Last Stop Hakata

Our final stop in Japan was Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu in the South West of the country. It’s a modern city, with fewer sights to see than most places in Japan, so we didn’t have too much to cram into our last few days. Our hostel in the Hakata district was one of the most traditional we’ve had in Japan so far; we had to take our shoes off when we came in, and our room had tatami matting on the floor and a futon each for us and the four others sharing the room.

On our first night we headed to Nakasu, the entertainment district of the city to have a look around. Surprisingly, something we’ve struggled with in Japan is finding a bar to sit and have a drink! Because everything is so compact, bars, restaurants etc. are often on the upper floors of buildings in the city centres, with just signs outside on the walls to tell you what’s on each floor. This is fine if you can read Japanese! We came a cropper again in Fukuoka thanks to our lack of understanding after we spotted a sign saying ‘Bar’ and headed up to the seventh floor. We found the right place and opened the door to find and very fancy looking place and two men in waistcoats sat smoking who looked quite surprised to see us. After they sorted themselves out we sat down and were handed a warm towel and told that there was a charge of ¥1,000 each (about £8) just for sitting down. We swiftly made our excuses and left! Click here to read more…