Fukuoko You!

So you have exactly 4 1/2 hours to absorb and enjoy the Japanese culture- GO!

That was the experience of my co-workers and I this weekend as we had to make an emergency visa run to Fukuoko, Japan. I guess Koreans are particularly, um, particular about who works in their country- so in order to become law-abiding employees of the Seoul City Government and to avoid receiving 37 lashes at the border (42 if you happened to be Canadian) we had to leave Korea. The 8am flight took one hour and then we went straight to the Korean Consulate. It felt a bit strange leaving Korea and going all the way to Japan only to immediately run to Korean soil, kind of like an international hamster, scurrying from one plastic bubble to a slightly smaller version of the same plastic bubble. But I was told it was necessary, and it was paid for. done.

So yea, Japan. First thing about diving into a new culture is to make sure it's not too shallow, so we headed straight for the Tech 9 Wonder Park Video Arcade across from the consulate (I was with a group that was primarily male between the ages of 22-26...enough said) After basking in the neon glow of anime characters with seizure-inducing strobe light eyes we moved on to a much more important cultural experience, Lunch!

Remember those signs that said "no shoes, no service"-well to that Japan says, "HA!" We stowed our sneakers in the cubby lockers and slid "Risky Business" style across the smooth hard wood floors and snuggled down to one of the low floor tables with a hot griddle built right in. I recommend picking one up for all people who enjoy keeping their food hot, like flicking things on burners to watch them sizzle, or are trying to teach their kids to keep their elbows off the table.

We gathered around the table, giddy with shoeless delight, and were offered 3 choices: "shrimp, pork, seafood"...what the actual dish was was never explained, but it was sure to contain one of those three ingredients. I went with seafood. What arrived was something of a hybrid of a Spanish tortilla (omelet style) and a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut...with mayonnaise on top, and a few visible tentacles. If this dish doesn't sound savory to you...well, then you just weren't there...as most of you reading this understandably were not. My point being: it was quite yummy in its hot tentacle-y omelet goodness.

For the rest of the afternoon we walked all over the small city, and gazed upon gardens, and lakes and castle ruins. Some ruins, in fact, were so ruined you really couldn't tell there had been anything there in the first place, so we played frisbee. By 5:30 we all re-grouped at the Korean Consulate and boarded our bus back to Fukuoko International Airport. We had just enough time to blow some yen at Duty Free then got on the plane and re-entered Korea with our shiny new work visas!whoo hoo! No, really, they actually Are shiny! That makes three international visas for me, which now means the visas in my passport outnumber the visas in my wallet. cool.