I left Kokura and the semi-creepy hotel to get to Fukuyama and a hotel that’s creepy for a completely different reason. The Ail Inn (I mean really, that started things off weird) was just weird because it was dark. And there were no phones in the rooms, probably because no one was ever using them. When I finally realized it was a BUSINESS HOTEL, it all clicked and the place wasn’t that creepy any longer.

HOWEVER, my new hotel is creepy because I don’t think I belong. The place is crawling with what I expect are rich doctors. There are EXPENSIVE kimono and flower shops and a wedding chapel here. It’s fancy and bright and only cost me ¥6,400 for a night but dinner here would’ve cost me ¥3,000 minimum (I saw some options at ¥8,500) and breakfast is ¥1,600! In rough dollar conversion that means the HUGE CLEAN ROOM WITH TWO DOUBLE BEDS AND THREE CHAIRS was only $53.07 but dinner would’ve started at $24.88 and gone up to $70.48 and breakfast is $13.27.

Oh, huh. The weak yen is making things look a lot better when I convert them. In any case I went out to dinner and paid ¥1,490 at the station.

And I got dessert and an English language newspaper.

But I left out where I started. I had another big breakfast at the Ail Inn. That’s not even everything they have there. There’s miso soup, and curry, and fish I forgot to get. The toaster is an industrial strength track job so you can put cheese and onions and tomato sauce and ham on your bread and make pizza toast. And there’s cereal. It’s one of the best spreads I’ve seen.

Then it was off from Kokura to Fukuyama. I was looking at the wrong ticket and could’ve missed my train but I got bored and decided to take a non-reserved seat on what I thought was an earlier train. Basically, I got a non-reserved seat on the train I was supposed to be on in the first place.

I got to the fancy pants Fukuyama New Castle Hotel, left my bags (that they delivered to my room) and went exploring. The first stop was Fukuyama Castle, which I’ve seen for years from the shinkansen.

If you get a chance, go see Kumamoto Castle instead. Kumamoto has multilingual signs, better displays, NEWER displays, and the chance to go into three turrets as well as the main castle. And Kumamoto Castle (like Hikone castle) is made of wood inside so it feels realer. Fukuyama Castle is a ferroconcrete reproduction with faded displays in Japanese only, but you do get a good view at the top.

Next I was off to historic Tomonoura, which is an old town with a few things to look at. Old is right. The place is full of temples and graveyards but no shrines. For some reason I’m pretty much over the temples this trip. I wandered around town looking at the outside of a lot of old houses that could’ve been anything and finally stopped at a café for lunch. The pasta wasn’t the best (I should’ve tried the “oil-based” sauce).

But check out the view!

Those legs to the right were an old dude who I thought was just bored but knew a lot of stuff about the town. He sent me on a trip up the mountain (like I said, I’m pretty much over the temples) that he said would take me 30 minutes. Well, I had another disagreement with the map but I made it back in 45 minutes, I think. Everyone else was dressed for winter, and I was down to my t-shirt because of the humid trek through the woods. But the view was worth it.

My last stop in town was at the green spot on that peninsula (if I can even call it that) in the middle of the picture. Here’s the view back towards the hill.

After that it was back to the fancy hotel and trying to find dinner, etc. I think this will be the first night with no beer even though I have a discount ticket to the bar downstairs. This is one of the louder places I’ve been so far. Here’s the view from my room and I can hear the trains loud and clear.