Day Out in Fukuoka: Ohori Park

Last week was absolutely beautiful: a brief flash of spring before the cold weather returned this past week. After I spent most of Friday outside skiing in Saga-ken, Nana and I spent the better part of Saturday hanging out in Ohori Park, Fukuoka's largest green space.

Ohori Park is built around a big man-made pond, which was itself created from the remains of part of Fukuoka Castle's moat system. The area used to be an inlet before the land was reclaimed. These days, there's a 2-km, plus a series of artificial islands connected by little bridges.

The park is also an extremely popular spot for dog-walkers, which was a sight for our poor, puppy-deprived eyes. And of course, in Japan, wherever you find dogs, you find amusing signs about picking up dog poop.

 Anyway . . . there isn't a whole lot to do at Ohori Park. It was just a nice excuse to get outside.

 And, incidentally, get my first sunburn of 2011!

"Ahh . . . what a day!"

We did see a few cool, Japan-y things, though. First, there was a guy tossing bread to a bunch of seahawks and gulls that were circling overhead.

 Here's a video:

Reminded me of our bird-watching cruise in Shetland.

No idea what species those brown birds were, but we have a bunch of them around here.

Second, it turns out dogs weren't the only members of the menagerie on display at Ohori Park. This guy was apparently walking his rabbit . . .

 . . . and the people sitting across from us at Starbucks had brought their birds out for the day.