A Tale of Two Cities

My first weekend in Japan I took a vacation, since I hadn’t had quite enough traveling with the mere 13-hour flight and all. I went to the station and got a ticket to the city of Fukuoka, a southern coastal city known for its busy nightlife, seaside relaxing opportunities, and large port, the main ferry terminal to Busan, South Korea. So I boarded the Shinkansen (bullet train), napped, snacked, and eventually came around to notice it was getting colder outside; there was snow on the ground and onward, the train cut through tunnels in snow-peaked mountains (I had watched the film Transsiberian the night before, quite dark, so this was not comforting).Admittedly unfamiliar with the geography of central Japan and knowing it was to be a long ride, I figured it would warm up eventually...perhaps when we neared the west coast?I made all the correct transfers, according to my ticket, and ended up riding a small train (empty but for a group of school kids heading home from their evening activities) to the end of its line, to a very tiny Fukuoka station: one man in a booth. And snow on the ground outside the station. This smiling station attendant informed me that I was not even on the right island as Japan has two Fukuokas: one northern, west of Nagano, near the Japanese Alps, and the other the far southern city, my intended destination. I had traveled about six hours, going west but then cutting north instead of south, of course packed for a friendlier climate, and the trains were soon to stop running for the night. My oh my, the hilarity! I backtracked slightly and spent the night in Kanazawa, the nearest larger city, at a lovely little ryokan (family-owned hotel).

I finally made it to the real Fukuoka, the metropolis of the south (its train station is disguised under the name Hakata, hence the confusion), the next day around noon.