The twin cities of Fukuoka and Hakata (pop. 1,302,000) were originally distinct cities, but merged in 1889 to form the largest city in Kyushu (pop. 1,3 million) and 8th biggest city in Japan.
Fukuoka was a castle town, although only some walls of the castle remain today. Hakata, the commoner's town is the most populated part, and is home to the terminus of the shinkansen line. The train station is therefore known as "Hakata", while the airport is called "Fukuoka Airport".
The city is pleasant to live, but there isn't much sightseeing for the short-term visitor. Nevertheless, the city has a few things to be proud of.
The 234m tall Fukuoka Tower is the highest seaside tower in Japan, and the undeniable landmark of the city.
Fukuoka boast one of the largest commercial complex in Japan, Canal City, which has shops, restaurants, cinemas, an art theatre, hotels, banks, business offices, showrooms and a Sega amusement park.
The local baseball team, the Fukuoka Daei Hawks play at the Fukuoka Dome, the first stadium to have a retractable-roof in Japan. Hawks Town, halfway between Ohori-koen Park and Fukuoka Tower, was named after the local baseball team and is another commercial center like Canal City.
Temple-lovers will look for the Tocho-ji Temple and its 16m Daibutsu (Giant Buddha), founded in 806 by Kobo Taishi.
The adjacent Shofuku-ji Temple, near Hakata station, was founded in the 12th century by e priest Eisai-Myoan and is the oldest Zen temple in Japan.
Every summer the Hakata Gion Matsuri brings hundreds of thousands of onlookers for what is one of Kyushu's biggest festivals. The enormous mikoshi, decorated with colouful puppets, can be seen at the very sacred Kushida-jinja Shrine (櫛田神社), near Canal City. The shrine is dedicated to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and her brother Susano ono Mikata.
How to get there
Fukuoka/Hakata is the last stop on the Shinkansen line from Osaka (2h50min, ￥9,350), Tokyo (5h30min, ￥13,440) and Sendai (7h10,￥16,070). There are also direct trains to Nagasaki (2h, ￥2,700), Beppu (1h30min, ￥3,440) and Kumamoto (1h20min, ￥2,070).
There are numerous highway buses to/from Fukuoka. Nishitetsu has buses between Hakata or Tenjin stations and Shimonoseki (1h40min, ￥1,500), Beppu (2h30min, ￥3,100), Takachiho (3h30min, ￥3,900), Okayama (9h,￥7,200), Osaka (9h40min,￥10,000), Kyoto (9h30min, ￥10,500) and Tokyo (14h20min, ￥12,000) among others. There may be discounts when purchasing 4 tickets in one time on some lines (convenient when travelling in group of 4 or more people).
Fukuoka is one of Japan's main airports. What is more, it is located only 1km from Hakata Station, and so can be reached in only 15min from the center. JAL and ANA both have flights to/from Sapporo, SendaiTokyo (Haneda & Narita), Nagoya, Osaka (Itami & Kansai) and Okinawa.
