Thirteen days in February: Fukuoka and the Itoshima coast, across to Mojiko, then Kansai for Nara and a few slow days in Osaka, and the second week in Tokyo.
This is written up from the photographs afterwards rather than from the itinerary I left with, and the two do not always agree — a full day at Fuji-Q was planned and did not happen, and some of the best things were not planned at all. Where I could not tell what a photograph was of, I have left the day thin rather than guess. Three days here have nothing on them, which is honest: two were rest days in Osaka and the last one was a checkout.
Arrival day. The first photographs are from the middle of the afternoon, in the backstreets behind Tenjin — a gold statue sitting on a bench outside a shopfront, and a neon sign above it reading 裏天神. Whatever else happened before that is not recorded.
Behind Tenjin, the first afternoon
Day 02
Feb 5, 2026
2 stops
02
The Itoshima coast, early
9:10 AM
A small seafront place with a green door and a chalkboard out front, already open at ten past nine, and then the seawall and the beach with the headland at the end of it. I have not been able to pin down which of the cafes along that road this was.
The white torii standing in the sea, with the two joined rocks behind it. Grey water and an overcast sky; a couple of other people on the sand and otherwise empty.
The torii standing in the sea, and the two rocks behind it
Day 03
Feb 6, 2026
1 stop
04
Mojiko
12:26 PM
Mojiko Retro, 9 Minatomachi, Moji Ward, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
Across to the Kanmon Strait for the middle of the day — red brick on one side, a curved glass building on the other, the water, and the hills on the far shore. The itinerary had Karato Market first thing that morning; nothing I have photographed proves it, so it is not listed here.
Day 04
Feb 7, 2026
2 stops
05
A park with a pond, late afternoon
5:12 PMNot planned
Waterbirds on a bank, apartment blocks behind. I cannot identify it and I am not going to guess at a name.
↓Transit
06
The life-size Gundam at LaLaport Fukuoka
6:17 PMNot planned
6-chōme-23-1 Naka, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, 812-0893, Japan
This day was written down as "TBD, relax" and turned into the standing Gundam at LaLaport, lit blue against a dark blue sky just after six. Not planned, and one of the things I would tell somebody else to go and see.
Flew into Itami in the morning, dropped the bags, and got to Nara around midday. Wet ground, umbrellas out, and the deer walking straight up to people on the path. This is the one thing on the Kansai leg that the itinerary and the photographs agree on exactly.
Day 06
Feb 9, 2026
0 stops
Day 07
Feb 10, 2026
0 stops
Day 08
Feb 11, 2026
1 stop
08
Shibuya Sky
7:40 PM
Japan, 〒150-6145 Tokyo, Shibuya, 2-chōme−24−１２ スクランブルスクエア 14階・45階 46階・屋上
Flew Osaka to Haneda in the afternoon and this was the evening. Photographed from the enclosed level rather than the roof — the city in the windows and a lot of other people doing the same thing.
Day 09
Feb 12, 2026
2 stops
09
Gōtoku-ji
3:46 PM
2-chōme-24-7 Gōtokuji, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0021, Japan
The plan for this day was a four in the morning start for Fuji and a full day at Fuji-Q Highland. It did not happen — nothing was photographed before lunchtime, and everything from that day is in Tokyo.
So instead: the cat temple in the afternoon. Every one of these was left by somebody, and the shelves keep going back into the trees. It is a working temple on an ordinary residential street.
Every one of these was left by somebody
↓Transit
10
Odaiba Marine Park
9:50 PM
1-chōme-4-4 Daiba, Minato City, Tokyo 135-0091, Japan
Out west of the city, inside Yomiuriland. Arrived at half past one; the timed entry for the forest part was the three-to-four slot and that is where the afternoon went. Figures set out among real trees on a hillside.
The morning was supposed to be Gōtoku-ji at seven and the Ghibli Museum at ten. Neither happened — Gōtoku-ji had already been done the day before, and there is nothing from before half past one.
In among the real trees, on the forest side
↓Transit
12
Kawaii Monster Land
9:07 PM
Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, Jingūmae, 1-chōme−16−４ B1F
A run of large printed panels along a window wall on an upper floor, and then the Toranomon Hills sign outside just after eleven. That is as precisely as I can place it.
Ghost in the Shell, on an upper floor at Toranomon Hills
In at about twenty past four, out at nine when it closed. The globe at the entrance, the harbour, and the shops along it in the evening.
The itinerary had Tsukiji, Toyosu and the Odaiba Gundam in front of this. There is a gap of five hours in the photographs where those would have been and nothing to show for it either way, so none of them are listed.
