Japan Lowdown part 1

Progress slowly being made on the photos front. The first batch can be viewed here. Wednesday We flew out to Fukuoka on Wednesday afternoon. With the small exception of Amy's Visa initially being deemed inadmissible at the check-in counter (a second opinion at immigration assured us otherwise) everything went smoothly. We arrived at out hotel in the early evening and dropped off our bags. This was the most expensive accommodation of the week, but at least we all had our own rooms. We went out for a little walk round town, saw the first in a series of Japanese shrines... ...and went and ate noodles (see previous post). Following a line of pretty lanterns we soon found ourselves deep in the what with hindsight we believe to be the city's red-light district. Crowds of besuited Japanese businessmen loitered all around, while scantily dressed ladies handed out fliers in doorways. We quickly saw our error and retreated to find a bar. In what would become a recurring theme of the week, we failed to find any decent bars (or at least any in which we could afford to drink), so we grabbed a bottle of sake to drink back at the hotel before collapsing into bed. Thursday We got up early to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, our base for the next two days. We spent most of the day wandering around Osaka castle... ...and the surrounding grounds. As it rained for much of the day, this suited us pretty well. Highlights of the day include seeing a man parade his pet squirrel around the castle, and the mountain of sushi (previous post again) that we ate that night! While in Osaka we stayed in a hostel (actually in Shin-Osaka), so I was sharing a room with I think four others, but as we were always so late to bed (despite an 11 o'clock curfew) I only ever met one of them: a middle-aged German guy named Gunter, who I spent much of my stay trying to avoid...