Fukuoka Castle ruins

On my second day in Japan I went to see the ruins of the Fukuoka castle. On the map, it was only about an inch away from my hotel, but it took me about an hour to walk there. It was a nice walk though. Not one person pointed at me and called me a foreigner. However, later that day in another part of town a little Korean kid that was across the street started screaming, "Way-guk saram (Foreigner)" as he pointed and laughed at me. I wanted to point and laugh back at him and let him know that in Japan he is just as foreign as I am. The Korean was the only person to point and laugh at me my entire time in Japan.

Here is a pond that is at the entrance of the castle. I wanted to run across the stones but the water was frozen is some places and I didn't want to risk falling in.



This was the biggest patch of grass I had seen in four months. It was glorious. I walked around this field a few times before I moved on because the air smelled so good. Unlike Korea, Japan doesn't have piles of rotting garbage on the sidewalks, so their air is much more pleasant to the nose. And in places like this, with no cars, the air is spectacular. I had had a cough for about two and a half weeks before this trip. My cough cleared up while I was in Japan, and the cough is back now that I am back in Korea. I think there's a connection.