We set off two weekends ago for an afternoon downtown, the same trip resulting in Justin's Daiso 100 Yen Store post, which flagrantly neglected to mention the fact that I already wrote a Daiso 100 Yen Store post. Punk!
While en route to Rainbow Plaza, the official foreigner support center of Fukuoka, we stopped by a random temple/shrine and the much less random shrine to shopping, Canal City. Here are some shots.
We seem to have come it via some weird back or side gate, as the front (shown at the top of this post) was very far from where we came in. Anyway, this was the entrance we used, and a shot of its ferocious guardian animal:
Our best shot at correct Shinto temple entry hand-mouth washing purification procedure. We probably got it wrong, though, not only because of being clueless but because of the part where we came in the wrong gate and tromped impurely all over the shrine before belatedly discovering this crane fountain.
Parade float (perhaps a winning entry?) stored at temple:
There are no words to describe how hot it was standing in the full sun for that picture to be taken, so you'd better appreciate it.
Long row of torii gates:
Who can resist "A Written Oracle" in English for a mere 30 Yen? Not me!
And yet I wish I had. For my fortune, which proclaimed me "lucky," nonetheless contained dire predictions like "Expected Person: will not arrive," (She did) "Relocation: should be cancelled" (too late!), "Employment: A career change will bring misfortunes" (whoops), and "Illness: Not good. Choose a doctor, and never cease to have faith." Man, what do the "Unlucky" fortunes say? "Death: imminent?" (I am, however, a fan of the fortune line which reads "Childbirth: Be cautious of your baby." Words I believe we could all learn from.)
I divested myself of this fortune as rapidly as possible. Not sure if tying it to these strings make it more or less likely to come true, but that's what everybody else did with their fortunes:
How dumb are koi, you ask?
We seem to have come it via some weird back or side gate, as the front (shown at the top of this post) was very far from where we came in. Anyway, this was the entrance we used, and a shot of its ferocious guardian animal:
Our best shot at correct Shinto temple entry hand-mouth washing purification procedure. We probably got it wrong, though, not only because of being clueless but because of the part where we came in the wrong gate and tromped impurely all over the shrine before belatedly discovering this crane fountain.
Parade float (perhaps a winning entry?) stored at temple:
There are no words to describe how hot it was standing in the full sun for that picture to be taken, so you'd better appreciate it.
Long row of torii gates:
Who can resist "A Written Oracle" in English for a mere 30 Yen? Not me!
And yet I wish I had. For my fortune, which proclaimed me "lucky," nonetheless contained dire predictions like "Expected Person: will not arrive," (She did) "Relocation: should be cancelled" (too late!), "Employment: A career change will bring misfortunes" (whoops), and "Illness: Not good. Choose a doctor, and never cease to have faith." Man, what do the "Unlucky" fortunes say? "Death: imminent?" (I am, however, a fan of the fortune line which reads "Childbirth: Be cautious of your baby." Words I believe we could all learn from.)I divested myself of this fortune as rapidly as possible. Not sure if tying it to these strings make it more or less likely to come true, but that's what everybody else did with their fortunes:
How dumb are koi, you ask?
*bonk* That dumb.
And then Canal City, Fukuoka shopping mecca, so-called because there is in fact a canal running through the mall:
We didn't make any purchases but were amused to see Sam Adams on sale for less than the price of a domestic can of beer:
some of your most excellently captioned photos yet! I am loving full sun photo, koi bonking, and fortune description. so good! also, buy that beer immediately and we can raise a toast together :)
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