Boy, that was a lot of food the night before, but it didn't seem like it was that much. I couldn't go straight to sleep that night, but I eventually did, and was granted a nice breakfast in the morning:
The main part.
The circle box hold extra rice.
Inside the rectangular box.
Said extra rice.
After I finished.
The window beside me, looking out towards the entrance/exit of the ryokan.
No wonder they have "Zen" in their name.
This is how it looks like from the outside, front. Now you know, this is Zen Oyado Nishitei.
Check out time was 11:00, and the train I had to get (the one Greg would get on and we'd meet) was going to leave around 15:30.
Let's explore a bit.
I saw this on my way to the ryokan the previous day, but I didn't go through/inside.
Yes, this I can do!
(like Dollar General in the States)
Lovely day!
A major shopping area Greg recommended I check out and see, as I'm waiting for the time to get on the train.
Behold, Canal City.
Whoa, I've never seen a shopping mall like this!
Screw the shopping, I'm staying out here!
I like.
Water fountains everywhere.
Can you see the droplets in midair?
I tried to catch them.
This was quite "amphitheater-esque".
I seriously went camera-happy here.
The star fountain, since the holes make a star (and the star on the ground also marks it).
Whoa!
That's 4 stories!
Impressive door handle.
This is a men's clothing store, too.
Man, how much does the up-keep cost?
Synchronized fountain to music.
I believe they were playing ABBA's "Dancing Queen."
I think the water shot up to the 5th floor.
That's where I was too.
Who was the brilliant architect? I'm curious now.
Oh, good to know. If I had a few more hours, I would've gone in.
The floors and shops above the star fountain.
At the restroom, I saw this and realized there must be a problem that I'm not used to seeing.
Bridge on the 2nd floor connecting 2 shopping mall wings.
The northern wing.
Ok, the other side.
Off to Hakata Station.
Oh, 2 consulates are in this building.
The Golden Retriever is so cute!
Got on the train, The reunion mission was a success.
Then we arrived at Kagoshima.
A view of Sakurajima (an active volcano) in the distance.
So we go to our hotel and check in. Interesting to see this in the elevator:
"In case of an emergency, this seat can be used as a toilet."
Wait, huh?
Anyway, we drop our stuff off and go get dinner. Don't ask me the name of this thing, because I honestly forgot. It's like an omelet + pancake kind of concoction.
As it was being cooked.
Just before we started to devour.
While our server was preparing this, he accidentally spilled my guava juice and it fell mostly on my coat. The poor guy couldn't stop apologizing and tried to dry it off with a few napkins. I was saying it was ok, even smelled my coat and gave an approving sigh one would give for a good smell. Even as we were done and paying, he kept on apologizing. About half our meal ended up on the house! Talk about great customer service!
Then I started to look for other opportunities to get something spilled on the other side of my coat. ;-P
Next, karaoke!
(from 2 singers--Greg being MUCH better than I--could you really expect anything different?)
In Korea, you have a song book to choose from, then a remote control on steroids to enter in the number and belt out your tune.
In Japan, everything is on this handy little portable screen where you press the screen to do whatever you want (in essence, it works like a tablet).
This ended up being the most expensive karaoke I've been to, though. But I still really enjoyed it.
Back to the hotel and used the hotel's onzen to clean up. Before we climb into our separate beds, I wanted to show this:
That's the bed's own built-in lamp--that dims according to a dial on the other (right) side!
Is that genius or what?
End of Day 5.
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