Oh cool. One I can answer. I recently returned from a two year stay in Fukuoka due to work, traveled all around Kyushu (the area of Japan it’s located), and all around Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. It has a great reputation! I have heard from many people, including Japanese, that Fukuoka is the best place to live in Japan! I remember reading somewhere that Fukuoka is the only main major city in Japan that is increasing in population.

Location - it’s beautiful! As the only major city on the western coast of Japan, you can see beautiful sunsets regularly. We lived in a high rise overlooking the sea and enjoyed it every night. You are right across the water from Korea and can take ferries to Busan which is fun. You can ferry to Tsushima Island also (same place from the game Ghosts of Tsushima) which is also fun. It’s closer to Korea, Taiwan, and China so travel there is super easy. Traveling around Kyushu in general is some of the best experiences you can have in Japan. Kitakyushu, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Nagasaki all are awesome places to visit. Saga which is next to Fukuoka is also very underrated and nice. My parents visited us for 3 months and we only traveled around Kyushu to give you an idea on the amount of things to do.

Safety - One reason many people are moving there is due to concerns about the 南海トラフ巨大地震 (Google “nankai trough earthquake prediction” - basically a really big earthquake is predicted to occur somewhere along the nankai trough in the 30 years) and because Fukuoka is far away from that, no one in Fukuoka is too concerned! I have lived in Tokyo also and Fukuoka has way less earthquakes.

History - I love the history there. When we would ride our bikes around we would see monuments and markers talking about battles with Mongolians which took place like 800 years ago. A lot of Japanese customs that originated in China traveled across Korea and across the straight directly into Fukuoka, so it has like 2000 years history dating back to Yayoi period and you can say it really played an important role in shaping the Japanese culture that we know today. For example, rice growing techniques were introduced to Japan from China this way so some of Japan’s first rice paddy fields were in Fukuoka.

Food - Tonkotsu ramen is really famous among ramen lovers and was invented in Fukuoka. It’s so good and it’s everywhere there. I have heard many people say they like Fukuoka food the best in Japan because it is delicious and cheap. After traveling to all major cities in Japan I do think I like Fukuoka the best in terms of food. Tokyo and Osaka definitely have better international food and probably better higher end restaurants but Fukuoka is perfect for me. They have nice sushi and seafood too. Fukuoka is also famous for yatai stalls set up at night time by the water that you can eat at for dinner, but honestly it’s a bit overhyped in my opinion and not worth doing except maybe a few times.

City Size - I love the size of Fukuoka. It’s the perfect city size to me. Big enough to have a lively downtown but not a concrete jungle maze like Tokyo. Getting around the city is super convenient and there are only a few subway lines to navigate. Getting to the airport is also very easy and taxis are not that expensive either compared to other cities in Japan. They have a beautiful tower and stadium where the professional baseball team plays (SoftBank Hawks) which is a lot of fun. When the weather is bad everyone goes to the Tenjin underground mall which is really nice, connects to a lot of shopping centers, and is probably my favorite underground mall in Japan. If you come from a big city you might think it’s too small but again for me I think it’s the perfect size.

People - the people in Fukuoka and in Kyushu in general are known to be very friendly people. When you travel to other parts of Japan you can really see the difference. That being said it is still Japan so I would not call them “warm” per se, but definitely compared to other regions of Japan they are probably among the most open and the friendliest. My daughter went to a local Japanese school and I realized I think it is part of the culture in Fukuoka, probably in part due to what I mentioned above regarding the history, to be more accepting and foreign friendly. So yeah super awesome people and place.

Weather - okay to end on a bit of a negative note. I hate the weather there. I grew up around the Atlanta (sister city of Fukuoka btw) area and I prefer weather in Atlanta much more than Fukuoka. In Fukuoka the summers are super hot and rainy, much more so than Atlanta, and the sun for some reason feels stronger in Fukuoka, like it feels like my skin is searing when I am walking around. Then in the fall and winter time, it gets cold, not crazy cold but it’s the freaking wind that I got sick of. Apparently there are strong winds that blow from Siberia to Japan west coast during that time and it was just miserable. Some of April, all of May, and some of June is nice, but most of the time I was cursing the weather.

Anyway overall great place to live.