Fukuoka: a Sudden Trip Because I Hate Myself

Salmon is Tasty - 31st December 2025

After the Chiang Mai trip several days ago, it was Wednesday. It was pretty chill, and taking one annual leave would allow me to have 4 consecutive days of leave. A coworker of mine brought me packs of chocolate from his business trip. I booked an affordable ticket that cost me HK$802.00. I don't understand how this route flies, but it only flies through a specific period of months.

By today (24th January 2026), if you open up FlightRadar24, you will find there is not a single flight with the same code for the past few weeks. I checked FlightConnections just now, and I found that it will fly again in February. I saw some Reddit posts saying that this is a budget airline, so niche that people don't even know what this airline is.

Including me, until I found this economy ticket that was very OK for me during that time.

Well, the flight is gonna be at dawn, 3 AM to be precise. So I thought I would get a meal in the afternoon, and probably would eat again just right before flying. I ate a Donburi Salmon Rice from Fairwood. It's terrific, because come on, there aren't many fast food restaurants that serve SALMON for lunch.

I went to the airport quite late, and I took a taxi just to have more time to relax. As I also know, during that time, there is no bus operating at midnight in the area where I live. I was expecting to get a meal near the boarding gate later, after I arrived.

ANDDD GODDD I was wrong, when I arrived at the airport, there were barely any shops that were open around the boarding gate area.

Well, I was boarding with just one hiking backpack there!

I figured out that I don't wanna waste the entire new year not doing anything in Fukuoka, so I booked a tour at 8.30 AM the next morning. I realized that the airport is dead close to the city. The tour bus that I booked was planned to depart from Hakata Station, which is just 10 minutes away from the airport.

Appreciating Japan's efficiency when handling immigration and its flight passengers, I was being super optimistic that I would just arrive there in time. I was relieved too when I realized that, in fact, my plane is gonna be the first one to land in Fukuoka in 2026!

Now I unlocked the achievement with the requirements: one of the first 180 passengers who landed in Fukuoka in 2026.

My New Year in Fukuoka - 1 Jan 2026

Landing in Fukuoka is an amazing experience. The fact that the airport is just right next to the city lets the passenger to see a very bright cityscape when landing.

Fun fact: the animated picture above is only 70KB in size!

Look at this! No matter where you sit, both left and right views of the airplane are gonna be very good. I was super excited; I already entered some arrival forms beforehand, so it took me less than 10 minutes to deal with the entire immigration ordeal, and of course, because I was one of the first to pass immigration. I got randomly security checked!

The classic questions, of course are:

• What are you doing here in Fukuoka?
  • 旅行ryokō—classic answer (tourism).
• Are you a student?
  • いいえ.
• 日本語できます？
  • 留学にしたかった—classic answer (I used to want to study in Japan).

And then the classic bag check, right?

I packed my bag so tight, I couldn't bother putting my Anya plushie in the bottom of my bag, so when it's opened, we stared at each other like:

Anyway, it was a wholesome, funny, and awkward experience. I took a transfer bus from the International to the Domestic terminal. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait like what some Google reviews said. The bus departed right after I jumped on the bus; there was only another guy beside me. From what I've read about his body movement, I believe he's an International student who studies in Fukuoka.

There was this security gate in the path of the bus, which was very funny because literally you had to wait for the bus from the opposite direction to truly pass before the bus could pass. SOO:

• My bus leans sideways.
• A bus from the opposite direction is coming.
• Gate opens.
• Bus passes.
• Gate closes.
• My bus is back on its track.
• Gate opens.
• My bus crosses.

I was like: Bruhh, the entire process was very rigid and stiff, I was standing there looking at the gate SLOOOOWLY opening back up and closing down.

Arriving at the airport station, I took the train and arrived at Hakata station at 7:50 AM. Which is super early! I walked around and just wanted to locate my tour guide immediately. I was thinking of storing my bag first. I saw these lockers at the corner of the station where I walked up to the destination exit. I rented it, and it cost me ¥1,000 for the entire day! What a deal; until I reached the tour departing and drop off point and found a CLOSER, CHEAPER, AND WIDER locker.

Anyway, I was starving. So when I watched a podcast that said red ginger was good days before. I bought the red ginger tempura and two eggs at a nearby Lawson.

One thing that I overlooked was THE WEATHER 🌨️🌨️. It was cold. We departed from Hakata Station at around 08:30. The tour was packed with people. The tour guide for the day is Kevin, who was of Chinese descent. One thing that I noticed from him is that he seems like he already had enough of having to wait for these pedestrian traffic lights with little to no traffic. Which is making the tour group management very chaotic. So he jaywalked, not only once, or twice, but three times. LMAO!

The frog temple (カエル寺) or Nyoirinji Temple (如意輪寺, Nyoirin-ji), basically, there are tons and tons of frogs! In Japanese, kaeru is a homophone that means both "frog" (蛙) and "to return" (帰る). So it was said that it's a positive symbolism to say return home safely, or money returning to your pocket.

They also give away free cotton candy! You can even put the sugar on your own and roll them by yourself.

導遊—Guide: 誒這是什麼國家的硬幣？ 越南啊—What country's coin is this? VIETNAM?? 🫨

Me: 哈哈哈什麼幣都有。。。—You can find any country's coins here lol

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The next destination is the Beppu Kamado Jigoku. Kamado means cooking pot, Jigoku means hell.

It was cold at this time—maybe around 5-7° Celcius, but the steam was strong enough to keep me warm when I walked around it. After thinking about it, Fukuoka is one of the best destinations to go to during winter.

So the meta of winter is basically you're gonna have to go to one of the shops that has the heating inside, stay for a good 2-3 minutes without buying anything, and then go outside again. But I can't help to buy this cute devil that is the mascot of hell. I wanna eat this blue guy.

I also bought this famous small Gokuraku Manju (極楽饅頭), which is a famous Beppu confection that is featured in Detective Conan. You can also get some food there. I bought a sweet potato bun, an egg, and tried the free spring water.

It was definitely not the best spring water! It tastes like this weird, salty, sulfuric drink, that is intentionally made to just annoy people. But it's warm, though. HAHAHA.

After that, we went straight to Lake Kinrin! Prabowo also went to Fukuoka about several days after me, and I just missed some views from the lake itself. Courtesy: Prabowo's album.

And this is the selfie that I took... I didn't walk to the other side of the lake because I didn't know there was a path there.

I was so stupid, I didn't have the chance to look at it upclose.

I had a very fun time going around the shops, stalls, and museum at Yunotsubo Street. There were so many fun things and varieties. I remember walking from one end to another, and it was so cold there. You get to see the views of the mountain landscape around that area. I went to some of the shops there, and they were selling snacks, chopsticks, kimonos, soaps, you mention.

I walked for about 2-3 minutes, then visited one of the shops for heating, checking out the products, and walked again. There was this one particular soap store that lets you try their soap by washing your hands in very comfy hot water. I'd be pretending to try all the soaps, but in fact, I just want to immerse my hands in them.

There's also this sign preventing people from EATING POKEMONS. r/therewasanattempt.

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And that was it, we travelled back to Fukuoka after that. BTW, I was sitting next to this lady, from Reunion Island! It's part of the French overseas region, located about 800 kms east of Madagascar. It lies in the southern hemisphere!

We were discussing the flight route. Apparently, Saint-Denis—the only airport in the aforementioned island has a direct flight to Bangkok.

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So we reached back to Hakata, I picked up my stuff, and directly headed to the 旅館 [Ryokan],

His name is チャミ [Chami]!!! KAWAAIIIIII! I patted him a lot, checked in, and this was the room where I stayed!

After settling my things inside my comfy room, it was still 19:12. I went out and went back to Hakata station to buy some bread and desserts that my friend recommended to me. I went to the nearest 7-11 to get some drinks, and there were 3 Koreans approaching me asking me which one they should get for beers—asking for my recommendations because they thought I was Japanese. Being such an asshole, I am, I PRETENDED TO BE JAPANESE and just randomly recommended them some beers. I myself got the weirdest drink that I've ever seen, the Asahi Spice Beer!

Anyway, the night was getting late, and at 21:05, I sat in the most comfy-looking Yatai around. After eating a very-very delightful Mentaiko, Gyozas, and some skewers, I headed back home and showered at 22:53!

There was a disabled sign in the toilet right next to the bathroom. I was thinking whether the toilet is disabled or the toilet is for disabled people. I hot-bathed for a while, and that's how I end the day! By the way, they have 2 bathrooms, this one has the untimed handle—unlike in some bathrooms where you have to constantly push down a handle from time to time to let the water run.

Snowy Mountain - 2 Jan 2026

The next morning, I woke up pretty late, I didn't shower anymore, and saw Chami's leash lying outside, followed by a constant woofs from inside. I bet he's wet and currently being showered by the old uncle owner.

I am on the bus and the weather today is extremely snowy. For this particular trip, I am able to remember the seat arrangement because I interacted a lot with them during the trip. The tour guide for today was Thomas. He initially was an English Teacher; he speaks like Donald Trump, having that wetty throat voice, with a New York accent. Now turned tour guide, he's been around Japan: Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hokkaido, and now in Fukuoka.

Later, during a walk, he told me he's been in Japan for 25 years. His parents were of Chinese-Japanese descent. He said that he fell in love with Fukuoka and would probably spend the rest of his retirement there. Good thing about him is that he speaks very good English, and there's no "Chinese more explanation because I'm better at Chinese".

The Philippines family just jumped on the bus without checking in with Thomas, causing Thomas to scold them Asian hard. I felt like some of them were about to cry 🤣🤣🤣.

Today, we will visit Mount Aso crater, which is one of the world's largest active volcanoes. It last erupted in 2021. It has hiking, hot springs, and such. The weather outside was damn cold, so you could write on the window. Of course, being a child, the girl who sits in front of the Philippines auntie wrote "aso = asshole". The dad scolded her, and she wiped it out really well.

And this became my favorite image of the trip. It was snowing really hard, roads were closing, some accidents ahead, and after making our second stop for the toilet. The tour guide noticed that we're not going to make it to all our destinations. He had us sign this form saying that some destinations weren't gonna be visited because of the unwanted natural conditions.

Klook—the platform where I booked my trip from, never knew that I've been playing 48D chess all this time. I looked through windy.com days before. Realized it will be snowing really hard at this very certain day. I bought the satisfaction insurance for HK$10.00, and got a HK$140.00 cashback!

I talked to both of the Vietnamese girls, who sit behind me. They don't speak English well, but they speak N2 Japanese. Duh. Anyway, we arrived really, really late at almost 13:00 at Takachiho Gorge.

The boat rowing there costs ¥4,000 per boat, as I researched it from the internet. I saw the Klook one, costs HK$200.00 per head, if I booked it with the rowing boat admissions. So I booked the non-boat rowing one. Knowing that the guide will offer me a boat rowing ticket which only costs ¥2,000—because I would share with some people, duh obviously.

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I got to share with the son and dad of the Thailand family—the family that sits in front of me in the bus. I would also mention that the daughter and mom would share with the 26-year-old young man from the Philippines family.

I was joking with the cool Pinoy bro, saying, " Relax, it's gonna be easy". He looks very nervous because we both know that neither of us has ever rowed a boat before. Also, the weather is dead cold, but the mallards around are just swimming like it's just another day of worm searching. We queued for a good 35 minutes-ish and finally got to row the boat.

Okay, so the plan was to play here and directly head to the restaurant at 13:50. It took me about 20 minutes to finally figure out how to row the boat—the dad and I were swapping back and forth to determine who would actually row it. But in the end, I managed to do it! HAHAHA There were moments where I was about to snap and just jump into the river. But god, the view there was so amazing! It was genuinely like something out of Windows wallpaper, not gonna lie.

Anyway, here's the lunch!

And here's a picture of the hot, sizzling, steaming premium wagyu cut! After eating, I spoke up about this guy from the PH family being so nervous, but he ROWED THE BOAT SO FAR and did it like it's his occupation to row boats. I was non-harmfully upset, and we all had a good laugh!

Anyway, we walked through the paths beside the gorge. Back to the bus, it was finally warm, and I finally decided to watch the Grand Finale of Stranger Things that was released the day before!

The time was about 16:20, Thomas, POGGEDLY decided for us to go to Mount Aso's crater anyway! I got the cashback, snow, and a very good trip!

The temperature there was damn insane. I think it was -20 °C, and here's me with Thomas! Bro, you're the coolest tour guide that I've ever met!

Anyway, I had a very unpleasant feeling when going outside in that cold; my hands were freezing, and the back of my ears were sore. Anyways, we passed through the Kusasenri Grassland, but the grass are just brown and dead because it's winter. Lol!

Anyways, here are some of the arts that we made:

• I am Groot

• Boat

• The girl from the Thai family plays hangman with her little brother—Both are around 11 and 9, I believe, the words that she picked were HILARIOUS!

  • P _ _ P — 💩

• Snowflake

After we arrived at Hakata Station, I walked around the city again and tried a horror escape room. Which I horribly failed. Found a half-kilo potato chip claw machine, ate ザクチキ [Zakuchiki], Hakata Canelé, and just walked around.

After that I went to eat Yatai again! This time I'm ordering the stir-fry Ramen, Egg Mentaiko, Oden, and Yuzu Lemon!

There was a couple that sat on my right. The girl is a local, the guy is from Tokyo, they just got married, and the Yatai uncle gave them a bottle of Sapporo Premium Yebisu! The entire table was so... IDK, the vibe was so comfy, warm, and family-like. They chatted and laughed together. But I felt lonely because I don't speak Japanese. Even the uncle tried to talk to me. They called me お兄さん.

But after realizing I don't speak Japanese that well, they don't engage that much anymore. That's why, actually, I really would like to learn a language of which a certain community where I been speaks. It's that feeling of loneliness, missing out, that I don't really like.

When I was ordering the Tomato soup, I called it トメト [Tometo] instead ofトマト [Tomato]. This reminds me of the funny experience years ago where my Japanese teacher, Hayati-sensei, showed this picture of crayons with クレヨン [Kureyon] under it, but I read it as クラヨン [Kurayon]—Because we both knew, I did it so fast that I was just guessing the Katakana Japanese word randomly instead of truly attempting to read it. 🤣

After eating, I bathed, did my laundry, and ... prepared for my flight tomorrow morning. Actually, when I got back to the ryokan, my bags and items in the room were gone. I just realized that because I ordered two separate orders for the room. Somehow, I had to recheck in. There were slight miscommunication because I had to pay the tax twice.

Asakusa Puzzle - 3 Jan 2026

Checking in at the domestic airport was easy; there was this small machine where you could just print your ticket with a booking reference. I don't recall whether they were checking identity. But one thing I'm now for sure is that the queue was really fast. It's similar to a train queue instead of an airplane queue.

Before taking the plane, I bought so many sweets, but all of them were almost the same, too sweet, and just awful. I was initially planned to buy this mentaiko and egg sandwich, but the queue was too long, so sadge. One cool thing I noticed was that the airplane I rode in was new. The touch screen display was so good, outside airplane cameras everywhere, and the quality was just really good.

I bought myself a Japanese Phone Number to use for a Hololive concert later, dropped my bag at a hotel in Shinjuku Ni-Chome, and went to Asakusa, because there is an escape room that I would like to join!

I registered for the escape room, and also bought this Asakusa walk puzzle pack, visited the temple, walked around, ate some good croquettes, tried horse sushi, and looked at people selling Yukata; and just like that I spent the time and headed back to the escape room!

No spoiler, but the room was cool and tricky! We escaped in around 31 minutes. I headed back to the hotel room to check in, chatted with the girl at the reception, whose name is Celina, her mom is from Bali, and her parents stay there too. When she was 18, she decided to be Japanese and spent most of her time in Japan. She also told me she got a nose job! We talked for a good 2 hours lol!

I went to Harajuku station after, and bought some cute clothes! Also got myself an OC commission. At night, I tried this bowl of ramen she recommended.

Sleepy Morning - 4 Jan 2026

After that, I went back, and at night, I went to the bar and back at 3 AM. The next morning, I checked out really early at 10. In the hall, I saw this Wi-fi password sign.

I got so many questions, but I'll just let the reader also ponder what the questions are. I checked in at Anshin Oyado Shinjuku, and slept again until 13:00. 🤣🤣🤣🤣! Before I went out, I saw they were giving out pocket warmers. I asked the receptionist how to use it. She simply tore out the package, and she said, "Just shake it"! Bro! It's warm and comfy!

I visited Harajuku again to see some Decora clothes. There were so many cute and stylish alt fashion sets in my favorite store, ACDC RAG, and this was my favorite set. But the pink shorts in the set look like a skirt because the cleavage is so high.

Too cute!!!! My flight tonight is gonna be at 2 AM. I spend the evening doing something I would not describe here HAHAHA. I went to this good, um, Japanese restaurant? But I swear to god, the crab paste in particular is SOOOOO GOOD! You know they have this shredded Daikon usually put on the bottom of Sushi, I use the paste as the dipping for this shredded Daikon! amazing, sweet, flavorful, tasty!

I was initially planning to end the Japan Trip with a curry dish, but what to say, I was too hungry and saw this restaurant's menu so appetizing. I had a red bean butter taiyaki dessert after.

I went back to the hotel, enjoyed the hot public bath, relaxed, and napped on one of the massage chairs. I saw this annoying find the difference poster.

You know, the deal is if it's side by side, you can simply cross your eyes, and you can point out the differences easily. But if it's over under like this, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CROSS MY EYES? I tried to rotate my head, but eventually settled on taking a picture and rotated my phone instead. I took a direct airport bus from Shinjuku and chilled at the airport, eating Tempura and Soba set.

Anyway, I landed safely—duh, and without getting randomly checked by Hong Kong's airport officer! Yippie!! And that's it! Thank you so much, Fukuoka. Thank you so much readers, everyone. What an experience!