Fukuoka

The riverside stalls are trucked in and bolted together at about 6pm, then taken apart after midnight. There is no toilet — the convenience store is it. Eight seats means big groups split up.

One of the towering floats from the July Yamakasa festival stands in the grounds all year. You do not have to come in season to see one. At over ten metres, fitting it in a frame means backing well off.

The lake loop is exactly two kilometres, marked every hundred metres for runners. The Japanese garden on the west side charges separately and closes Mondays. Three islets let you cut straight across the water.

Thirty minutes from Tenjin on the Nishitetsu line, with the approach starting at the station gate. A Starbucks woven from timber sits halfway along. The shrine enshrines the god of learning, so exam season stacks the prayer plaques into walls.

A canal runs between the buildings, with a fountain show on the hour and projections on the water after dark. Ramen Stadium is on the fifth floor of the cinema building, shops from across Japan sharing one floor. It runs to eleven, useful if you land late.

The observation floor sits 123 metres up behind half-mirrored glass, which by day hides everyone inside from the street. The beach below is artificial, with almost no surf. At sunset you can walk out to the end of the breakwater.

Ten minutes by ferry from Meinohama, then fifteen on the village bus. Rape blossom in March and cosmos in October are the peaks. The last boat back is early, so read the timetable before you cross.

A pitch-dark corridor runs under the plinth of the ten-metre wooden Buddha. There is no light at all; you feel your way along the wall. It is ten minutes on foot from Hakata Station and costs nothing.

Hakata's oldest arcade, some 400 metres, with a festival float parked in the square halfway down. The red bean soup counter there opens at weekends only; on weekday afternoons a lot of shutters are down.

A forty-minute drive from the centre, where a white torii at Sakurai Futamigaura stands in water at high tide. The sun drops between the paired rocks only in spring and autumn. Buses out here are thin enough that a car is the easier plan.

The Kuroda clan's castle from the early Edo period. There is no keep, only its stone base, which you can climb to the top. In spring the whole site becomes a cherry blossom festival, and the excavated Korokan, an ancient guesthouse, sits within the walls.

Japan's first Zen temple, founded by Eisai in 1195; he is also remembered for bringing tea seeds back from Song China. Anyone may walk the grounds, though the halls stay closed to visitors. You can stroll over from Hakata Station.

A Meiji-era merchant house moved here to show how Hakata families once lived. A weaver works a Hakata-ori sash loom in front of you. It sits right across from Kushida Shrine, so the two pair easily.

A huge national park on the sandbar leading to Shikanoshima. In April nemophila turns the hills blue, and cosmos follow in autumn. It is too big to walk, so rent a bicycle at the gate; boats from Momochi also make the crossing.

It permanently shows the gold seal found in a Shikanoshima field in 1784, 2.3cm on a side, given by a Han emperor to the king of Na and now a National Treasure. It is smaller than people expect, so a crowd gathers at the magnifier.

A canal town in southern Fukuoka Prefecture, toured on punts poled by a boatman for about 70 minutes. Duck as you pass under the low bridges. In winter the boats carry kotatsu heated tables to tuck your knees under.

Japan's fourth national museum, opened in 2005 around the theme of exchange with Asia. From the Dazaifu Tenmangu grounds a long escalator and a rainbow-lit tunnel lead straight in. Closed Mondays.

A 41m bronze reclining Buddha lies in a mountain temple at Sasaguri, about 20 minutes by JR from Hakata to Kido-Nanzoin-mae. You can study the symbols on the soles up close, after a fair climb of steps to reach it.

About 590m of shopping arcade under central Tenjin, designed after a 19th-century European street with cast-iron ceilings and stone floors. Fashion and cosmetics shops dominate, and on rainy days you can cross Tenjin without surfacing.

The strolling pond garden of a villa built for the Kuroda lords of Fukuoka. You can order matcha in the tatami room that opens onto the water. Tucked in the southern suburbs, it sees almost no tour groups.

Ranked with the two other great Hachiman shrines of Japan; after the Mongol invasions a plaque reading Surrender of the Enemy went up on its gate. The mid-September Hojoya festival fills the approach with hundreds of stalls. The subway stops beside it.

A short market lane called Hakata's kitchen, lined with fishmongers and fish-cake and mentaiko sellers. Restaurant owners shop here at first light; Sundays and public holidays leave many shutters down. Its little diners serve seafood bowls for breakfast.

A small castle town in the hills of Asakura, called the little Kyoto of Chikuzen. The Suginobaba lane up to the castle site is a cherry tunnel in spring and a corridor of maples in autumn. Megane Bridge, a stone arch where the town begins, is worth a look.