4-H World - Kyoto, Binto Box, Fukuoka

Today I arrived in Kyoto by train with my host family. Kyoto Station is the center for transportation in the city. The second-largest in Japan, it houses a shopping mall, hotel, movie theater, department store, and several local government facilities. It is a fifteen-story building! It took us about 3 hours to get to Kyoto. Japan's high speed trains (bullet trains) are called shinkansen.





This is Kyoto Tower I could see it when we arrived. It is an observation tower. The steel tower is the tallest structure in Kyoto, 131 meters (430 ft). The tower is built atop 9-story building, which houses a Kyoto Tower Hotel and several stores. The complex is just opposite from Kyoto Station.













I am at the Castle Kiyomizu. Kiyomizu-dera temple dates back to 798, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water or pure water.














I bought a Bento Box, a Japanese lunchbox!
And now in that I am in Kyoto this is the cookbook I bought! This is something I have seen in pictures and read about, then I saw them at the 4-H Kansas City Global Conference - now I am so happy to have one!





















Fukuoka: this is the stadium I saw the Softbank Hawks play baseball, Fukuoka Dome opened in April 1993, it was the first baseball park in Japan with a retractable domed roof. Its dimensions also made it the largest indoor stadium: it seats 48,000. And it is "green" one example is that rainwater that falls on the roof is collected, filtered, and used for the flush toilets.














These are some pictures of Fukuoka Tower, it is 234 meters tall and it is the tallest seaside tower in Japan. Fukuoka Tower was finished in 1989 and was built on reclaimed land out of Hakata Bay