Fukuoka City Data Sheet - 2017; experience: 5 weeks
![[Image: lGeqXHw.png]](https://i.imgur.com/lGeqXHw.png)
With a population of ~1.5 million, Fukuoka is the urban center of Japan's western main island Kyushu. It's also said as to be one of the nicest cities within Japan, thanks to a green environment and wide areas. Monocle Magazine ranked Fukuoka as the world's 14th most livable city in 2017, down from rank #7 in 2016. So let's have a look at this.
Note: This Data Sheet is strictly about Fukuoka, not about game in Japan. Please read the Bang Japan thread for general game advice from guys much more experienced than I am.
About me:
-German, mid 20s, blonde, blue-eyed, athletic, 1.80m
-Did an exchange semester in Tokyo in 2014, beginner to lower intermediate Japanese ability
-Also traveled to South America (3 months), North America (3 Months) and SEA (2 Months)
Quick facts:
The city
Fukuoka city has 2 city centers - Tenjin and Hakata. This is due the fact, that Fukuoka has been actually 2 separate cities, which then eventually merged into one. On the following map, the two city centers are marked with blue.
![[Image: Mwwmrn2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Mwwmrn2.png)
Both areas have distant feel to it.
Hakata - Hakata JR Station is Fukuoka's main train station with all Shinkansen arriving here. This means people are usually always in a hurry to catch the next train. The area is very busy in general. Furthermore, in and around the station are a lot of restaurants located. The best food in the city can be found here. There are also some shopping malls right next to the JR Station, but no comparison to Tenjin.
Tenjin - The main entertainment, nightlife & shopping district. People come here in their free time to enjoy themselves. In contrast to Hakata, the area is more relaxed and people aren't rushing that much. More, all worthy nightclubs are located in this area. Food here is so-so, better go to Hakata. Pro tip: Go to any department store's (especially Tenjin Core) women fashion floor and get blown away by the sheer mass of 8+. You will probably the only guy ... in the women fashion floor ..., so come up with a good explanation for your approach.
Because of the reasons mentioned above I prefer Tenjin over Hakata. Not only is the area bigger, but also most of the nightlife is centered here. To be honest, the area is small enough and you should check out both.
Nakasu & Canal City - Between Tenjin and Hakata are both Nakasu and Canal City located. Nakasu is one of Japan's largest red light district. Try to game the Hostess when they leave their shift at 5am. Canal City is Japan's largest private shopping complex. Naturally, you will see some birds here.
Momochi Seaside - Fukuoka has a great beach a bit outside the center. Beach season ranges from July - August. Unfortunatley haven't been there during these dates, but I heard good things about J-girls in bikinis.
Where to stay
Do you see that blue dot on the picture above? That's my location. I would say this is the best location possible. Between Tenjin & Hakata and close to Canal City. As a rule of thumb: the closer to Tenjin, the better.
What's that red line?
The red line is the so called mini skirt-high heels-line. Within that line you will enjoy plenty of unbelievable sexy dressed young girls, in quality only rivaled by the beauties of Ipanema beach in Rio. As soon as you set a foot across said line, you are about to enter the hot-girl-wasteland. Why is this? Fukuoka's city center is extremely dense for a 1.5 million city. Outside Tenjin-Hakata, there are almost exclusively residential areas with children, moms and grandpas.
The mini skirt-high heels-line combined with a massive influx of tourists has a serious impact on your exotic value. There aren't that many foreigners in Fukuoka at all. Nevertheless, almost all of them are strolling within that line, which results in a low foreigner bonus. It's not Shibuya yet, but think about Shinjuku more or less.
Nightlife
Nightlife probably is going to be your bread and butter. One has to note, that Fukuoka is famous for its clubbing culture. In general, nightlife starts and finishes late. Clubs are open 9pm-5am, however nobody goes before midnight. As already mentioned, nightlife is centered around Tenjin.
![[Image: 6gvI9tv.png]](https://i.imgur.com/6gvI9tv.png)
The crowd starts to hit the street around 10pm west to Tenjin station. A popular meeting and hangout spot is Kego Park. Grab a beer an mingle with the crowd. You will not encounter any stunners here, though. Although, Fukuoka has a broad range of nightclubs, most are rather small and/or half-empty. This leaves us with two viable options, Club Cats and Ibiza. Both run by the same team.
Cats - With 3 floors to choose from, Cats has been the largest club in Fukuoka for a long time. It's located within the "Roppongi" of Fukuoka north of Tenjin station. Here you will meet a lot of foreigners and girls who are open to foreigners. Entry 2.000 Yen
Ibiza - The club just opened in September 2017, so it's super new. Ibiza has only one floor with roughly the size of Cats combined. The crowd is more attractive and fun, but girls are more looking for Japanese men. Only a handful foreigners here, if any. Entry 2.000 Yen, Single-entry policy.
Gym
![[Image: nFbvRQ7.png]](https://i.imgur.com/nFbvRQ7.png)
Personal results
The results I achieved with the local girls are mediocre at best. With the same input of work, I would perform significantly better in my home country or in most other countries. The thing is, my Japanese is simply not good enough for the top-shelf tuna and I'm not that interested in those 6s all day long. Don't get me wrong, even those 6s require hard work.
Final thoughts
The key ability to do well here is Japanese, we all knew that.
So, don't come here if you don't know any Japanese. Your time & money is spent better in other places.
You might think about to come if you are fluent in Japanese. Then it boils down if you like the city or not. For me, Fukuoka is a bit boring. The city center is really small and outside isn't that much to do. I rather prefer fun Osaka for a short trip. On the other, Fukuoka might be a great city to live in. It's green, spacious and affordable.
Let's finish off with quotes from two Japan experts.
With a population of ~1.5 million, Fukuoka is the urban center of Japan's western main island Kyushu. It's also said as to be one of the nicest cities within Japan, thanks to a green environment and wide areas. Monocle Magazine ranked Fukuoka as the world's 14th most livable city in 2017, down from rank #7 in 2016. So let's have a look at this.
Note: This Data Sheet is strictly about Fukuoka, not about game in Japan. Please read the Bang Japan thread for general game advice from guys much more experienced than I am.
About me:
-German, mid 20s, blonde, blue-eyed, athletic, 1.80m
-Did an exchange semester in Tokyo in 2014, beginner to lower intermediate Japanese ability
-Also traveled to South America (3 months), North America (3 Months) and SEA (2 Months)
Quick facts:
- Girls: very hot, noticeably better than Tokyo
- Exoticness factor: quite low
- English Ability: unfavorably - every text is bilingual, but nobody is conversational
- Key skills required: Japanese language, stamina at night & motivation for mass-approaching
- Difficulty: Depends on your stats, hard for me
- Prices: affordable for 1st world
The city
Fukuoka city has 2 city centers - Tenjin and Hakata. This is due the fact, that Fukuoka has been actually 2 separate cities, which then eventually merged into one. On the following map, the two city centers are marked with blue.
Both areas have distant feel to it.
Hakata - Hakata JR Station is Fukuoka's main train station with all Shinkansen arriving here. This means people are usually always in a hurry to catch the next train. The area is very busy in general. Furthermore, in and around the station are a lot of restaurants located. The best food in the city can be found here. There are also some shopping malls right next to the JR Station, but no comparison to Tenjin.
Tenjin - The main entertainment, nightlife & shopping district. People come here in their free time to enjoy themselves. In contrast to Hakata, the area is more relaxed and people aren't rushing that much. More, all worthy nightclubs are located in this area. Food here is so-so, better go to Hakata. Pro tip: Go to any department store's (especially Tenjin Core) women fashion floor and get blown away by the sheer mass of 8+. You will probably the only guy ... in the women fashion floor ..., so come up with a good explanation for your approach.
Because of the reasons mentioned above I prefer Tenjin over Hakata. Not only is the area bigger, but also most of the nightlife is centered here. To be honest, the area is small enough and you should check out both.
Nakasu & Canal City - Between Tenjin and Hakata are both Nakasu and Canal City located. Nakasu is one of Japan's largest red light district. Try to game the Hostess when they leave their shift at 5am. Canal City is Japan's largest private shopping complex. Naturally, you will see some birds here.
Momochi Seaside - Fukuoka has a great beach a bit outside the center. Beach season ranges from July - August. Unfortunatley haven't been there during these dates, but I heard good things about J-girls in bikinis.
Where to stay
Do you see that blue dot on the picture above? That's my location. I would say this is the best location possible. Between Tenjin & Hakata and close to Canal City. As a rule of thumb: the closer to Tenjin, the better.
What's that red line?
The red line is the so called mini skirt-high heels-line. Within that line you will enjoy plenty of unbelievable sexy dressed young girls, in quality only rivaled by the beauties of Ipanema beach in Rio. As soon as you set a foot across said line, you are about to enter the hot-girl-wasteland. Why is this? Fukuoka's city center is extremely dense for a 1.5 million city. Outside Tenjin-Hakata, there are almost exclusively residential areas with children, moms and grandpas.
The mini skirt-high heels-line combined with a massive influx of tourists has a serious impact on your exotic value. There aren't that many foreigners in Fukuoka at all. Nevertheless, almost all of them are strolling within that line, which results in a low foreigner bonus. It's not Shibuya yet, but think about Shinjuku more or less.
Nightlife
Nightlife probably is going to be your bread and butter. One has to note, that Fukuoka is famous for its clubbing culture. In general, nightlife starts and finishes late. Clubs are open 9pm-5am, however nobody goes before midnight. As already mentioned, nightlife is centered around Tenjin.
The crowd starts to hit the street around 10pm west to Tenjin station. A popular meeting and hangout spot is Kego Park. Grab a beer an mingle with the crowd. You will not encounter any stunners here, though. Although, Fukuoka has a broad range of nightclubs, most are rather small and/or half-empty. This leaves us with two viable options, Club Cats and Ibiza. Both run by the same team.
Cats - With 3 floors to choose from, Cats has been the largest club in Fukuoka for a long time. It's located within the "Roppongi" of Fukuoka north of Tenjin station. Here you will meet a lot of foreigners and girls who are open to foreigners. Entry 2.000 Yen
Ibiza - The club just opened in September 2017, so it's super new. Ibiza has only one floor with roughly the size of Cats combined. The crowd is more attractive and fun, but girls are more looking for Japanese men. Only a handful foreigners here, if any. Entry 2.000 Yen, Single-entry policy.
Gym
- Gold's Gym is probably the best gym in Fukuoka. They offer a 2-weeks pass for ~6.000 Yen and it's open 24h.
- The Public Central Gym, which you can visit for 240 Yen/day. The Central Gym is under renovation and closed until April 2018
- Anytime Fitness and JoyFitness, 24h chains. Both will cost you around 6.000 Yen/month + 2.000 Yen registration fee
Personal results
The results I achieved with the local girls are mediocre at best. With the same input of work, I would perform significantly better in my home country or in most other countries. The thing is, my Japanese is simply not good enough for the top-shelf tuna and I'm not that interested in those 6s all day long. Don't get me wrong, even those 6s require hard work.
Final thoughts
The key ability to do well here is Japanese, we all knew that.
So, don't come here if you don't know any Japanese. Your time & money is spent better in other places.
You might think about to come if you are fluent in Japanese. Then it boils down if you like the city or not. For me, Fukuoka is a bit boring. The city center is really small and outside isn't that much to do. I rather prefer fun Osaka for a short trip. On the other, Fukuoka might be a great city to live in. It's green, spacious and affordable.
Let's finish off with quotes from two Japan experts.
Quote: (05-15-2015 01:03 PM)Tokyo Joe Wrote:
Now, to answer your earlier question up-thread: There are indeed two outstanding second-tier Japanese cities for pussy -- Fukuoka and Sapporo -- but I would strongly advise you not to visit them this time. Simply because you don't have a lot of time; they are rather expensive round-trips from Tokyo/Osaka; and most importantly the girls in both these cities are markedly more "provincial" and consequently English-language skill -- piss-poor as it is even in Tokyo! -- is generally abysmal. Without a good working base in Japanese I think you'd be mightily frustrated trying to score there.
Quote: (10-06-2014 11:10 AM)Phoenix Wrote:
I don't know what it is exactly. Every other non-small city I went to was more interesting or exciting, probably because of size (city area, building size, density, types of venues on offer), and many of the small cities, whilst lacking this, generally felt 'quaint' in a 'this village looks so Japanese' sense. Fukuoka seemed to lack both (that said, I wasn't unhappy being there - just talking relatively).
Also the moment you move from the center outwards, it seems to get so empty so quick. Like there are too many houses for the number of people you are seeing. Also the average age skyrockets. It's like a city of younger people surrounded by old people.
