Going Out to Tenjin

So yesterday (Saturday 26/1/13) Wes and I decided to explore the down town area of Fukuoka, an area called Tenjin. It was the place my best friend Mog and I had studied before, so I kind of knew the area but it's been about 6 years and I didn't really do as much exploring then as I could have. Especially cos we wanted to go to the local Kabuki theatre called the Hakata-za which was where Takarazuka were doing the Legend of Galactic Heroes!! (For those who don't know Takarazuka and how much I love it click here for a previous blog about them - I went so many times when I was in Osaka! Yay Japanese musical!) So the first thing we did when we arrived was head over to the theatre to see if they had any tickets for the day, which they did, so we got a couple for the 3:30 showing for that day.

(This is the poster for the show we saw)

Update (3/2/13): Someone asked me what the show was about. It's about a giant galactic battle between two groups. I didn't really understand the story much cos I was so tired but it's basically the story of on guy who becomes the ruler of one side and has to deal with political crap and because it's Takarazuka, falling love with the blonde haired lady at the back of the poster. At the same time they tell the story of the general on the other side and all the political crap he has to deal with. But because it's Takarazuka it's all singing and dancing and highly entertaining.

Wiki has a better description of the original story than me.

So we had about 4 hours to kill before the show and proceed to wander around Tenjin. We first check out the Across Fukuoka building which was supposed to have in International Square (国際広場) but it didn't really have that much, only seemed to have special events where foreigners and Japanese people meet, so no new friends made that day. 

(The Across Fukuoka building has gardens built ontop of it. Inside it's huge and spacious)

We then wander off to an electrical store and a huge bookstore (4 floors) which much time was lost in...More exploring took place and before we knew it it was almost time to head back to the theatre! But we were so hungry we had to rush to find a place to eat before the show started.

Needless to say, at the end of the day we were both knackard (that didn't stop Wes stopping into an electric store to droll over their camera though, hehehe). So we went home on the train (which is super close, only 6 miles! Fukuoka's a small city compared to Osaka/Tokyo), had curry udon and went to bed. 

One thing I have to say about Tenjin though, is that it's so big, with so many tall buildings and wide streets and shops EVERYWHERE that we barely made a dent in it and defiantly need to return a couple more times to really see the rest! (And hopefully get more pics of the place) 

(P.s I may have spent all my spendage for that week on theatre ticket, books and these adorable figurines! They were cheap I couldn't not buy them!)