The Indian Touch to Fukuoka

On a lazy Sunday morning, I got up wishing I could get some bed coffee/tea/breakfast/lunch without moving my lazy bones. Well, if it was home I would have got it almost but then when you stay alone you can't have the luxury of such things. So, how would my reactions be if I was granted this particular wish. Excited, elated and contended. Thats what exactly happened. We had a barbecue party yesterday and there was chicken still remaining. Not intending to waste it, the bachelors had requested R to make some chicken curry for them. And so all of us got to eat yummy chicken curry without moving an inch of our lazy bones all courtesy our super chef R. 

R is not only a superb chef, she is an artist too, the "chupa rustum" type because even two months back, we didn't know she could paint so well. And one fine day, I see this beautiful painting, rather a mithila artwork on her orkut album. It was really a shock as well as a sweet surprise. Believe it or not, not just me all the guys were also dumbfounded by this. Her culinary skills were well known among us but this was something we had never expected.  

In the below picture, she has captured the spirit of the traditional Butter churning process. So much of intricate details and colors. She takes about 18 hours to complete each painting.When you put so much of effort, the outcome is naturally beautiful :)

These are a set of six table mats made on green paper on which she has painted motifs of ladies depicting various emotions. These are complimented by a mehendi design below each of them. 

Now comes the icing on the cake. She also teaches Indian traditions, painting, basics of Hindi and cooking to the Japanese over here. Japanese people love Indian curry which speaks for the abundance of Indian restaurants. Of course, except for a few which offer authentic Indian food, the rest are Indo-Nepali restaurants which have made Indian food look as though there is nothing beyond naan, palak curry and chicken curry. A look at one of her classes which she conducts 2-3 times in a month. Its sure is a lovely way to tell about our country. 

We grow up intending to be doctors, engineers, business analysts, and so on. Sometimes, its also the circumstances which decides our profession. However, its  inherent talent which prevails over all this and brings out the best in us. It also gives us that immense sense of satisfaction and pleasure which a high profile and high paying job can never give us. R has found this love and satisfaction in her paintings. So, heres wishing her a lot of luck. May she make more and more lovely mithila paintings and bring more talents of her to the fore.  

360 degree Fukuoka - Travel Special

Looking out of my balcony on this bright sunny day, I can't but marvel about this place which has been home to me for the past 3 years. Everything about this place is so very nice except my office (Roti, Kapda aur Makaan ke liye kaam toh karna hi padega na :P)

Jokes apart, Fukuoka is technically the most populated city in the Kyushu island of Japan. Certainly not as happening and densely populated like Tokyo, Fukuoka is a metropolitan city with lush greenery. It cannot be called as a tourist destination but this place forms a central region from where you can cover most of the places in Kyushu Island and this is what I exactly did. So, I bring to you here in these series of posts my travels around this part of the globe.

Fukuoka as seen from my apartment

Traveling in any part of Fukuoka or Japan is a pleasure. Fukuoka has a well developed and perfectly streamlined transport system. If you know Japanese people, you will understand  what I mean by perfection.

Buses arrive on the dot of the minute and leave on the dot. (I used to wait for hours for buses like 5E and PP49 in front of my college to take me home.... now this is like a cakewalk). You can check bus schedules here. 

Subway runs through the entire city making traveling a sheer pleasure. So beat the traffic and hop onto the subway (Well I must tell you here that traffic in Fukuoka is 1/10th of Bangalore's traffic jams). Limited Express and Shikansens zig zag to the rest of the country.   Limited Express take a longer time to reach any destination but are cheaper than the Shinkansens. Shinkansen as you all know is the bullet train but then you also need to pay a good price (Everything comes with a price tag) but then please do travel in one just to enjoy the speed of this train.

The main/hub station here is the Hakata Station/Hakata Eki. So, you can just book your ticket and zoom away to the destination. You will also find a lot of maps, guides, places to be visited in the destination et al for  your guidance. If you can't find an English one please do ask at the Information desks. The biggest problem here however is the language. English speaking people are less and Japanese people do try a lot to help you. So, if you trying to converse with them, please don't rattle off in English, please speak as slow as possible emphasizing each word and using as much of actions as possible. The below links will help you in timing your trips without much hassles. You can check Train schedules, fares, arrival, departures - here.

And if you didn't know, Fukuoka also houses an International Airport (My odyssey to India :)).


So lets now roam about Fukuoka now. Hop on Shilpa's Express as we discover Fukuoka. :) A point of note in any Tourist place is please ask for English pamphlets or maps for the place. Mostly the pamphlets will be displayed at the entrance and if there is no English pamphlet, please do ask for the same at the counter. Strict advice to veggies, please carry food around as you might not get much of veg stuff. 


My first stop is at Nokonoshima. This is just simply beautiful garden in Nokonoshima Island.  You can roam around the place and enjoy the beautiful flowers and scenery. Take a bus to Noko Ferry Port and then the Ferry to Nokonoshima Island. You can then either  walk to Nokonoshima Garden or else take the bus to the same (For people with leg problems, the climb is quite steep so please take care).   The best time to visit this place is during Sakura/Cherry Blossoms. 

The left side of the garden

One of the flower beds

Another flower bed

Right side of the garden

Cherry Blossoms

Lets next stop at Uminonakamichi. This is popular for the Dolphin Show and the Aquarium. (Psst. Psst.... I really love their dolphin show which is so very sweet and the Aquarium too.. so you have to just tell me that you are going there and I will be the first one to accompany you :P). Besides these, you have a theme park, not exactly theme park, rather a large area with rides, cycling path, lot of outdoor activities for kids (its actually for kids but then no harm in letting out the kid in you :D ). For this you will need to take a bus to TNC, Momochihama and then the Ferry to Uminonakamichi Island. 

En Route Uminonakamichi

Marine World --- Dolphins here I come

Aquarium - this is real big one (Ok the biggest I have seen :))

Play Time

Momochihama Beach and Fukuoka Tower is something you wouldn't certainly want to miss out in Fukuoka. Although, this is an artificial beach, this is also the most in demand place in the summer times to escape from the humidity :). So you can have a nice swim in the beach and relax and enjoy the cool breeze. Below is a view of Fukuoka Tower and the beach from my office.

Ohori Koen Park is another must-see place during the cherry blossoms where the entire park is covered by these trees. Its just a totally pretty site.  This is 2-km stretch park wherein you can take a walk or just relax enjoying the beautiful scenery around. A large pond in between attracts a lot of birds too :). So, take a break and chill pill here.

Ohori Koen Park

Hakata Dontaku is a colorful festival in Fukuoka. Held during the Golden week every year on May 3rd and 4th, this festival showcases really colorful parades and floats, kids and elders in colorful costumes and traditional kimonos playing some traditional instruments or clapping with wooden spoons. Also, this parade includes an International float and Indian dances as well :). Check out the videos below.








Below are the places which are not any tourist attraction and are rather the shopping places of Fukuoka. So, for girls who are mad about shopping and window shopping... please go ahead :P

Two things which are most popular in Japan - One is the point card system wherein you can get some discounts or free gifts and the other is the gift wrappers, I just love the way the shop keepers wrap up each gift for you free of charge. Also, if you are taking any fragile items home, you can always ask the shop keeper to pack with packing material. 

Marinoa City - Well this is like a all-in-all huge shopping mall or rather a shopping playground.... What I like about this place is you can get clothes whichever size and shape you maybe.  (Let me tell you my sad story... I found it hard to find clothes for me because I was overweight and Japanese girls are really slim and trim ... Until I discovered Marinoa City... So am happy happy now...). Please do give these shops a try (you may/may not like) - Axes Femme (I find their clothes a bit different from the other shops), Edwin (for jeans galore), Nittori (1 stop destination for all your home needs...), well you can just roam around and discover this place...

(Secret: Prices are lower during the sale season... but I always see sale whenever I go to this place.... Till now I have seen golden week sale, silver week sale, spring sale, winter sale, autumn sale  .... but stuff is good during sale also ... So go for it...)

Marinoa City

Area: Tenjin

Mina Tenjin - This is a 8 floor mall in the core of Tenjin which caters to probably a lot of things from Accessories to Casuals to Formals to Spa... and whole 2 floors of UniQlo

Underground Tenjin Plaza - Well I just love to walk along this place.... Really cool and certainly doesn't look like Japan. It gives you the feeling of walking in a heritage building. The whole path has kind of cobbled stones feeling and a lot of architecture can be observed on the roofing. Very Good for Window Shopping and enjoying some good view of people loitering around with a hot Starbucks coffee. 

Solaria Plaza, Iwataya and Marco - Well decorated and glamorous malls. Good for window shopping. These are located close to each other so you can get out of Marco, then go to Solaria Plaza and then to Iwataya behind it. Iwataya has a whole floor only for cosmetics and is sure nice to look at all the girls being decked up. In general the entire area is a shopping area, so you can take a stroll around.

Back Side of Solaria Plaza

Shintencho - Another area to spend your time (just behind Solaria Plaza). One shop caught my attention here though. Reimei sells a lot of home decoration articles likes vases, clocks of venetian glasses, tea sets, carpets, night lamps, decoration pieces (although on the costlier side) but worth a try if you are looking for something to take back home. (Well I did find some  Indian stuff here and it seems the owner travels to India to get those stuff)

Area: Canal City 

Canal City - What I like more about this place are the shows which are organized the year round. The mall shaped in a peculiar half-oval structure houses a theatre (3-D movies are also filmed here) as well as many shops. So, you could see a show, watch a movie and then shop about. 

More links of the shows can be found here (Couldn't upload all the videos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2usk81jYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACRngI3JEAE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyqMtSviVY


Area: Hakata

Hakata Station - Hakata is the old part of Fukuoka and particularly famous for Hakata Dolls - One of the major souvenirs to take back from Fukuoka. 

Yodobashi - One stop for all electronic items. More popular is the point card which they issue. Each Item you buy gives you some points and you can either use them (which will be subtracted from the total amount) or add them to your second purchase.

Area: Hawks Town/Momochihama

Hawk's Town - Well the main attractions here are the bowling alleys and the theatre. This place also houses some shops for clothes, a 100 yen shop seria, GAP, and the best I like here - Glass land. This place sells glass articles which are really sweet to look at. 

Bowling Alley @ Hawk's Town

HRC (Hard Rock Cafe)

And well that's all about what you can see in Fukuoka. If you want to really stay in touch with what's happening in Fukuoka... You can check out the online edition of Fukuoka Now, a monthly Magazine.


Part-2 will continue with visit to other places nearby Fukuoka. See you till then.........


P.S. All photos and videos have been taken by me/my colleagues.

My cooking expeditions@Fukuoka

Food in India is never a problem... You always have multiple choices to choose from ... big restaurants, small ones, fast foods, dabba system, ready to eat, home delivery etc etc ..... especially if you are not interested in cooking or want a respite from your daily dull routine....

In Fukuoka,with the limited options .... options are really limited ... just a handful of Indian restaurants. To be very specific...... 3 near to my office where we frequent for lunch..... 2 a little further away..... our fav joints for dinner..... 2 more still further away (ok lets leave them they r too far away :) ). I would also like to mention about the semi-japanese restaurant wara-wara that we go to for dinner at times.... Probably the only japanese restaurant I like as they serve some fried food too in addition to japanese food. Its not a expensive or a very high-profile restaurant but ya the environment simply relaxes me. Any day from office take me to this place and am at peace with myself..... :) .... There is something really soothing about this place.... Do give it a try if you are anywhere in japan. For vegiies (esp the very strict ones) ... pls do learn some cooking before you plan to come to Japan :). Funniest part is we have to order Indian groceries from tokyo which takes about 3-4 days to reach us but thankfully we do get those things. I am told by the old timers here that we didnt have this facility earlier (Technology u see :) )

Flashback: I wish I had listened to my Dad when he used to tell me to learn to cook ... boo hoo boo hoo.... i need a kerchief :) but as all kids do "Never listen to good things". I also followed suit and I finally landed up in Fukuoka on 25th March 2007 with zero knowledge of cooking. My cooking abilities extended to only making tea and coffee. Thankfully I had roomies who knew cooking.... God is great you see... and then started my gr8 expedition to discover cooking.... By the time they left fukuoka, i could manage to make a decent meal for myself but others never!!!! ... I would try to make excuses to avoid making for everyone so that no one had to eat the bad food I made.... (So very generous of me :))

Then came the most embarrassing moment when I had to make rice kheer for potluck (this time i had no escape:( ) and it got all burnt. It really felt bad to see the disappointed faces of my colleagues. Probably that was the day I decided to learn cooking in a more proper way. So started my cooking lessons with vineet san and the numerous recipes found on the net (My invariable guide is of course uma san ... In recent days leena san, rachna san,bela san ... well practically all members of the Ladies committee of Fukuoka).

Initially there was still the inhibition in making a dish as to whether it will turn out good or not but thanks to all my colleagues who tasted it (even though at times very bad)!!!! ..... So Sweet of them !!!!.....I went on to discover the art of cooking. I discovered the usage of onions, tomatoes, masalas etc etc (whoever discovered masalas... tussi gr8 ho..cooking without MDH masala & MTR masala is still a bad experience for me :P). I still wonder why Indian cooking uses so much of masala.... while there are so many countries where food is made without these masalas too. Indians do like a lot of masala :P

Coming back to the present, my penchant for good food and obvious scarcity of Indian restaurants did make me learn cooking. I know my dad will smile on reading this. He loves to make me cook at home but wont keep his nosey out of my cooking.. "Masala is more.... so much of tomatoes... so much of oil and it goes on......and on....!!!" (After all parents will be parents :P).

So all of you who hate cooking.... pls dont do :) ..... cooking is sheer pleasure and always remember one thing while you cook ... "Tussi gr8 chef ho" ... Enjoy cooking!!!!!! :P