(I’m sure you’re wondering– yes, we do a few other things in between eating, taking pictures of things we’re about to eat, and traveling to new places in search of new things to eat… but somehow sitting at a desk is less photogenic, so we escape!)
Fukuoka is a great little city– consistently ranked one of the most popular in Japan. Depending on which map you’re consulting though, and how badly they’ve tilted Japan to make it fit neatly up and down– Fukuoka can appear to be further south than it is. Despite my hopeful assumption that it would be a slightly warm weekend escape, it was slightly cooler even than Tokyo. So we bundled up and wandered about the town’s central garden which has a lovely lake and a small, only slightly out of place pagoda.
Our best little find in the park– since the castle remains consist only of foundation stones– was this incredibly landscaped little garden. It was gorgeous– impeccably pruned little shrubs and trees, complete with a gardener out picking up fallen leaves almost one by one.
There were three waterfalls–one just in the middle above– and each designed to have different sounds and to fade in and out as you wander around the paths. It was fantastically peaceful. I wish we had more of these in our neighborhood.
Slightly chilled and very well-walked, we had finally waited long enough for another meal, which in Kyushu HAS to be ramen. Oh, the delights of ramen. I will limit my enthusiasm, but nearly note that Kyushu is famous for its pork and hence, pork-broth (tonkotsu) ramen. (More coming in particular on miso ramen, which is the specialty of our next jaunt…) To pack in as much ramen as possible, we dinner at this little watering hole and then ran past Ramen Stadium on our way to airport for a very early lunch. 🙂
Adorable little ramen shop
Chef’s choice–seafood ramen and I still don’t know what the foam was made of but yum!
Jen and Tara 
You’re making me very very hungry!!! 🙂