Canal City Hakata

Canal City Hakata, 博多

A couple of months ago I took advantage of a lull in the pandemic and went on a trip to north Kyushu. This involved my first visit to a city in over 2 years.

In my quest to visit ,what were for me, the exotic and unusual, I revisited Canal City in Hakata, a "Cathedral of Consumption".

Japanese shopping malls are for the most part architecturally bland, usually resembling industrial scale warehousing, but a few are not.

The interior of CanalCity is a meandering "canyon" with a water feature running along its base. It is also quite colorful.

Canal City was designed by American architect Jon Jerde, and the architecture is somewhat inspired by the canyon country of the American southwest. He also designed another colorful complex called Riverwalk in Kokura.

Like a methadone clinic or a pachinko parlor, people were lining up to enter before the doors opened.

Japan Shop

Riverwalk Revisited

My final stop at the end of my fifth day of walking around Kyushu was the Riverwalk complex right next to the castle.

I'd been here several times before but it was such a great place for my kind of photos that I couldn't resist.

Designed by the  American architect Jon Jerde, Riverwalk comprises mostly of shops and offices, though there is also and art gallery and a TV studio.

Kokura is the closest point to Honshu, so I broke my journey here and headed home for a few days to spend the new year with my wife. Early in the new year I would be back for the next leg of my 78 day walk around Kyushu.

A Walk Around Kyushu Day 5

Following a miserable and rainy fourth day, day 5 was back to glorious weather. I didn't have too far to walk today, just from Yahata to Kokura.

There were 2 pilgrimage temples to visit, and a major shrine which was unexpected. With the afternoon free I visited a few places "on assignment" for Japanvisitor,com.

I took the train out to Mojiko and visited the Kyushu Railway Museum there, and then headed back to Kokura to revisit some architectural sights that interest me.

First up there was the International Conference Center by Arata Isozaki, somewhere I have posted about before

And then through the concrete jungle to the iconic Riverwalk Complex,

It was the 29th of December and so I broke my walk and headed home for a few days to spen new year with my wife before coming back a week later to continue with the next leg of my 2,200 kilometer walk.

Vacation 2011 Day 1: Kokura

After exploring Yahata it was time to head to Fukuoka, but first I spent a quick hour revisiting Kokura. Around the castle moat the cherry blossoms were out so I was able to have a little ohanami before leaving the country.

Below the castle is a branch of Yasaka shrine, and as I have a keen interest in komainu I couldnt resist taking some snaps.

In front of the castle was a small Inari shrine and several buddhist statues clad in gaily colored bibs with offerings of fresh flowers.... the late afternoon sun and shadows made for good pictures.

The main reason to revisit Kokura was to check out Riverwalk, the complex designed by Jerde. Ive posted about it before, but at a different time of the year and a different time of the day, and a new lens, it was possible to take some new shots.

And finally, walking across the river back towards the station the pleasure boats lined up to have their picture taken....

Canal City (inside)

I must admit I do like the architecture of Canal City in Fukuoka. It is easy to see the influence of the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau on the design.

Designed by American architect Jon Jerde who also designed the Riverwalk complex in nearby Kokura and the Namba Parks complex in Osaka.

The name Canal City derives from a pool of water that snakes along the interior of the canyonlike interior.

There are several fountains and an area for performances.

I was here a few days ago and there was some type of market going on.

Canal City (outside)

I post a lot on shrines, temples, and churches, but far more important to many contemporary Japanese are Cathedrals to Consumption!

Canal City in Hakata is one.

There are hotels, entertainment complex, restaurants, and more than 200 retail establishments.

But not one single place to buy a battery for my camera!!

It was designed by the Jerde Partnership who focus on creating "spaces" for people to meet rather than buildings per se. They are currently redesigning my hometowns city centre (Coventry)

Drawing inspiration from the canyonlands of the American Southwest, that is more apparent from the photos shot inside which I will post later.

Riverwalk at night.

A final look at the Riverwalk complex in Kokura, Kitakyushu.

More details can be found in the previous posts

For those of you who don't know Kokura, nowadays it has been merged into Kitakyushu.

It was the secondary target for the first atom bomb, but good weather over the primary target, Hiroshima, spared it.

It was the primary target for the second atom bomb, but bad weather meant the secondary target, Nagasaki, was chosen.

Inside Riverwalk

Some shots from inside the Riverwalk complex in Kokura.

For details see yesterdays post.

I recently learned that the Jerde Partnership that designed this complex have designed a new city centre for my hometown of Coventry. Could be interesting.