The "CIty"

You know that there are places when you live so close to it and maybe even travel through it but never go there or visit. I grew up in Long Island but never went into the city, my parents worked there they didn't want to trek into the city on the weekends. I grew up 18 miles from the city but it took my dad about 1 1/2 hours to drive there. So though I was so close to the city my experiences with it were limited. In Japan my "city" is Fukuoka; that is where I switch trains when I go to Sasebo (vice versa and the train station is called Hakata). It is also where I took the ferry to Korea. So I decided that I couldn't leave Japan without going there; I was actually supposed to go there one of my first weekends here but plans got switched. So my last weekend in Sasebo I took the bus, about an hour and half bus ride, to Fukuoka. Japan is an extremely on time country; the bus was at 8:40 and I got on about 8:35 and I was the last person on the bus. I was also the only foreigner on the bus, which I am used to, but I still got looks/stares from the ladies on the aisle across from me.

Compared to Iwakuni and Sasebo Fukouka is the big city; in actuality it was rated the 14th World's Most Livable Cities in 2010. I was told by a coworker in Sasebo that Fukuoka was in the running for the Olympics and was also where Michael Phelps broke a World Record. Fukouka is also where people go shopping, especially people from Sasebo. The shopping area is called Tenjin and is packed with super expensive stores, department stores, and if that wasn't enough an underground shopping area that runs blocks and blocks.

Driving into the city and around the city there were big advertisements that were 3d and in the shape of the product.