This is our first visit to Kokura. Last night, we arrived at Shin-Moji Port at 9 pm. We were taken to Kokura Station by the free shuttle bus.
The hotel we stayed at was a major hotel called A, which you see everywhere in every city. There are two in Kokura.
I tried not to make a mistake, but I did. As soon as we got off the shuttle bus, I saw the A sign and was drawn in, but I was sure it was the wrong hotel because we were on the Shinkansen side. However, my husband told me to ask just to be sure. There was always a chance, so I went to ask, and before I could even open my mouth, they said something like, "If you've already checked in beforehand, just go ahead." Recently, more and more hotels have really smooth check-in and check-out procedures, but sometimes they're so smooth that they can be boring. When I asked, "I've booked with A, is this the right hotel?" And of course, I was wrong. I guess that's a question a lot of people ask. They even had a clear map ready for me. As expected.
The right Hotel A was also very close to the station, but the area around the hotel was already quiet. I had been thoroughly brainwashed about the charms of Kitakyushu through the TV advertisements in the ferry cabin. Apparently it's also a popular filming location, and there are many photogenic spots. Therefore, after discussing it with my husband in advance, we asked the receptionist to extend our stay from one night to two nights at check-in. However, even though it was the same room, the price on the reservation site would not be the same for the second night, so it would be more expensive. I probably should have just rebooked through the reservation site, but I thought it would be quicker to tell him directly. But the process took a longer time. Furthermore, our room was on the second floor, the lowest floor in the guest room world. We had already paid full price for the second night. I thought it would be nice if they'd be considerate enough to upgrade our room at this point... but I guess the staff member probably doesn't have the authority to do that. I forced myself to believe that.
The next morning, we decided to go to a place called Tanga Market, which my husband had looked up on his phone. It's supposed to be about a 10-minute walk from Kokura Station, but for some reason I thought it was a 30-minute walk, so we took the train. On the way to the station, we met Maetel and Tetsuro. The Tanga Market opens at 10, but we got there too early. The area around the station is a lot more deserted than Kokura, but after a little walk, we found a cafe that was open. The shop was strangely long and narrow but had a cute atmosphere. They also serve flat whites. When my husband comes to Japan, he complains that there are no flat whites as coffee options. No, I'm sure we just haven't been to those kinds of shops, and there must be plenty of flat whites in Japan too. But it's just that flat whites aren't the standard coffee drink like in NZ. Look, it's right here! Or rather, we were so busy eating that we didn't go into any cafes. The flat white was delicious, so we had a light breakfast of toast and waffles. This was a mistake. With our stomachs full, we could not to eat anything at the Tanga Market, despite the fresh seafood.
After that, my husband's usual "I want to see the ocean" started, so we went back to Kokura and found Akasaka Beach, which we could get to by bus. However, it seems that the bus only goes to Akasaka Beach on weekends. That’s enough; we decided to take a taxi and asked the driver to take us to "Enmeiji Seaside Park" in a corner of Akasaka Beach. The driver looked at us with a confused look, which made us feel uneasy, but he said, "Oh, that's the park where you can skateboard, right?" and took us there. It was definitely a park that made us feel like "Huh?" It was a part of an industrial area. The park itself was small, but the seaside that continued from there was a promenade, and fishermen were casting their fishing lines here and there. We walked along the promenade, looking at the ocean on our left, as we headed away from Kokura. There was no sandy beach in this area. A concrete cliff separates the sea from the city. If we keep walking like this, it seems we are approaching Shin-Moji Port, where we arrived last night. Before we knew it, the promenade ended, and we had no choice but to start walking down the main street, with the sea on our left. After a while, I saw a building that looked like a restaurant, but it was an okonomiyaki restaurant that seemed to be part of a chain. You can see the sea from the parking lot. I thought it would be a restaurant with a great view, but there were no windows on the sea side. What a waste. In NZ, real estate prices would skyrocket just by having an ocean view. It was hot, and we were tired, so we thought we’d have a quick beer around here, but every seat had a hotplate, and they lit the fire as soon as we sat down. It was an atmosphere that didn't allow for a quick meal. We ended up ordering one okonomiyaki, one yakisoba, and two beers, and we were full.
After that, we realized that the station was nearby, so I used the map on my iPhone to head towards the station, and suddenly the number of stylish buildings started to increase. Damn! This is the kind of place I wanted to eat lunch at. We went into a nice restaurant and had beer and fish carpaccio. It felt good. We regretted having eaten okonomiyaki instead.
Afterwards, we decided to take the train back to Kokura. I realized that it's best to do some research before walking around an unfamiliar city.
For dinner, we happened to come across an Italian restaurant. It was just before happy hour, so my husband rushed over and had two drinks.
I don't know if he was drunk or not, but afterwards, my husband put his arm around Captain Harlock's shoulder and said he was finally able to meet his long-lost brother.
