I finally made it Fukui! I wanted to stay here when I made my long trip south from Hokkaido to Kagoshima during my sabbatical vacation but there were no hotels available for some reason. Even the taxi driver had no idea.

Anyway, I started my day in Osaka at the same breakfast spot again. Why mess with what works? I got a egg sando today.

You have to be kind of foolish to visit Japan during Golden Week. Today is the start of Golden Week and I am kind of foolish. The train announcement said the train was full and there were a few empty seats but it was busier than usual.

This has nothing to do with anything but here’s a picture of a giant building that looks like a chocolate bar near Osaka.

Fukui wasn’t that bad. I had no idea what to do and one of the several tourist information desks said maybe I should just stay in town since I was getting a “late” start. I dropped off my bags and went to the Loft on the way back to the station to buy some scissors. I don’t think I’ll need them but I couldnt find my tiny travel scissors so I bought another pair.

When I got back to the station a different tourist information guy said, “Yeah, you can make it to Eiheiji Temple but you just missed the bus.” I decided to get a light lunch and then head to Eiheiji. I don’t know much about it other than Steve Jobs wanted to become a monk there. I’d even forgotten it was an important Zen temple.

I did say light lunch, right? I overdid it.

Several people suggested taking a train and then a bus but there was a bus that went straight from the station and it left once an hour. There was a busy tourist trap area until you got to the walk to the temple.

I have a few pictures but I’m sure there are lots more good pictures of Eiheiji online. If you do go, I would highly recommend going during a cooler time. The temple is built on a hill and is HUGE. I couldn’t believe how many stairs I went up to get to the main temple. There were Zen monks going to afternoon prayers or something It was all very different to me. I think my maternal grandfather was a Zen Buddhist but I’m not really sure.

It’s hard to see but there’s a monk ringing that giant bell once every few minutes.

I tried to go to the waterfall but on the way I saw a sign that looked like it said “stop” or “not working”. I used Google Translate and I guess there’s construction and the water has been diverted from the waterfall.

I got out my timetable and I ALMOST MISSED THE NEXT BUS BACK. Honestly, I’m not very religious and I also didn’t want to hang out in a tourist trap cafe so I walked fast to the bus.

Fukui is also known for dinosaurs, but the main “park” and museum are out past Eiheiji. The train station has animatronic models out front with informational plaques which were cooler than I expected.

Next I went to the castle ruins. There’s recreations of parts of the castle ike a bridge.

And a gate.

And I’m guessing the walls too. The middle, where the castle buildings were, is the prefectural office and the police station. Why waste the space?

Then I went to the history museum and the Youyoukan gardens next to it. The gardens and a building were the villa of someone important. Nevertheless it was nice. The only picture I have is of some flowers because I was trying to get my phone to tell me what they were. Rhododendrons was what the phone said. That was my second guess other than azaleas.

Oh and there were some ducks hanging out on the street. My phone was no help identifying them.

Two different women at the front desk told me I needed to try sauce katsu at two different times, so I decided to give it a go. I think I picked the right place because there was a line.

It wasn’t even crowded inside. I guess they didn’t want to overwhelm the kitchen. It’s thin pork cutlets (still thicker than the paper thin junk the Korean pretend-Japanese restaurants in Portland have) covered in Worcestershire sauce. It was even better than I expected. The rest was mid. Miso soup was watery and the salad need tons more dressing (there was a lot of cabbage). Even the takuan wasn’t the best. Would I go again? Heck yeah.

So time to eat my bribe (I got it everywhere and it’s kind of sticky) and here’s my obligatory Wilkinson picture. I’m in a double so there’s two bribes along with two bottles of water. I am NOT drinking all that. I’m having to get up enough times in the middle of the night without dinking all that much.

Honestly I think I’d rather drink the water but I can’t count on the hotel having free bottles of water so I buy Wilkinson. Oh and I got my MacBook Air charger back. The Matsue Onyado Nono shipped it to this one and it cost me a whole ¥710. Sure beats buying a new one for ¥6800.