April 23: Fukuoka to Tokyo

This morning we all woke up around 6:30 and got packed up. Our breakfast was the same spread as the first day, with the tamagokake gohan and salmon shiojake.

Breakfast

After we finished eating we got our stuff from the rooms and checked out. We drove to Hi-Ojiichan's grave and met Hiro-Ojichan there. Luke took a liking to a broom that Ojiichan was using to clean the grave and he held on to it for the whole time we were there.

Cleaning Hi-Ojiichan's Grave

After we had paid our respects we went and dropped off Hiro-Ojichan's car at his place and then we all went to visit Hi-Obaachan one more time. Unfortunately on the way there Luke fell asleep so he wasn't able to warm up more to Hi-Obaachan. Hi-Obaachan seemed a little bit tired too so we only stayed and visited with her for about 20 minutes.

From there we headed to Fukuoka. Ojiichan was wanting to try Doug's Burger because a Mountain View Japanese SDA church member founded it and they just opened one in Hakata station. I got the cheeseburger with onion rings for my meal and I thought they were very good. All the burgers were made with Tarama beef, which is a type of wagyu grown on Tarama-jima, a small island west of Miyako-jima, in between Okinawa and Taiwan. It was a very tender burger, almost falling apart in my mouth, and it had a very mild beef flavor. The lettuce, tomato and onion all were very fresh and the bun was a brioche bun so it was nice and soft. The onion rings were thick cut and panko crusted. They were good with a nice crunch, but not my favorite onion ring.

Cheeseburger w Onion Rings

Once we finished eating we went to the airport. We checked in and then headed up to the restaurant level where we found some soft serve to eat. When we finished we said our goodbyes to Hiro-Ojichan and went through security to our gates. Our flight was different than Ojiichan's so we said goodbye to him as well. The flight was on Star Flyer/ANA and it was pretty smooth. When we landed in Tokyo and were taxiing to our gate we saw the R2-D2 ANA airplane, so I was pretty happy.

R2-D2

Once we gathered our bags and got an internet connection we figured out how to get to our hotel with the Tokyo subway system. We checked into our hotel and then walked out to find some dinner, but unfortunately most places were closed since it was a Sunday. Eventually we found a small ramen shop called Kiwamiya. I got a large shoyu ramen and it came with a tare egg, and a couple of large slices of chashu. It was a very hearty and porky ramen with a tonkotsu style broth, but it had a cleaner flavor. I personally really liked it, but Christal isn't into the porky ramens. Once we finished we went to Family Mart to get some dessert and then headed back to the hotel for the night.

Shoyu Ramen