Japan - first days in Fukuoka

After a very short night and an exciting taxi ride through Beijing traffic, I got to the airport and 4 hours later (with layover in Dalian) arrived in Fukuoka. There, my friend Junko picked me up. The heat outside was quite a shock for me and the way to Junko's apartment really weary because my luggage was so huge and heavy and we had to change from bus to train and then change train again until we got there. The first striking thing about Japanese girls that I saw: they wore nearly all high heels and long sleeves. What's wrong with that? Well they couldn't walk in their shoes and the outside temperature was about 33degrees...so I felt still a little weird being the only person wearing a sleeveless top!
My days in Fukuoka made me recognize that my Japanese skills are really as poor as I thought! I can probably understand 30-40% of what people say, but reply? - no way! Furthermore all the signs are in Japanese. Only. I was so glad to have Junko accompanying me everywhere because otherwise I would have gotten lost many times...
We went to see some great events like Sake tasting with jazz music, a jazz festival in the city center, Brasilian dinner and another festival connected to a shrine with loads of food offers!

Yeah, and the FOOD! Oh my god, so gooooood!!!! Sometimes also a little bit weird (like bones on a stick?!) but all in all it tastes so different from everything I have ever tried before! Already during the first days here, I had so many different and new things: Onigiri (rice in nori stuffed with tuna, chicken, etc.), Ramen (noodlesoup with meat), Sushi (so different than in Germany and can be ordered via touchscreen), Yakitori (all kinds of meat and seafood served on a stick), Takoyaki (specialty from Osaka: dumplings filled with pieces of octopus)....and many more! Such a great experience! And I'm so lucky that Junko spent all the days with me to give me an easy first access to Japanese culture. Can't wait to see more of the country and experience the culture in detail.