#CatTravels: Farewell, Fukuoka

By Catherine Toth Fox • September 14, 2013 • #CatTravels, Food

Nishijin Market

Image 7 of 28

It was still early, but people were already walking around, picking up their groceries for the day.

It was hard to believe seven days in Fukuoka had come to an end.

I felt like I just got here!

But alas, our adventure in Japan — from the yatai in Fukuoka to the onsens in Kannawa — was coming to an end.

Our flight back home aboard Hawaiian Airlines wasn’t leaving Fukuoka until 9 p.m., so that left us with an entire day to holo holo around before heading to the airport.

And there was still so much to do!

We hadn’t walked around the eastern part of Fukuoka and visited the Nishijin Market or Fukuoka Tower. We didn’t check out the fish market or the yatai in Nagahama. And we probably weren’t going to get to all of that, either.

But at least we could try!

Thanks to everyone who followed my #CatTravels adventures on Twitter @thedailydish and Instagram @catherinetoth. Hope you enjoyed it!

9 Comments

Reply M September 14, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Hello Cat and Racie!
That was a great trip! Like you, we got to Nishijin Market to early too and had to kill time.
Reply NaPueo September 14, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Thanks for sharing. I hope to go to Japan again.
Reply Melissa September 15, 2013 at 4:21 am
oh fun! but you did the Tower before….
Reply Annoddah Dave September 15, 2013 at 6:23 am
CAT: Thanks for the trip! Was so nice in the comfort of home and not having to pack and unpack and take that long plane ride.
Reply visitor September 15, 2013 at 9:51 am
Knowing Racie’s huge and overwhelming challenges, you are certainly a good friend and a terrific person to have shared this trip with her. Very admirable indeed.
Reply Glenn D September 15, 2013 at 10:58 am
Mahalo nui Cat for sharing the trip. My next trip there is in the Spring (wife is going in about 2 months). Whenever Fukuoka is mentioned it usually refers Hakata but next time I hope you get to spend more time in Kokura. Yanagawa, famous for their freshwater eel steamed over rice “unagi no seiro mushi” is a great place to visit. Kagoshima has a lot of history especially from the Meiji (Saigo Takamori) and the Showa periods (Kagoshima had the Japanese Army Air Base in 1945 that flew kamikaze sorties). Hope you get to explore Kyushu some more…
Reply Dennis September 15, 2013 at 9:33 pm
The trip was so inviting. It’s on my retirement list for 2014!!!!! Great job!
Reply Gary September 16, 2013 at 8:24 am
Thanks, Cat for your pixs. Although I’ve been to Fukuoka a couple of times, I was telling my wife that your blog taught me about how many places and things I missed. Next time I’ll try to take advantage of your experiences.
Reply matt September 18, 2013 at 8:29 am
one of the most interesting things, to me was walking around the vendors and stalls at tsukiji early in the morning before they opened. it was almost like christmas. each boarded up shop contained untold treasures and we wouldn’t know exactly what until the proprietor opened up. then, one by one, the stalls started their day and we’d discover a tsukemono shop here, a seafood shop there. maybe a knife vendor was down the way and a housewares vendor on the other side. so fun. also, it’s so calm and peaceful in those types of markets before everyone descends on them to get their daily shopping in. such a polar opposite of even an hour later when the locals and tourists fill the alleyways and just making it across can be a chore.
although my experience was in tokyo, i’ve done this in a couple of similar markets in asia and had the same feelings of excitement. so fun. sounds like fukuoka is the same