Fukuoka is the big city of Kyushu, home to about one and a half million people, and it feels closer to Seoul and Shanghai than to Tokyo in the way it turns its face to the sea. The harbour of Hakata has been a gateway to the continent for two thousand years, and a gold seal found nearby, dated to the first century AD, is said to record a gift from the Chinese emperor. In 1274 and 1281 the Mongols landed here with huge fleets, and the stone wall built to resist them survives in places.
The city's food scene is its most obvious pleasure. Hakata ramen, with its cloudy pork-bone broth and thin straight noodles, is the local religion, and in the evenings the yatai stalls set up along the river on Nakasu island, offering ramen, skewers and oden under red lanterns. Mentaiko, spicy pollock roe, is another speciality, and the fish, fresh from the Genkai Sea, is outstanding. The summer Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival in July sees teams of men race giant floats through the streets at dawn.
Nearby shrines carry weight too. Munakata Taisha, whose outlying shrine on Okinoshima island across the water has been a sacred site for centuries and whose Okitsu-miya Yohaisho sits on the coast for worship from afar, guards sea voyages. Women have never been allowed on the island and men must purify themselves in the sea. Dazaifu, to the south, honours the scholar Sugawara no Michizane and draws students before exams.
Riding in Fukuoka itself is urban, with expressways and heavy traffic. The coast toward Itoshima, west of the city, is the reward: sea views, small beaches and cafes, and roads that wind through low hills. Fuel is plentiful. Summer is hot and humid, and typhoons arrive in late summer and early autumn. Spring and late autumn are the best times for riding, with clear skies.