Introducing Fukuoka

After posting about my recent travels I've realised something: In the year or so that I've been blogging I haven't actually posted a great deal about the city I've been living in for the past two and a half years. Clearly this is an injustice of the highest order and one which cannot be allowed to continue. And it won't. Starting from now I'll be doing a series of posts which highlight exactly what it is I love about Fukuoka.

Background~

Location: It's a port city in the north of the southern island of Kyushu. It's less than a two hour flight from Tokyo.

Population: approx. 1.4 mil.

Famous for: Ramen, fresh food, yatai (a kind of street vendor), an interesting culture, being close to Korea, a conveniently located airport (just 5 minutes by subway from the centre of the city), and, compared to Tokyo, a relatively low cost of living.

Infamous for: the worst drivers in the country (one of whom knocked me off my bike not so long ago). Not surprisingly it is the taxi drivers who are the worst offenders.

I thought a good spot to begin with would be here at the Naka River and the Fukuhaku Deai Bridge.

The water may be dirty, the buildings, some would say, ugly, but there's a certain charm and peacefulness here which makes it a great place to come to escape the crowded city streets with the hordes of eyeball-poking parasoled women, and the squadrons of kamikazean taxi drivers. Plus you can watch the fish jump out of the water, which is enough to keep me amused for longer than you might think.

At night these buildings, dressed up in billboards and neon signs, light up like Christmas trees bathing the river and the bridge in a romantic hue. Sometimes a saxophonist or some other kind of street performer will set themselves up and you can lose yourself in the ambient notes floating on the breeze.

These buildings mark the edge of Fukuoka's pre-eminent entertainment district, Nakasu. And that's where I'll be taking you next for a night of sake, shou chu, and as much mischief as you can handle. So I ask you: Can you dig it? I'm sure that you can, in which case be sure to come back soon!