Fukuoka, Fukuoka, JapanJackson and Abigail's 10 Fun Facts about Fukuoka!
101.
FUK is the airport code. A coffee shop has opened under the name "FUK Coffee" and is the place is town to buy coffee and FUK merchandise.
102. Fukuoka is a city that never says die! The city has been destroyed 10 times since 157 AD, the last time being in 1945 during WWII.
103. Fukuoka has a population of 1.5 million people.
104. It is closer to Seoul, South Korea (540 km) than Tokyo (883km).
105. It is the 5th biggest city in Japan, but one of the fastest growing.
106. Fukuoka Airport (FUK) is only 3km from the downtown and used to be a former Japanese . It is quick and easy to fly in and out of.
107. There used to be two towns: the port town of Hakata and Fukuoka. In 1889, they decided to merge the two towns. They couldn't decide on which name to keep, so the Chairman of the Committee had the final say and picked the smaller town, Fukuoka, which is where he was from. The main train station is called Hakata.
108. Fukuoka has the second highest concentration of restaurants outside of Tokyo, with more than 9,000, which is more than Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York on a per capita basis. You can eat out somewhere different every night for the next 25 odd years!
109. Fukuoka has a young population with almost 20% of the locals aged between 15 and 29 and has one of the highest birth rates in Japan.
110. The baseball stadium, the Fukuoka Dome, is the only retractable roof stadium in Japan.
Fukuoka is not a tourist destination for most visitors to Japan; it is however, the gateway to Asia, being the closest point to mainland Asia from Japan.
It is closer to Seoul than Tokyo! It has, and always has had, a bustling port.
It is a shopping and foodies paradise. Shopping is made easier as the city is very easy to get around. Mum concluded that almost every global brand that exists in the world has a store here. If you spend a certain amount, shopping is tax free. There are many shops so many people from Asia must fly in to shop. We found the prices quite expensive for well-known brands.
Did we mention all of the food? Yes, they sure do love to eat here in Fukuoka! Many well known Japanese dishes originated here including Tonkutsu Ramen, Hakata Ramen, Mentaiko, Goma-Saba, Yaki Ramen, Gyoza, Motsunabe, Udon noodles and Fugu. We didn't have enough time to sample all of the specialties here, but we did enjoy the Hakata Ramen. The Yatai (food stalls) line the Nakagawa River each night tempting you to pull up a stool and eat and drink!
Whilst Christianity in Japan is definitely a minority religion, it is here in the south where the Catholic Missionaries first arrived with the Portuguese merchants, back in 1549. The Emperors weren't happy at all about this development and Christianity was banned for over 200 years. It was during the Meiji period (remember that we learnt that Emperor Meiji was the first emperor to embrace new ideas from outside Japan, and combined with pressure from other world leaders, the ban on Christianity was lifted).
On this Palm Sunday, we thus easily found a cathedral in downtown Fukuoka to attend Mass.
Even though it was all in Japanese, we were made very welcome. Jackson read that they even had an English Mass at 4pm every Sunday afternoon.
The forecast was for 20'C and a mix of sun and cloud, so our parents were caught out when the skies opened and the rain poured down! All of our wet weather gear was in backpacks in our apartment! Lunch in a basement with cafes and restaurants helped fill in some time, as did some last minute shopping.
Speaking of our apartment, we quite like the one Dad found for us here. It is in a central location, although we do have to walk down a "smelly alley" to access the building. It is smelly due to some of the restaurants all around. We are on the third floor and don't hear any outside noise. Us kids have been given the loft bedroom and we have to climb up a ladder staircase to reach it. It is so much fun!
One of the most famous building in Fukuoka is the ACROS Fukuoka, which is an office building that looks like a conventional office building on one side, with the other side being a huge terraced green roof that merges with a green grassy park.
The 60 metres of garden terraces contain over 35,000 plants representing 76 species. In a country with many big cities with little green space, it is an impressive building! It was here in the park with stumbled on an Indian fair called "Namaste". If only we hadn't just eaten as all of the food looked and smelt delicious!
Canal City is a huge shopping and entertainment complex along the Nakagawa River. It is hard to miss this centre which describes itself as a "city within a city". There is a water fountain show that dances to music every hour, whilst a separate water show entertains the public on the half hour. We visited the centre at night where you can enjoy the largest entertainment show in Japan: the "Canal Aqua Panorama" which features 3D projection mapping on a glass and wall service, a water screen in conjunction with sound and lighting effects. The shows don't stop here. We also participated in a Space Invaders interactive show where the crowd clapping their hands in tune to the music launches the missiles to attack the space invaders on the large game screen projected on the wall.
Dinner itself was an experience. First of all, we had to decide what we wanted and order at the vending machine outside of the restaurant. Then when we entered, we had to advise how many people were in our group and we then had to sit and wait, in order of entrance on a row of seats along the wall. As each group was allocated their seats along the bar facing the chefs, we all had to shuffle along on our seats.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for us to shuffle to the front of the queue and we were soon enjoying tempura, Hakata style! We wish going out to dinner could be this much fun every night!
On our final morning in Fukuoka, we caught a local bus to the waterfront to see the Fukuoka Dome. This was the first stadium in Japan with a retractable roof and is home to the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks baseball team. Remember, baseball is the number one sport in Japan and the Hawks are one of the most popular teams. We had already guessed this by the amount of Hawks merchandise around town! It was an interesting ride, taking in the shipbuilding yards, the cruise ships at port, and of course, there were more shops in the shopping centre connected to the Dome.
All too soon it was time to bid not only Fukuoka but Japan farewell. It was only 11 minutes on the local bus to the airport and before we knew it, we were flying back to the Philippines.
We have all really enjoyed our time in Japan. Sure, there are a lot of people, but they have worked out how to move all of these people around very effectively and efficiently. Japan is a spotlessly clean country, with very few overweight people, and we love how so many people cycle to get around. The food is also incredible! We only wish we had longer as there is so much to see and do.
If you are planning a trip, we would highly recommend at least three nights in every location, and more in Tokyo as there is many things to experience! We have scored new umbrellas and raincoats (which would have been handy if we had taken them with us yesterday) as Japan appears to know how to make them well. With almost four times the average annual rainfall of Australia, the Japanese get to use umbrellas and raincoats a lot more than we do!
2025-05-22