Before we continued our journey to Fukuoka on the Shinkansen bullet train, we enjoyed our stay in Fukuyama. Yesterday evening, we went for a photo walk around the castle.
This morning we had some time to kill and visited a few temples and shrines on the off-chance. We particularly liked the Hachimangu shrine, which was surprisingly large and magnificently decorated. Today, however, there was a festival taking place there, possibly an early Shichi-Go-San celebrating the health of little children. The boys and girls were gorgeously dressed up in colourful kimonos, accompanied by their proud parents and grandparents as well as photographers capturing the event. Of course, we didn’t take any photos here, even though we would have loved to.
At Hakata station, the first wave of Christmas washed over us. A huge, colourfully flickering Christmas tree and festive illuminations lit up the forecourt. There were stalls with loads of “typically German” Christmas items (like mulled wine, beer, candles or… erm… spice bundles). Live singers were belting out American Christmas carols on a stage. All this at a daytime temperature that felt like 25°C. And people say we get gingerbread in the supermarkets too early back home. 😉
