Fukuoka Prefecture

Cruise a winter river at a heated table

In winter, some river boats in Japan carry a kotatsu, a low table with a heater underneath and a quilt draped over it. You sit with your legs under the quilt and watch snowy gorges or quiet canals drift by. Most run only from December to February or March.

Hear wind chimes ring across a summer shrine

Every summer, some Shinto shrines hang hundreds or even thousands of furin, small glass or metal wind chimes, along their paths and corridors. Walk beneath them as they ring in the breeze, and in the evening many are lit up. The displays run only from about June to early September, so check the dates before you go.

Squeeze in beside locals at a street stall

A yatai is a small open-air food stall that sets up on the street at dusk, with a cloth curtain called a noren hanging over a counter of a few seats; Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu, is the city best known for them. Duck under the curtain, sit shoulder to shoulder with strangers, and share a drink over ramen or grilled skewers while chatting with the owner. Most open in the early evening, but closing days and rain closures differ by stall, so check on the day you go.

Glide along old canals in a hand-poled boat

In some old towns, a boatman called a sendo pushes a small wooden boat along the canals with a long pole or a single oar, telling stories about the town as you go. You sit low on the water, passing white-walled storehouses and willows, and bend down as the boat slips under low bridges. Most rides take 20 minutes to an hour; the stories are in Japanese, but the scenery is enough on its own.

A canal town of poled boats and steamed eel

Yanagawa is an old castle town laced with canals, about 50 minutes from Fukuoka's Tenjin Station on the Nishitetsu Line. Ride a donko-bune, a flat boat that a boatman pushes along with a single bamboo pole, for about an hour under willows and low bridges, then eat seiro-mushi, eel and rice steamed together in a wooden box, a dish said to have been created here in the Edo period. It is far from Osaka and Kyoto, so it fits best into a trip to Kyushu.

Look down on the town from a hilltop cafe

In Japan's hillside port towns, some cafes and viewing rooms sit high above the streets, and from their windows the rooftops, harbor and sea spread out below you. Order a drink or a sweet, sit back and let the view be the main event. All of these are in western Japan, between Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so they fit best into a trip to that region.

Spend a day reading among walls of manga

Manga are Japanese comics, and at these museums tens of thousands of volumes line the walls, free to take down and read inside. Pick up a classic or a series you have never heard of, and read for as long as you like. Most books are in Japanese, but the pictures carry much of the story, so you can enjoy them without reading every word.

A port town of baked curry and 1910s buildings

Mojiko is an old trading port at the northern tip of Kyushu, facing the narrow Kanmon Strait, about 15 minutes by local train from Kokura, which is about two hours from Osaka by shinkansen. Its dish is baked curry, curry and rice topped with egg and cheese and browned in the oven, said to have begun when a coffee shop here baked its leftover curry. After lunch, walk the waterfront, where a 1914 station and other Western-style buildings stand a few minutes apart.

Let the scenery drift past from a slow boat

On a slow sightseeing boat you simply sit, and the scenery moves for you: a canal town, a mountain river, cormorant fishing at night, or in winter a boat with a kotatsu, a low heated table with a quilt over your legs. Choose one by the season and your mood. Most rides take 20 minutes to an hour, so one fits easily into a relaxed day.

Watch ships pass from a harbor-view cafe

In the port towns of Mojiko and Onomichi, a few cafes look straight out over the water, where ferries and large cargo ships pass all day long. Order a coffee, take a seat by the window and let the boats drift by. Both towns are in western Japan, so they fit best into a trip to Hiroshima or northern Kyushu.

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