Order this when you're in Fukuoka!

March 8, 2025

A picture is worth a thousand words:

This is 焼やき鳥とり (yakitori). When you go to the Wikipedia page for 焼やき鳥とり, this is the first sentence that comes up:

Textbook Casual

焼やき鳥とり（やきとり）は、鶏肉とりにくを一口大ひとくちだいに切きったものを串くしに刺さして直火焼じかびやき（串焼くしやき）したもの。

Yakitori is chicken meat cut into bite-sized pieces, put on a skewer, and grilled on an open flame (spit-roasted).

From Wikipedia.

Even if you didn't already know about 焼やき鳥とり, you could probably guess what it is based on the kanji: 焼 (bake/burn/cook) and 鳥 (bird/chicken). In short, you'd likely go to a 焼やき鳥とり place to get skewered chicken.

I don't think anyone would have a problem with the above explanation.

That is… anyone outside of Fukuoka.

Inside Fukuoka, what you'd expect to get at a 焼やき鳥とり isn't limited to just the above. When I think of 焼やき鳥とり, the first thing that comes to my mind is…

That's 豚ぶたバラ (butabara // [boneless] pork rib).

Pig! Not bird. This is the go-to order in Fukuoka. It's fair to say that any Fukuoka resident is bound to order this when they go to a 焼き鳥 place. In fact, they probably think of this before they think of any chicken-based skewer.

I'm not the only one saying that. All my friends always order 豚ぶたバラ, and I found this sentiment online as well:

Textbook Formal

焼鳥屋やきとりやを訪おとずれ、豚ぶたバラを注文ちゅうもんしない福岡県民ふくおかけんみんはいないといっても過言かごんではありません。

It's not an exaggeration to say that there is no Fukuoka Prefecture resident who would not order pork rib when they go to a yakitori restaurant.

From 3030.co.jp.

I've even heard stories from my friends of how they went to other prefectures and ordered 豚ぶたバラ at a 焼やき鳥とり place… only to get looked at like they were crazy.

If any of the above two Japanese sentences were difficult, no worries! As long as you're consistently studying with a comprehensive study plan and going out and using your Japanese, it's just a matter of time until you reach your study goals.

We designed NativShark to fill out that comprehensive plan for you ^^

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After that, go out and eat 焼やき鳥とり enjoy your Japanese in the wild, then repeat as often as practical!

Anyway, what gives?? Is Fukuoka just weird, or do other prefectures do this as well?

Honestly, I don't think I can fully answer this question yet. I don't think I've ever had 焼やき鳥とり outside of Fukuoka, and I feel like I need to go myself to find out the full answer.

It seems pretty rare though. I've found plenty of confused Fukuoka residents online asking why there isn't 豚ぶたバラ at the 焼やき鳥とり places they go to outside of Fukuoka.

Still, it seems that there are a few other prefectures that feature pork at 焼やき鳥とり places, but they all vary a bit from Fukuoka. 北海道ほっかいどう (Hokkaido), for example, does 豚ぶたロース (butaroosu // pork loin; pork roast) on a skewer with 玉たまねぎ (tamanegi // onion), which is a bit different from the 豚ぶたバラ that we do here (though I have had a few 豚ぶたバラ skewers that include 玉たまねぎ).

Outside of that, it seems that you can indeed get 豚バラ on a skewer in other prefectures, but you have to go to a 焼やきトン (yakiton // grilled pork skewers) place instead of a 焼やき鳥とり place… which I've never heard of until I started looking all this stuff up.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with 焼やき鳥とり across the various prefectures in the community! Have you noticed it to only be chicken-based, or are there other options? Maybe we can get to the bottom of this together ^^

On another interesting note, apparently Fukuoka's 焼き鳥 restaurants are also unique in the fact that they give you キャベツ (cabbage) that's cut into larger chunks and covered in a ポン酢ずタレ (ponzu tare // a type of citrus vinegar sauce) as an お通とおし (otooshi // food you get without ordering it).

It's there to help cut through all the fattiness from the 豚ぶたバラ everyone orders.

Here is where I would put a picture of it… if I had one. I didn't know this was unique to Fukuoka, so never thought of taking one. You can see the remains of it in the bowl in the above 豚ぶたバラ picture, though

Instead, here's a picture of the しいたけ (shiitake mushrooms) we ordered:

…these are normal at 焼やき鳥とり outside of Fukuoka, right? ^^;

Hope you enjoyed this one!

Fukuoka is famous for its delicious food, so be sure to visit during your next vacation in Japan, or add it to the list if you weren't planning on coming here!

By the way, we have a whole lesson on 焼やき鳥とり, so be sure to check it out~

Other food lessons!

Discovering stuff out in the wild is a ton of fun.

I learned most of the words I use when I go to 焼やき鳥とり restaurants without much support, so it took a while for me to get familiar with both what I liked and even what I was eating sometimes.

While it was fun, I do admit that I wish I had a bit stronger of a foundation before diving in.

We have… a few food lessons that you might find helpful so you can navigate things a lot more smoothly than I did my first few times ^^

巻き寿司: Sushi rolls

歌舞伎揚: Sweet and salty shōyu-flavored rice crackers

月見: Moon viewing
↑ this is food-related, I promise!

Register-side hot snacks in convenience stores

柿ピー: A Japanese otsumami staple

How to use 〆

 Different types of red bean sweets

和菓子: Traditional Japanese sweets

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NativShark Units

4 new Units have been added to Phase Three!

As always, these Units are filled with vocab in unique contexts, any relevant new kanji, and natural conversations called Dialogues at the end, all of which are designed to get you functional in Japanese as efficiently as possible.

These Units also feature the following lessons:

Thanks for reading all the way to the end ^^

Good luck out there and happy studies,
Ty & the NativShark Team