A day’s experience in Fukuoka, Japan.

apan Trip
On Monday morning, I had to go for a day trip to Japan, which they call a
visa run, which saw me go by hovercraft to Fukuoka city and I would return
back after thirty hours. After my pickup came early and failed me for having
breakfast, brother jumped on board hungry, but managing...I met another
Australian, not your usual optimist, but wasn't to bad. Was difficult to make
conversation with him at first when I asked him where he lived in Australia
and he said the south side...and I said "where, Logan, Sunnybank?" And all
he would say i "South side" Whilst waiting for the boat, I noticed a some
students eager to talk to me, so I said hello, how are you....next thing, 20
people surround m and are trying to have a conversation with me and then
they start taking photo's...got me feeling like Kanye west....testify...come
up iin the spot lookin extra fly...til he day I die...I'ma touch the
sky...Then on the boat, met an american guy named Lopez....we got to know
each other sitting in the same seat area...then he just started talking all
this rubbish that I didnt want to hear...you know when that happens to
you...stuck in a situation for a certian amount of time and you can't hange
the settings. So he thought alot of himself and kept on wanting us to spend
more money on taxi's, but me being to Japan before...and the weakness of the
Australian dollar, I knew things weren't so viable for a brotha at that
present time....we headed to the embssy and then filled out the visa
application forms to be met by a the cutest immigration lady we have ever
seen. Lopez decides he's gonna vibe her...but she can't speak english....so
it was an interesting scenario nonetheless. I tried to speak my Japanese
and somehow, my proficiency has improved to another level that I could liase
between 2 languages...It felt like a magnificent achievement. Next, we tried
to find our hotel.

We decided to organise ourselves as a team. 3 australians, one eglishman,
one american and one canadian. We had decided to catch the bus and after
getti g on several of the wrong buses, we finally managed to get onto one
that was headed towards our hotel. we got of at the stop only to realise
that we were at the wrong stop. I saw two foreigners walking towards us in
the distance...finally...another person who could speak english...I go up o
them.."excuse me"...can you beleive...they looked and then dissed a
brotha....then I'm there standing like" what just happened" I told the guys
and they just laughed it ver..but finally anothe Japanese lady was able to
help withh directions to the hotel. we caught the bus and then made it to
the hotel. a very nice hotel and a brotha was getting a free breakfast too.
We decided we would go and explore a little later in town..so I went to have
a rest to find a little kimono thing in their...brotha got changed and
started doing some bruce lee action fighting movie scene...felt good..then i
took a rest for half an hour.

Unfortunately, 90% of the time we were in Fukuoka, it was raining and I
didn't have an umbrella and I wasnt going to buy one fo 500
yen....(yeah....bit stubborn....but japan ain't cheap neither...plus they
didnt give me my allowance yet)So I walked alongside eveyone else as we
headed towars town. We stopped by a shrine and then went to starbucks where
I met another African American and just got talkin for a while and then left
him with his 2 girls to ...handle his biz-ness. We continued walking up
through the upmarket stores and by the time we got out, it was time to eat.
We had a look around and the others decided to go to a place where it cost
2000Yen for a meal each...so I bounced to a place called Yoshinoya and got
the same meal for Australian Budget...was good yo...and got to use more of
my Japanese so I was feeling really good. I later went to meet up with them
and I was standing ouside waiting for them. An older japanese guy that could
speak english started talking with me, asked \me what i was doing? I told
him that I was waiting fo my friends. He asked me if I had eaten, and I said
yes, I'll just wait for them to finish..then we started having a
conversation and I found out that he was a business owner and had a business
in new york and that he was with his young wife...or most probably,
girlfriend..he later insisted that I come inside with him and eat with him
and he said he'll pay...afte asking me three times, I went in and we
continud talking. Then he bought me sake...told me to drink....and he begged
again...so I tried it....it was alright...strong though....the food was good
and he let me try some good chicken. mmmmm...tasty.Then he was asking me
where i am from...started saying i was cool ang he liked his girl...then
asked me if i liked girls...then came the awkward part of the
conversation....he said" I think you are bi-sexual...you like
men?"...dammmmmmn...I could here the record scratch right down man...like
everything just stopped at that point in time...then I notice the look in
his and his girls eye and then I felt my loss of appetite for chicken and
was hoping his generosity was purely for his kindness and not for his or his
girls ambitions. Then my friends decided to go so I thanked them for their
kindness and we continued our night in Fukuoka.

After walking for 10 minutes, we came to a place like an old English pub,
but walking inside and they were playing classic reggae music. We sat down
and ordered drinks, mine strictly orange juice and we continud talking and
sharing stories about where we all came from. I wanted to check out the
Fukuoka club scene before I left, even though it was a Monday night. As we
left the pub, the worker gave me instructions on how to get there and they
also gave me a free pink umbrella because they saw how much it was raining.
It was so kind of them. I later split from the group and made my way to the
club.

At the club, I was outside when a young man came outside to greet me. He
could speak a little English and with my little Japanese, somehow, we were
striving to have a conversation with each other and he was explaining to me
what time people go to the club and that they had sean paul perform at their
club only 2 weeks ago. I went inside and joined him and then I met his DJ
friend and he bought me a drink. We shared stories and then another guy
about 40 years old was insisting on having me dance...so I later said
ok...and we went and busted a couple moves out on the floor.....he moved
really bad...but you know...I was keeping things optimisitic, so I was like
in Japanese..yeah man that was tight , yo...that was cool. After our dance
session, he bought me a drink and then he and his friend left the club. I
continued talking with the dj and the staff behind the bar in Japanese cos
only one person could speak a little english and everyone was having an
awesome time while they were busting out some old school classics. Then at
one, I was too tired so I went to go home and the guys gave me instructions
and took me to the street where I could find my hotel. Then my night came to
a close and I was looking forward to a free buffet the next morning.

The next day, I woke up expecting to find my new friends down at the buffet
as i woke up late, but to no avail. So I helpe myself to a big breakfast and
then I later saw them come down one by one and we all shared our stories of
the previous night. We then went to pick up our visa's...somhow, Lopez
managed to score the immigration chicks email..and then started boasting
about getting some erotic magazines...that just killed our vibe with
him....we went back to the ship port and was chilling there. While waiting,
I said hello and started talking with another young korean male and then
next thing, everyones taking photo's and aking questions and treating me like
a rock star.."testify...." u know how it goes. Then I'm walking through the
ship port and they are all folowing me too. ahh....this is quite
interesting. Arriving back in Korea was alright. We caught the train then
bus and parted ways...ad an embarrasing experience almost walking into the
wrong toilet, but in the end, a brotha succeeded. After the bus, I caught
the taxi and tried to have a conversation with the driver (to no avail) and
then I went home. The start of a new day...working in Korea.