Other members of this long ride were the instructors of the driving school which I had belonged to several years ago for a month to acquire a driving license for unlimited motorcycles. In Japan's driving license system, motorcycles are categorized into some groups by their displacement and there's a high wall between over 400 cc and others. I had been allowed to drive motorcycles whose displacement was up to 400 cc since I was 18 years old. Thanks to their instruction, I was allowed to drive any kind of motorcycle in Japan. Anyway, this time, as one of the motorcycle freaks, we got together to enjoy riding motorcycles.
The ferry boat docked at Kokura Port at 5 o'clock. We slept until 7 o'clock and got off the boat. The first destination was Karato fishery market,which is well-known for its largest amount of catch of "fugu", blowfish in Japan. Pictures show the market and the Kanmon Straits which lies between Kyushu and Honshu, the biggest island of Japan.
After a considerably lower priced, but rich breakfast, we took a walk for a while and came across a historic building, which is shown in the lastpicture. Look at the building behind the pine tree, on the right side in the picture. It is the site where the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed by then Japan's ambassador plenipotentiary Hirobumi Ito and China's counterpart Li Hung-Chang in 1895, which made Korea independent from China and incorporated Taiwan into Japan.
(Vocabulary)
dock [自]〈船が〉波止場［埠頭］に着く,ドックに入る
dock in/at sth ＜港＞に着く
ambassador plenipotentiary; plenipotentiary （特に外交上の）全権大使
Cambodia's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan 駐日カンボジア特命全権大使
Li Hung-Chang 李鴻章
The time when the ferryboat arrives at Kokura Port is too early to start a day, so passengers who want to take a rest are allowed to stay until 7:00. Blowfish? Blowfish without Japanese sake is like Japan without Mt. Fuji. I had to ride my scooter, so I couldn't. So sorry.
Posted by: KUMO | Jul 07, 2013 at 05:01 PM
Did you board the ferry boat at 5pm and sleep until 7am?
Did you eat any blowfish?
Posted by: Peter | Jul 05, 2013 at 01:22 PM