickly got our next ride from Teru and Yusaku, old college buddies in Fukuoka for the holidays.

Teru and Yusaku didn’t drive us far, but Teru’s English was pretty great (and because we were still gung ho on getting everybody’s contact information) we got their emails and phone numbers. Yusaku has emailed a couple times, but actually Teru and I email almost everyday now. He is a salesman in Saga-ken and wants to go to graduate school in the U.S. after next summer. He wants to be a translator.

Teru and Yusaku left us at the Fukuoka Dome. (Too bad his eyes are closed! He looks super genki in this photo, but he’s pretty cute!) You can still see my sunburned face from the hiking day at my school two days ago. Ouch!

Teru is my visitor next weekend too! It’s a bit weird, I know, a complete stranger coming to stay in my apartment for two nights, but I’m sure everything will be fine. Goto Peter says I should be careful about what Japanese men might be expecting when they come all the way out to visit me and stay in my place for the night. I’m sure that Teru just wants to practice his English though. The last thing I’m worried about is a Japanese man making a move on me!! They’re all much too scared and intimated around me! Ha, ha.

We paid much too much for these seats at the Fukuoka Hawks baseball game. I’m glad I got to see them, but I’m probably not going to go again for a while. We left after the seventh inning because it was too boring and we were itching to move on.

Glad we stayed until the seventh inning though because they blow up all these balloons and release them after some cheerleaders dance around a bit. Did you know the 7th inning is supposed to be lucky? I didn't. Apparently the Hawks didn’t either because they didn’t score.

After Peter climbed the Fukuoka Tower (I refused to go, I’d already been) and we ate some Hataka ramen (the food challenge for Fukuoka) we bused and trained over to the freeway entrance to try and get to Oita-ken for the night. We were optimistic about getting through one prefecture a day, even though we were both already tired and amazed at how far we’d already come so quickly.

Peter eating Hakata ramen.

Yukari and Kazumi picked us up because they said “Peter looked harmless.” They both worked in a warehouse, had just had dinner and were on their way home when they saw us. They offered to drive us to Yukuhashi, but got kind of lost and left us somewhere in Kitakyushu instead. Very sweet girls who bought us drinks and snacks as well. Peter says he would have asked them to make out with him (lots of extra points for making out with a driver) but they had smoked cigarettes when we stopped for drinks.

We stayed the night in a bicycle park, after hopping the fence to get in. As it turns out it rained all night and although lucky to have the tent, it didn’t keep us completely dry. Peter woke up in a puddle of water in the early morning, but had no long term effects from the rain. My jeans, however, got soaked and I couldn’t wear them for the next three days while they dried.

We got up early and had breakfast in a nearby Joyfull (Western-style restaurant). We were really lucky it was there. We got fed, dried off a lot and made plans for getting to Oita-ken. The rain died down a bit and we were picked up by Hiroki, a young fishmonger relatively soon. He was also pretty cool, took us to his house first, then we picked up his girlfriend, Naoko, who he warned was “not cute” before we met her. As it turns out, she was really cute and the two had a very happy, fun-loving relationship—dating for about 5 months.

Hiroki said he worried about picking us up because he didn't speak any English, but then he thought, “What the hell!” and did it anyway. He once hitch-hiked from Kitakyushu to Osaka in one-day by knocking on people’s car windows and asking for rides. Hiroki was very outgoing and cheerful and I think we were pretty lucky to get picked up by him. Then when Naoko got in the car, it really made the cake and we had a wonderful time. I ranked this couple as my third favorite drivers for their free spiritedness.

They drove us the whole way (two hours) to Usa Shrine in Oita-ken, even though we’re pretty sure they didn’t have plans for the day, but saw us as an adventure. Here we are with them in front of the torii at Usa Shrine. I’ll never forget the look on Naoko’s face when she hopped in her boyfriend’s car to find two foreigners hanging out in the back seat. Hiroki loved the surprise!

We’re officially in Oita-ken now, so I’ll leave those stories for the next post.
Love, Sierra

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