3 days in Fukuoka: What are the must-dos??

July 20, 2024

Recently I (Ty) have sent out a few newsletters talking about my go-to Japan travel recommendations. We covered Tokyo and Kyoto in May and June ^^

Now, it's time to talk about my favorite place in Japan:

福岡ふくおか (Fukuoka)

In Fukuoka, people tend to assume I speak Japanese. This is a bit different from Tokyo and Kyoto, where I've noticed that many people might try to use English or go straight to gestures as soon as they see me.

It's good to keep this in mind and prepare to get more Japanese thrown at you in Fukuoka ^^

It should be helpful to hit this button as often as possible leading up to, and during, your Fukuoka trip:

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Alright, I have to come clean and admit I've written newsletters about Fukuoka before.

I've also made lists in the community #travel channel full of Fukuoka recs. (After you join the community, you can see them by clicking here.)

So for this one, let's pretend we have 3 days in Fukuoka. Here's how I might spend them:

Day 1: 博多はかた

Whether you take the 新幹線しんかんせん (Bullet train) or fly into Fukuoka, odds are you'll find yourself in 博多駅はかたえき (Hakata station) pretty early on. If your hotel is in this area, it's fun to explore around after dropping your stuff off!

Here's what I might do:

- Walk around the shops in and around 博多駅はかたえき.
I like 無印むじ (Muji), Maruzen (a book store), and the ポケモン (Pokemon) shop. There's also a big ゲーセン (arcade) near the top floor of the nearby bus station. ヨドバシ (Yodobashi) is a fun stop as well ^^

Also, during various holidays, the station gets lots of decorations. Here are the Christmas decorations (yes I know it's the middle of the summer )

- Pick up some 博多はかた通とおりもん (a kind of cake) and 筑紫ちくしもち (mochi with a brown sugar sauce and kinako) from the お土産みやげ屋やさん (souvenir shops) in 博多駅はかたえき (Hakata station).

Usually, you're supposed to buy お土産みやげ (souvenirs) for other people… but you should buy yourself a nice portion as well. Super tasty ^^

- Get some もつ鍋なべ (offal soup, giblet hotpot)* and/or 豚骨とんこつラーメン (Pork bone broth ramen) (+ potentially even 馬刺ばさし [horse sashimi]).

You might have to be a bit adventurous, but Fukuoka is known for its food and I promise they're all tastier than they might sound!

*I'm always a bit sad when I have to translate もつ鍋なべ… "Offal soup" sounds gross to me. But もつ鍋なべ sounds delicious.

I like おおやま(Ooyama) for もつ鍋なべ, and you can get some good 馬刺ばさし there as well (you probably want to make a reservation if it's dinnertime. Lunchtime can be less crowded depending on which one you go to).

If you're not feeling adventurous, there are tons of options on the top floors of 博多駅はかたえき and the neighboring building KITTE as well! (If you have diet restrictions or allergies, we might be able to help out with that in the community ^^)

If you have extra time:
Walking or taking the train to キャナルシティ (Canal City, a mall with free water shows) and walking through the nearby 商店街しょうてんがい (shopping street) called 川端通かわばたどおり商店街しょうてんがい (Kawabata Doori Shoutengi) is also fun.

Or go to Book Off and hunt for books and games.

Day 2: 天神

天神てんじん (Tenjin) is the other major city center of Fukuoka and is also very much worth checking out ^^

What I would do here:

- Walk around the station and shops!
What can I say, I like walking around and getting the vibes of the area a lot haha. I usually don't buy much but it's fun.

The layout of everything is quite different from 博多駅はかたえき, and you'll find two really cool 商店街しょうてんがい nearby too: 新天町しんてんちょう (Shintencho) and the 地下街ちかがい (Chikagai).

There is also a Book Off to be explored over in ミーナ天神てんじん (Miina Tenjin) if you're still on the hunt for various games, books, trading cards, and so on.

- ゲーセン
…are a fun experience if you haven't been to too many yet. There are 2 big ones right at the end of 新天町しんてんちょう.

- Check out 大名だいみょう (Daimyou).
This is a great spot to grab lunch or dinner. You can't go wrong with pretty much any restaurant you find here. There are lots of bars and cafes as well!

Fukuoka Craft (Mexican food and craft brewery), グルグルチキン (a ケバブ [Kebab] place), and 大名だいみょうへて (a yakitori restaurant) are good~

- Walk around 大濠公園おおほりこうえん (Ohori Park) and 舞鶴公園まいづるこうえん (Maizuru Park).
These are two big parks I've talked about plenty of times in past newsletters ^^

These are nice especially in February because of the 梅うめ (plum [blossoms]) and late March ~ early April thanks to the 桜さくら (cherry blossoms).

Here's a pic near one of the entrances to 舞鶴公園まいづるこうえん:

Day 3: Wild card

This day has a ton of options. You could spend most of the day on any of the following, so feel free to pick what's the most interesting to you (and maybe swap out day 1 or 2 with something here if it interests you ^^)

1 - 海うみの中道なかみち (Umi no Nakamichi) and マリンワールド (Marine World).

海うみの中道なかみち is a big park where you can rent scooters and such to get around. It's pretty fun.

マリンワールド is a 水族館すいぞくかん (aquarium, often said aloud as すいぞっかん). They have some dolphin shows there worth checking out!

2 - Visiting 太宰府だざいふ天満宮てんまんぐう (Daizaifu Shrine) and hiking at 宝満山ほうまんざん (Mt. Houman).

Somehow I manage to find a way to bring this up at least once a month haha.

This is in 太宰府 (Dazaifu) which is a ~30-minute train ride from 西鉄天神駅にしてつてんじんえき (Nishitetsu Tenjin Station). I like to walk through the 2 shrines (the other is 竈門神社かまどじんじゃ [Kamado Shrine]) from the station to 宝満山 and then start my hike.

It's a great way to see a lot of Fukuoka from afar~

3 - 糸島いとしま (Itoshima).

While there are buses available, it's generally easier to explore here with a car.

There are lots of good spots though, such as 桜井さくらい二見ヶ浦ふたみがうら (Sakurai Futamigaura couple's stone), 白糸しらいとの滝たき (Shiraito Falls), and various 牡蠣小屋かきごや (Oyster restaurants).

4 - ららぽーと (La La Port, a mall).

This is great if you haven't gotten enough shopping in already and wanna see a giant Gundam statue 👀 The food court is also tastier than I expected it to be!

VS Park is also a fun side quest while you're there~

5 - Go on a food-hunting journey.

There are too many good places to eat in Fukuoka, and they can't all fit in this newsletter. You should check out Fukuoka Eats for other restaurant and travel ideas!

なんしよーと？ (what are you doing?)

While you're in Fukuoka, be sure to keep your ears perked for one of my favorite parts of the Japanese language:

博多弁はかたべん (Hakata dialect).

してる can become しよー, and の becomes と. That gets us sentences like this:

I use and hear this a lot.

Try to keep an ear open to see what dialect you can pick up, and be sure to check out the Hakata dialect lesson on NativShark before you go to help prepare the best you can!

If the above Japanese is difficult for you, all you need to do is keep hitting the Study Now button and you'll understand it when you get there. When using a comprehensive study resource like NativShark, it's just a matter of time and consistency. The above is from a lesson in Phase Three, Unit 100.

NativShark goodie bag

NativShark Units

4 new Units have been added to Phase Three ^^

As always, these Units are filled with vocab with their own unique contexts that help you understand Japanese at a deeper level, any relevant new kanji, and natural conversations called Dialogues at the end. They also have the following lessons:

Thanks for reading and happy studies!

- Ty & the NativShark team