Fukuoka

Day 347 (June 10, 2019) – Fukuoka, Japan

The differences between China and Japan were like night and day. It was apparent as soon as we landed. We flew from Shanghai to Fukuoka, with a stopover in Nagoya. We made it through immigration and customs in Nagoya with a cheerful “welcome to Japan” from the immigration officer, but our second flight was delayed by a couple hours. It was already dark out and the airport seemed eerily quiet. We picked up some snacks from a convenience store for dinner and what I thought was a can of beer, but it didn’t taste anything like beer. It turned out to be a highball, whiskey and soda, which we would later learn is one of Japan’s favorite drinks. Of the few people in the Nagoya airport, everyone seemed to be traveling for business, all dressed in suits and carrying briefcases. The gate staff was making occasional announcements about the delayed flight, but much to our delight, they bowed to the waiting room in unison before making any announcements.

Lines on the ground at train stations tell people where to line up.

After finally arriving in the Fukuoka airport, we figured out how to buy train tickets to get downtown. The most interesting thing happened when we were waiting for the train. There were many people arriving on late flights just like us, and the airport train station was crowded. But rather than people congregating randomly on the platform, everyone was waiting in perfectly straight, single file lines in front of where the train doors would soon open. And then once we got on the train, the entire train was ghostly silent. Not a person said a word. Even people that knew each other stopped their conversation once on board the train. This was, most definitely, not China anymore. In fact, this wasn’t like anywhere we had been before.

One of the many temples we found around Fukuoka.

The Fukuoka skyline from the top of Fukuoka Castle.

Fukuoka is not a particularly touristic city and it was also fairly small, which was great for us. After traveling through some of China’s largest cities, the 1.5 million people in Fukuoka made the city feel almost deserted to us. It was a welcomed change. Walking around always felt like a calm stroll, as opposed to the gauntlet of people that was Shanghai or Beijing. We visited a few temples, walked along the river, and visited the ruins of Fukuoka Castle. We visited the Asian Art Museum one afternoon and took in the skyline at a rooftop bar one evening. No matter where we were everything always felt so relaxing and peaceful.

Downtown Fukuoka.

Enjoying a beer at a rooftop bar.

We had the tinniest apartment ever, but it worked just fine. There wasn’t even enough room for a proper bed. Only bunk beds would fit in the space. There wasn’t any room for chairs either, so I usually sat in a small loft area and Travis would sit on the bottom bunk bed. We didn’t spend too much time inside though. Maybe we would have if we had more space, but it did make us go out and about.

Our tiny Airbnb apartment. There is not much more than what you see. There is a bunk bed just to the left and a console table to the right with about a foot or two of space between them. 

We were excited for the change of cuisine, and Fukuoka did not disappoint. Japan was an expensive destination for us, so we typically ate at what would be equivalent to diners at home. These weren’t fancy places, but the food was still amazing. We had ramen on a couple occasions. Our favorite was at a popular chain called Ichiran. Fukuoka is known for its Hakata Ramen (also called tonkotsu ramen): noodles served in a deeply rich and flavorful pork broth, topped with slices of pork, green onions, an optional soft-boiled egg, and adjusted to a preferred level of spiciness. It was so delicious and satisfying. We also learned how to order food using a vending machine. At many of the ramen shops, you pay for your meal first at a vending machine. You insert a sufficient amount of cash to pay for the meal and hit the button corresponding to what you want to order. The machine spits out a ticket for each item ordered. You take a seat where directed by the staff, the server collects your tickets, and soon after your food is brought to you. It’s not a difficult system but we were so utterly confused the first time we walked into Ichiran and were directed to a vending machine. After a few meals, however, we became experts.

Hakata ramen. This was actually not from Ichiran, but it was a bit more photogenic. 

We also had Japanese curry. This is something that I cook at home every once in a while, so it was quite the treat to get the real deal in Fukuoka. We found another popular chain called Coco Ichibanya that hit the mark just perfectly. It was set up like a little diner, with all the kitchen work happening just behind the counter. The entire staff greeted us on entry, as well as bowed and thanked us when we left. We quickly learned that service in Japan, even in the smallest of places, is at a level so high that we hadn’t encountered it anywhere else in the world. The whole place smelled wonderfully of curry. The menu was like a book containing all the different combinations of additional ingredients that can be added. We got the traditional dish, which was curry and rice topped with a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. We both cleared our plates. We held back on the temptation to lick our plates clean.

Japanese curry!

Fukuoka is where we also experienced the conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Although the restaurant we visited, Uobei, worked a little bit differently. Rather than a simple conveyor belt, each seat at the bar had a touchscreen monitor that displayed the menu items. We started out by selecting four plates each and sent our order to the kitchen. Each plate, costing only $1, was for two pieces of sushi. We tried a huge variety. While waiting for the food to arrive we made cups of green tea from hot water taps set up at each seat and grabbed a small bowl to fill with soy sauce. The food arrived on little carts that came zipping out of the kitchen and stopped right in front of each of our seats. We picked the plates off the cart, clicked confirm on the monitor to say that we got all our dishes off the cart, and then the carts went zooming back to the kitchen again to be reloaded and sent off to different seats in the restaurant. It was a tremendous amount of fun. It was also very affordable, and the sushi quality was surprisingly good for the price. That was a meal we’ll remember for a while.

Ordering through the touchscreens.

Collecting plates from the delivery car. And that plate closest to the camera isn't really sushi. It was called cheeseburger sushi on the menu, which was sufficiently intriguing for Travis to order it to see what it really was. It turned out to be exactly what it was called, a tiny cheeseburger on top of rice.

Enjoy!

At the end we were left with a couple stacks of plates and very full stomachs. 

Fukuoka was a blast to explore. Everything seemed so different compared to where we had been the previous two months. We had a chance to slow down, take some relaxing strolls around town, and indulge in some truly delicious food. Everything felt so calm and peaceful in this city. This was perhaps made more enjoyable by the fact that traveling around Fukuoka was simply easier for us. Many people spoke English, our phones (as in, our maps) worked like normal again, we could pay with credit card in most places, and Fukuoka was only a modest sized city so we could walk just about anywhere. We only spent a few days there, but it got us very excited for the next two weeks we had to further explore Japan.

There seemed to be arcade games everywhere. This one with the supersized Pringles cans tempted Travis. He spent a couple bucks on the game but ended up with nothing. It was sort of rigged for failure...