Fukuoka - A Comfort Hotel with an unbeatable location!

We are back in Fukuoka, Japan again and I wanted to share another hotel with you. If you can get it for a decent price, the Comfort Hotel Hakata offers rooms much larger than your standard Japanese business hotel with a free included breakfast to boot! 

It was a real treat having enough room to move around and also keep our bags open if needed to pack/repack. This normally is not the case for most Japanese hotel rooms around this price range. The best part was the location being just a short walk away from Hakata station, the largest and busiest station in the Kyushu region! It hosts a department store and large Tokyu Hands store as well. Plus, around the station are plenty of other shopping and dining locations. The station also provides easy access to other areas of Fukuoka or Kyushu. 

I took a short time lapse video out the room window which you can see below, along with the room tour. 

I have also taken more interest in my YouTube channel lately and have been making actual thumbnails as well as properly hash tagging and labeling videos! I appreciate your subscription and continued reading of my blog as well!

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Fukuoka - A Frequent Destination

At the time of this post I have visited Fukuoka, Japan on many occasions. The below video is from one of many hotels I have stayed in during my trips to Fukuoka. For those living in Korea, Fukuoka offers very close access to Japan. Often low-cost carriers will have very affordable flights. The airport is also only a few stops away on the subway from the city, unlike Osaka or Tokyo where it takes significantly longer to get into city-center. Fukuoka also offers a good starting point for exploring Kyushu. There are other airports around to get into the region however, I feel many start with Fukuoka.

I still plan on maintaining this blog albeit with longer gaps of time between posts. I will continue to upload hotel room tours to my YouTube channel and will also continue to (try to) re-post them here along with more content for the blog.

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Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 3

My third and final day in Fukuoka!

Ohori Park a great place to relax and enjoy the lake and see the local wildlife. There are paths for biking, jogging, and walking around the lake. Bridges on either end of the islands in the middle of the lake allow access to even more paths to explore. Fukuoka Castle and the Fukuoka Art Museum are located near the park and you can walk to both from the park grounds. If you'd like to enjoy time on the water, there are paddle boats available for rent.

After the park, I headed to a famous ramen restaurant called 一蘭 本社総本店 (Ichiran) for lunch. While there are tables for larger groups on the first floor, a lot of the dining is done at individual booths on the upper floors. You can also buy ramen kits to enjoy their ramen in the comfort of your own home. The restaurant itself is open 24 hours and prices are reasonable. Below are pictures of the ramen and a soft boiled egg - both were delicious!

That afternoon was spent strolling around the large shopping complex called Canal City, however I didn't take any pictures. There are many different shops and restaurants and in one of the stores there were a ton of the capsule toy machines (ガシャポン). Check out the capsule toy cats below!

Overall, the trip was really enjoable. Fukuoka is very convenient to get to from Korea and flights are normally reasonably priced. Low cost carriers such as Jin Air, Jeju Air, Eastar Jet, and T'way Air have daily flights. For hotels, check out agoda.com.

Thanks for reading! More to come soon!

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Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 2

Just a short train ride from Fukuoka is Dazaifu, home to the Kyushu National Museum and a number of different temples and shrines. The main walk out of the train station towards Dazaifu Tenman-gū has many different shops selling souvenirs and places selling umegae mochi.

Platform and train at Dazaifu Station

Starbucks has a very interesting design

Store selling the local mochi

Totoro :)

There were tons of tourists at the shrine that day. The grounds are heavily wooded and there are plenty of paths to explore the shrine and surrounding areas. 

After walking around the shrine, I took a lunch break before heading to the Kyushu National Museum. Lunch was at a small restaurant near the train station. A cold noodle appetizer was served before the meal of donburi and udon. It all tasted great! The menu had pictures from what I remember. Unfortunately, I can't read much Japanese but judging from the large amount of tourists, I'm sure many restaurants and cafes in the area have either pictures on their menu or menus in languages other than Japanese.

After lunch I headed to the Kyushu National Museum. Photography was prohibited in the Kyushu National Museum but the building's architecture is still cool. The main lobby houses the ticket window, a gift shop, and an area where you can experience different Asian cultures through an interactive exhibit. General admission is JPY 430 with discounts for college students and groups. Lockers are available onsite as well.

Located near the water is Fukuoka Tower, a great spot to check out views of the city. Admission is JPY 800 and there are discounts for groups, children, and students. The exterior lighting of the tower changes depending on the time of year. It seems most people either take a bus or take the subway and then walk the rest of the way. You can also take a taxi or drive to the tower.

I did walk along the beach near the tower but the pictures I took weren't very good unfortunately.

Dinner was at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant called 玄海丸 天神店! It's located near Tenjin Station and was reasonably priced. I ate a ton!

Tuna is my favorite!

The stack of plates

Stay tuned for my final post about Fukuoka soon! ~

Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 1

During the end of the September I took a quick trip over to Japan. It so happens that one of the cheapest places to fly internationally from Seoul is Fukuoka. Some of my former language school classmates are from the area and it was also a place I had never visited before. Searching the budget airlines from either Korea or Japan can usually land you a decently priced flight.

Landing in Fukuoka and getting into town is quite simple. There are buses, the subway system, and other ground transportation readily available. After taking the subway into town, it was a short walk until the hotel. The hotel is located nearest Tenjin station and that station is attached to a large underground shopping complex. Above ground, there are a number of other shops, restaurants, and department stores.

It was a pretty good place to call home base for the weekend.
Check out the hotel room tour of the Richmond Hotel Fukuoka Tenjin below:

After checking into the hotel it was time for dinner and what better way to kick off a trip in Japan than to enjoy some ramen and gyoza! Both were delicious!

After dinner was a stroll around the neighborhood

Also, I can't forget to mention this awesome mirror that didn't fog up in the hotel bathroom!

Stay tuned for Day 2 and 3 coming soon!
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