Fukuoka
Fukuoka Travel Guide
Fukuoka is my #1 favorite place in Japan.
A great place to start learning about Fukuoka is a monthly magazine that is also on line called “Fukuoka Now”
http://www.fukuoka-now.com/en/
It has a great English edition, and has all sorts of stuff about restaurants, events, etc.
It also has a good “area guide”
http://www.fukuoka-now.com/en/areaguide/archive/
There was no “Yelp” or TripAdvisor when I was in Fukuoka years ago, so I had to find everything by hit-or-miss. Still, nowadays the Internet has lots of good advice, so does Tripadvisor, and so does Tabelog, which is the Japanese version of Yelp.
Once you figure out how to navigate it, Tabelog is great way to study Japanese with your strongest and most adaptable muscle - your stomach. However, just know that Fukuoka probably has the best food in all of Japan. It has a strong Korean influence, so you will see Korean dishes there that you would never see in a Japanese restaurant anywhere else in Japan. While you are there, definitely try some local delicacies such as mentaiko, which are a spicy fish-egg, Hakata-style ramen (called Tonkotsu Ramen, it is a thick pork broth ramen that smells like ass and might make you sick but can taste amazing), and anything else you can get your hands on.
The city is divided into several neighborhoods, and has almost anything you could want. Tenjin Core is the commercial center of the city. Tenjin has huge department stores and an underground city that snakes all over downtown. The underground city is centered around Sun Plaza and Tenjin Terminal, which is an enormous train and bus terminal.
To the west is Hakata, the traditional center of the city. Old-timers still call the city of Fukuoka by its traditional name, Hakata, and the local dialect is still called Hakata-ben. Hakata has many old temples and the Hakata Gion Yamakasa. While you are there, you will see the preparations for the Yamakasa underway - people carry enormous, multi-story floats on their backs through the city in huge teams of loin-cloth-wearing men, while spectators douse them with water. The race is televised nationally on NHK and the various neighborhoods compete for time and for the most incredible floats. They are beautiful and put on display before the event.
Between Tenjin and Hakata is the island of Nakasu, which was the home of the red-light district years ago, and now is the home of various host/hostess bars, high-end restaurants, and the iconic Yatai of Fukuoka. The Yatai are the street-cart food vendors of Japan; they invented food trucks while were still wondering if the earth was the center of the universe. Unfortunately, the municipal government hasn’t been very friendly to the Yatai, and they are decreasing in number. Still, you can get steaming bowls of ramen, delicious yakitori, or lots of other amazing food from these street vendors. They are great places to start conversations with strangers and live Japan the old way.
To the east of Tenjin is Daimyo, which is my favorite part of Fukuoka. Bordered on the north by Meiji-Dori (the two main streets are named Showa-Dori and Meiji-Dori, for the 2 previous Emperors), and the Apple Store to the south, Daimyo is the Brooklyn of Fukuoka. Full of hipster shops, nightclubs, and awesome food, Daimyo used to be full of young people and neat little places. It’s starting to be infested with high-end shops, though. Still, I love it there. There is still a vibrant music scene in Fukuoka. For some reason, it is considered the music capital of Japan - singers like Hamasaki Ayumi, the group Perfume, Shiina Ringu (of Tokyo Jihen), and others hail from Fukuoka.
Fukuoka also has some beautiful parks - Ohori Koen is a great place to spend the afternoon and watch people - it’s the “Central Park” of Fukuoka City. There is a running path (people mostly walk though and don’t like runners), a good art museum, and you can rent boats and go out on the water. Yusentei is the opposite - it has a quiet little tea house and you can look out on a beautiful Japanese garden. Plus, you have Momochi park, where there is a beach and public swimming and all that. You can also take a ferry to a nearby island (about 20 minutes) - but I’ve never done that before.
A good place to see all of Fukuoka is Fukuoka Tower, which by leaps and bounds the tallest building in all of Kyushu. You can see for miles, but of course you have to take a tiny elevator to get up there. It has a little cafe at the top and is right next to the SoftBank Hawks Baseball stadium and the beach.
Getting around Fukuoka couldn’t be easier. They have a very new and effective subway, and several train lines serve the suburbs. From Tenjin station you can get anywhere in Fukuoka prefecture by bus or train. From Hakata station you can get anywhere in Japan; it is a major Shinkansen hub - it is the end of the line for the Tokaido Shinkansen which runs from Tokyo, and the beginning of the line for the new Kyushu Shinkansen. There is a ferry to Korea and of course the airport will get you anywhere.
Here are some food recommendations, along with the Tabelog link for the place.
I’m not going to get into Ramen recommendations - in Fukuoka you can lose friends in a fight with someone over what place has the best Ramen.
1. Tetsunabe
Forget everything that you learned about Japanese proprietors being polite, careful, and respectful.
This place is run by gyoza-nazis, bullying fried-dumpling matrons who would be thrown out of a catholic nunnery for being too strict.
No pictures, no choice of beverages (a giant bottle of beer or water, I think that’s all they have), and basically one item on the menu - a frying pan full of the most delicious Gyoza on earth.
The walls are full of signatures and pictures of some of the most famous celebrities in all of Japan.
I took a photo of a signature from the band “The Blue Hearts” - the matron snapped at me and I feigned “No Japanese, sorry!”
If you ask a cab driver to take you to Testunabe, they’ll know where it is.
It’s in the Gion section of Hakata ward.
(I think there is another Tetsunabe in Tenjin, btw, that I’ve never been to - I don’t know if it’s the same or not.
3. Udon Taira
There will be a line here for this Udon-Ya, so bring a book or something. But even if it’s hot out, you can get cold noodles here and the noodles are fantastic. The menu is traditional for an Udon-ya - it’s on the wall, in Kanji, so bring your little Japanese Food book that I’ll give you. When all else fails, I always order Kitsune Udon (which comes with a big slice of fried bean curd) but you can always get Kake-udon, which is very simple. Then the only question is “hot or cold.” That place is a little far, though.On the other hand, much closer to town is Sanuki Udon Ookido. Sanuki Udon is Shikoku style; Shikoku has the best Udon in all of Japan.
4. Kinsaya.
Kinsaya serves Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki (with Yakisoba noodles.)
Best of all, the proprietor is an ex-Sumo wrestler, and a rather well-known one at that. It’s a little tricky to find, being in the basement of a building, but use the Tabelog pictures to find it or ask someone in the building.
5. Hakata Akachokobe
This one is a little advanced - it’s a very traditional Japanese Izakaya. But the food is awesome. It’s in Gion in Hakata Ward. You also might want to use the pictures in Tabelog to order. Fortunately, there are many many pictures. They specialize in Gobo (burdock root) and make it several different ways there. They also have great noodles (most people go there for noodles)
6. Thiki
Don’t let this place’s shady exterior fool you - it’s got awesome curry.
7. Hungry Heaven
At some point, you are going to crave a burger. Sure, you can go to Mosburger or Freshness Burger, but it’s not the same. When that time comes, Hungry Heaven might be a good friend to you.
8. Mendouhana Mokoshi
OK look I said no ramen places on this list, but I didn’t put this place on the list for Ramen. If it’s hot outside, you should try Tsukemen, which is a traditional summer noodle. It’s like ramen, but the noodles come out cold and wet, in a little basket, and you lightly dip them in a sauce of your choice. It’s pretty awesome and actually refreshing in the heat.You can get them cold or hot. Another good place for Tsukemen is just outside Daimyo, at Kanetora.
9. Sakai Sushi
You might decide you want to go high-end one night for Sushi. If so, my friend S’s friend Sakai has a sushi shop named Sakai Sushi. It’s gradually become one of the most popular high-end places in Fukuoka. Any cab driver will know the place.
Outside Fukuoka
Fukuoka City is the main city in Fukuoka prefecture, but it also has several “suburbs” - parts of the prefecture that are outside the city but still worth a visit.
The #1 place I recommend is Dazaifu. About 40 minutes by train, Dazaifu was the imperial center of Kyushu 1500 years ago. It has a huge main temple, but if you wander around a little you can find many smaller and fantastic little temples and museums. The Kyushu National Museum is there, there is a large zen garden.
One of my favorite places in Japan, Kanzeonji Temple. No one visits Kanzeonji, but it has a “Treasure Hall” nearby that has some absolutely breathtaking ancient wooden statues. The prefect let me enter the main hall at the temple, which is normally locked, and I sat there for about 1/2 hour just speechless. It’s very modest from the outside, but I liked it.
If you decide you want to rent a car and drive around, I can recommend a great day trip to Asakura and then Ukiha.
Ukiha is a drive up a mountainside and at the end is a fantastic and enormous garden. But along the way, you pass some of the only remaining Tanada in Japan. Tanada are terraced rice fields, and you climb this huge mountain and can look out over them. They are quite beautiful. You can’t even believe you are still near a big city when you are there.
If you want to explore Kyushu more, however, I have three recommendations for you:
First, Kumamoto can be a great day trip, especially if you want to visit Mount Aso. Aso-san is an active volcano, and at the top has huge sulfur pools to which you can hike and/or take the bus. By active, I really mean active - it had a small eruption a couple of years ago. The bus trip from the base of the mountain can be hiked, done on horseback, or takes a bus ride that I think was about 30 minutes. There was a cable-car but it has been shut down lately.
Second, Yanagawa is Kyushu’s own Venice, a small city with many intersecting canals. You can ride a small boat while a boatman pushes the boat just like a gondola, and they even sing and tell stories (in Japanese). It’s a great place to take pictures, and also to eat eel - Yanagawa is well-known for its delicious eel. It’s about 2 hours from Fukuoka by train
Third, you can always escape to Beppu, which is the Las Vegas of Onsens. Beppu is covered in various Onsen hotels - it’s pretty great. It’s a terrific place for a relaxing weekend.