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How Did Japan’s Yatai District Become a Tourism Asset? — Nakasu Yatai — Hakata

Hello, this is JIRO.

JIRO visited Fukuoka in Japan and its nearby areas.

The first stop was visiting Nakasu Yatai (street food stall district) in Fukuoka.


How could a common street food stall become a tourism asset??

From Hakata Station to the street food stall district, Source: Google Maps
From Hakata Station to the street food stall district, Source: Google Maps

First, the street food stall district is located about a 20-minute walk from Hakata Station, a major transportation hub in Fukuoka.

Hakata Station is the largest station in Kyushu and is called the gateway to Fukuoka.

Being located close to Hakata Station, which has about 400,000 daily passengers on average, can be considered the first factor that makes the street food stall district an attractive tourism resource.

The Nakasu River flowing next to the street food stall district

The Nakasu River flowing next to the street food stall district

The Nakasu River flowing next to the street food stall district
The second factor can be said to be that the Nakasu River runs next to the street food stall district.

Because a river flows next to it, it naturally blends with the night lighting and creates a beautiful atmosphere.

Street food stall district location sign
The third factor is friendly guidance that helps tourists find the location easily.

From our perspective as foreigners at JIRO, thanks to this guidance, we were able to find it without much difficulty.


Tripful travel book, Fukuoka edition
On this trip, we traveled with the Tripful travel book, Fukuoka edition^^

Thanks to the detailed explanations, it was very reassuring throughout the trip.
We found a location featured in the book and took a photo.

Tripful travel book, Fukuoka edition
This was the atmosphere of the street food stall district.
Ramen and skewers

Local residents to tourists ratio 6:4

6 skewers for 1,800 yen
Ramen 980 yen

It was not a cheap street food stall, but it was delicious and a new experience, so we felt it had value.

Although it is a street food stall, the food quality is excellent,
and even though it is not cheap, it is not at the level of overcharging tourists, which seemed to be another reason why the street food stall district could become a tourism resource.

Tourism resources do not necessarily have to be extremely special,
and it seems important to make it easy for tourists to visit while maintaining basic food quality.

Like Japan’s street food stall districts, based on taste, price, and accessibility,
a domestic regional revitalization case in Korea that came to mind was Yesan Market.

In the next post, we will share a field report from Kumamoto, where regional revitalization was achieved based on the Kumamon character.

Have a great day everyone ~~

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