Friday Oct 16, 2026
Hi Gang! Today we were docked at the city of Fukuoka (also known as Hakata). We did a tour where we went to three places, which were Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, Kushida Shrine, and Fukuoka Tower. There are so many shrines in Japan but they all have their own unique story and history to them.
Our first stop, the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, has the most interesting story of them all! It’s a pilgrimage site for students and scholars since the shrine honors the deity of learning. It was built over the grave of Sugawara no Michizane. Legend has it that Michizane was a gifted student who composed many poems dedicated to his favorite plum trees.
When he died, his body was carried by an ox but it stopped at this site and could go no further. So they buried him there and built the shrine. Today a statue of the ox is there and if you rub it you get good luck (we rubbed it really hard!!). It is also said that his favorite plum tree from his home in Kyoto uprooted itself and flew all the way here and planted itself in the ground. They say it’s always the first plum tree to bloom each year! Crazy!!
So that’s why students, when they’re preparing for major exams, come here and pay homage to Michizane. It’s also a tradition for children when they turn 3, 5, and 7 years old to come here dressed in kimonos and ask Michizane for intelligence. We saw two 5 and 7 year old girls in kimonos come there for it. They were sooo cute! Gotta love the Japan culture and traditions!
We then went to Fukuoka tower which is Japan’s tallest seaside tower at 767 feet tall. It also has 8,000 mirrors attached to the entire building that make it look really cool. We rode the elevator to the top and the views were amazing. There was a wedding venue right on the beach we could see and we also took some silly pictures there. It was a fun place!
Our last stop was the Kushida Shrine. It was founded in 757 and is the site of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival every year. The festival is famous for the Kakiyama floats, which can weigh around one ton and are carried around town by a group of very strong men! The festival is believed to be over 770 years old and attracts up to a million spectators each year!
We got back to the ship and had to go thru an exit immigration since we’re leaving Japan tonight and will be in South Korea tomorrow. It went pretty quickly and gave us a little time to sneak in a nap and get ready for dinner!
Tonight we had dinner in the Italian Specialty restaurant named Canaletto. I had the Sage and Veal Meatballs for my appetizer, the Mediterranean Sea Bass for my main, and the Tiramisu for dessert. We really like the specialty restaurants on board!
Our dinner ran a little late so we caught the tail end of the show which was Nathan Sinclair, who played the Spanish guitar from the other night. He once again played the guitar with a lot of passion and made it sing. He did some technique that made it sound like two guitars were playing. Very cool!
After the show we changed our routine up since our favorite piano player had the night off so we listened to the guitar player who was also really good. As if we hadn’t heard enough guitar! Lol.
Tomorrow we’re in Sokcho, South Korea! That’s one of the many cool things about cruising. You go to sleep and wake up in another country! Hope everyone had a great day!
PS: Had so many pics today I broke it into two updates!
