Having spent a week in Busan on the other side of the Korean Strait, Fukuoka provided a convenient, if unconventional, starting point for my Japanese itinerary.
I had relatively low expectations from a city I had previously never heard of, but an abundance of cheap hotels and WeWork availability made it a viable starting point.
Based on my wider experiences in Japan, it's best to search for a hotel in major cities rather than relying on the limited stock on Airbnb, especially for short stays.
I could happily recommend the Hotel Oriental Express Fukuoka Nakasu Kawabata. Despite the lack of natural light in the room, it was a comfortable base for the week.
The price was very reasonable at around £45 a night, which includes access to the gym on the top floor. The ground floor lobby was also a perfectly adequate place to work late into the evening with complimentary coffee until 22:00. When searching for hotels in Japan, I would suggest having a browse on Agoda, where some of the best value deals can be found.
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New legislation
Recent changes introduced by the Turkish government has made short-term rentals for under 100 days more restricted. Keep an eye on Reddit threads for up-to-date assessments of how the new legislation is impacting short-term rentals in practice.
The city has two WeWork locations at the Gates shopping centre and also at Damiyo. Alongside these, there are various local coworking operators and numerous coffee shops open late into the evening.
If you're only in town for a couple of nights, consider a more business-oriented hotel (of which there are plenty) that provides spaces to work. Alongside these there are a range of local coworking operators and there's plentiful coffee shops open later into the evening.
Prices were in Fukuoka were on a par with the rest of the country, with eating out particularly good value.
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The yen is currently at a 34-year low
While this is undoubtedly a negative for the Japanese, it makes for an exceptionally good time to visit Japan from abroad. Although this trend is unlikely to reverse significantly in the short term, it's still worth checking before visiting.
Read moreFukuoka doesn’t compare favourably in terms of excitement when set against larger cities like Osaka and Tokyo. In fact, there’s hardly anything noteworthy for conventional tourism that would justify adding it to your itinerary at the expense of other locations. As a place to work from however,
However, when visiting a new country and culture for the first time, there’s something intriguing about experiencing a typical Japanese city. It’s perhaps similar to how a Japanese person might feel about visiting an utterly unremarkable English city like Sheffield.
Japan observes Japan Standard Time (JST), which is 9 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). However, the time difference reduces to 8 hours during the summer months as Japan does not observe daylight saving time.This large gap in time zones has advantages and disadvantages, but planning a trip during the summer would reduce the likelihood of having to work past midnight to maintain alignment with European schedules.
I've written a guide on how to structure your day to get the most out of the time difference.
Without doubt, being able to speak Spanish with a degree of fluency is a huge asset when visiting South America. I had always put off visiting the continent due to my Spanish skills not extending beyond requesting a "cerveza grande".
But even with my incredibly primitive linguistic capabilities, it was not in any way to the detriment of the trip. English is spoken sparsely, but armed with a few phrases, some polite enthusiasm and a translator, it shouldn't deter you from visiting.
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It's worth taking a walk up to witness the 'Life-Size RX-93ff ν Gundam Statue' situated outside the Lalaport shopping centre. It is incredibly well made.
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The view just after sunset from the 7th Floor of the WeWork Gates coworking space.
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Several waterways including the Naka river all flow through the city centre.
Given the instability in Argentina over the past few years, I found that most advice on key topics, even if written within the last 12 months, bordered on being dangerously outdated.
I have attempted to summarise some of the most misleading points I encountered.
Card availability is now excellent across the city. Even if you are purchasing a single empanada, bananas from a greengrocer, or buying cans of beer off a man in the street before a football match. Some businesses may offer a 10% discount if you use cash, or charge a small surcharge for card payments.
"It's difficult to get a SUBE card"
This was true in recent years, as there had been a shortage of the cards across the city due to a lack of the plastics needed to create the card. I had no problems going to the nearest off-licence and getting a card on my first attempt. It's worth asking your Airbnb host who may have a spare.
The biggest misconception that may still linger, even if you are reading articles from 2023. If planning on eating out heavily, then expect European prices or even higher on more imported day-to-day goods. Eating out aside, day-to-day expenses are still good value by global measures.
This advice would continue to make sense for Americans who already have dollars, but I wouldn't recommend making an effort to purchase with the intent of exchanging them on the ground. Collecting money via Western Union was convenient and good value, which I would recommend to anyone visiting from outside the US.
"Make sure you get the blue-dollar rate"
The dramatic stabilisation of the peso by late 2024 means that this difference is nowhere near as significant as it was 12 months ago. At the time of writing, there was only a 10% difference between the official and blue rate. If you are only in the city for a short period you may not even have to grapple with this.
"Restaurant service is poor"
I did see some evidence of this, especially in cheaper, traditional restaurants. In comical fashion, drinks would not appear or the bill would never materialise. In more contemporary outlets, it was never a problem.
"It is a football mad city"
There is absolutely no doubt that this is as true as ever in 2024.
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