The Kazariyama (飾り山) decorating float is back!

Last Saturday, I took a walking tour to the Yamakasa race floats in Kushida Shrine⛩ and Canal City Hakata. As you probably know, the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival is annually held in Fukuoka every July but last year it was canceled due to COVID-19😤 Although the events related to Kakiyama (舁き山) carrying float that raced through the town of Hakata have been discontinued this year, the Kazariyama (飾り山) decorating floats will be shown in the city except the two places of Chiyo-nagare (千代流) and Nakasu-nagare (中州流).  

The fountain show had already started when I came here. I think it is the most splendid water show in Japan I've never seen before😊

A unique collaboration between the West and the East: The Kazariyama carrying float that is drawing the Japanese folk tales such as Ushiwakamaru is set up on the Sun Plaza Stage, and Canal City's famous fountain in splash🌊       

Fukuoka panorama from Mount Abura Katae observatory

On Monday, we had decided to take a drive🚗 to Aburayama Katae observation deck which is a famous night view spot in Fukuoka. From here, you can see most of the cityscape of Fukuoka such as Tenjin, Fukuoka Airport✈ and so on. 

I tried to take a close-up picture of the city center. The sea seen in the back is Hakata Bay, and beyond that is Umi-no-Nakamichi which leads to the Shika Island on the left. 

In the foreground, if you turn a little further to the left, you'll see Fukuoka Tower🗼 and Fukuoka Pay Pay Dome⚾, the home of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

A view of the south-east direction e.g. Onojo city, Mount Homan is like this.

Plane spotting at Fukuoka Airport on May 1, 2021/2021年5月1日福岡空港での飛行機たち

Yesterday I went to the airport to see planes takeoff and landing. I was lucky to see the EVA Air's Hello Kitty jet. She came to a regular flight of BR/EVA 106 from Taipei. In addition, there are some taking airplane photos such as the T'way Air of Korea. They were flying back to Fukuoka on a weekly basis from last December😁 

昨日（1日）は飛行機を見に行きました。この日はエバー航空のBR106/105便がハローキティジェットで飛来してくる情報をネットで知ったので、朝11時ごろに家を出て早速空港へ。さらに昨年12月から週1便で運航再開した韓国のLCC・ティーウェイ航空も来ていました😁

Let's start uploading.

それではUPしてゆきます。

At 12:19 pm, an EVA Air flight BR105 to Taipei was taking off on Rwy 34. The aircraft registration number B-16333 was used for flight of the day. It's one of EVA Air's Hello Kitty special painted planes nicknamed for Sunrio Characters - Party Jet😻✈

午後12時19分にエバー航空の台北行きBR105便が滑走路34から離陸。機体番号はパーティージェット😻✈のB-16333でした。

There are many flights at this time, so it must be waiting for a minutes to take off.

この時間帯は到着便が多いせいか離陸するまで時間がかかりました。

A T'way Air plane was coming in a few minutes. This is a flight TW292 to Seoul Incheon. The airline decided to resume a flight to Fukuoka once a week from December 5 last year.

数分後にティーウェイ航空のTW292便ソウル仁川行きが離陸。昨年12月5日から週1便で運航再開しています。

Panoramic views of Nagasaki from Mount Inasa observatory

In the afternoon, we went to Mount Inasa Park viewpoint to see the panoramic Nagasaki view. Inasayama (稲佐山) is a 330 meter mountain⛰ that is known as Nagasaki's 10 million dollar💰 night view.  

There are two ways to get here either by car 🚗 or ropeway/cable car🚠. I think most travelers taking by cableway because it's fun to climb. We have a car so we can go up to the top of the mountain on our own way😁

Driving on National Routes 202 and 206 from Chinatown and passing the central Nagasaki, we came to the mountain park. The entire park is free of charge. However you must pay a 100 yen toll fee to pass through the gate. 

We arrived at the observation deck around 2 o'clock. The scenery is really beautiful even in the daytime🌞 I think it would be nice at night⭐

The Central Nagasaki from an observation platform. The new Nagasaki Station🚄, currently under redevelopment, is in the center picture.

The North-West area. The hypocenter of atomic bomb💣 dropped at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945 is located at the top of the epicenter.

The Omura Bay looking over the mountain.

The South-East area. The most part of this area facing the inlet sea, called the Nagasaki Bay is occupied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki dockyards. The silver-light Megami Bridge that connects between the Megami and Kaminoshima districts. 

And one more picture of small islands on the bay of Nagasaki.

I bought a pretty ox doll at Nagasaki Chinatown

Yesterday we had decided to take a drive to Nagasaki. As usual, we bought some ox/cow🐮 Chinese new year goods at Min-min boutique shop in Chinatown. 

Before going to Nagasaki, we bought some fresh green tea🍵 at Muto Tea Garden and shop next to Ureshino Interchange on the Nagasaki Super Highway. 

When we came here, the owner and daughter welcomed us warmly. She said, "Do you have a tea?". We say hello. We had a nice chat over a cup of tea. 

After that we went straight to the Nagasaki Chinatown. I got here 5 minutes before noon. First I went to Min-min shop to buy Chinese dolls. 

There were many stuffed toys of this year's zodiac "ox" in the shop, but I couldn't find anything to buy. I just bought one red doll. I think it looks like a bull🐃 stronger than lion🦁😄

After having lunch, I had a cup of cold mango🥭 babble tea at a Taiwanese tea shop on the other side. 

A mango tea served with milk. 

My tip for you: You can drink in the shop, but try to take out as much as possible to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. 

 

Hanami at Maizuru Park, Fukuoka

On March 26, we went to Maizuru Park for hanami (花見, cherry blossom viewing parties)🚗 This year, hanami parties about 10 days earlier than usual. Here's cherry trees🌸 in full bloom. 

But..

I didn't see anyone have a party under the cherry trees. Although the COVID-19 emergency in Fukuoka Prefecture has been lifted but they need to be careful to avoid social embarrassment. I hope I can overcome the pandemic and want to have a fun hanami party again😌

Cherry trees grow in the ruins of castle🏯

A close up of some blossoms.

After that I went to the Fukuoka Castle Tamon Yagura turrets.

 

Visiting Ukiha Inari Jinja, Fukuoka

On Tuesday, we had decided to take a drive🚗 to Ukiha Inari Jinja (浮羽稲荷神社), a Shinto shrine in Ukiha, Fukuoka. The shrine is famous for its torii gates that lead to the hall of worship. That said, the number of Shinto gates and the size of the precincts are not comparable of those of Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in Kyoto, but the appearance of the gates standing on the Sando is still amazing😅

The Ichi-no-torii gate at the shrine entrance. From here, we must go up a long staircase to the shrine ⛩

 

The red torii gates standing in a row on the path to success in business. It's very impressive to me😄  

When we went up the stairs, we'll see the main shrine.

A close up view of the Ukiha city center from the shrine is like this.