Living in Korea, Japan is the cheapest foreign country to travel to. Naturally, that makes it attractive for tourism, visa runs, and brief jots away from Korea if you’re ever in the mood for something different, hehe. I’ve been there twice now and loved it both times.

If you’re flying from Seoul to Fukuoka, I totally recommend taking Jeju Air (제주항공).  The attendants have always been super sweet to me and they serve super-tasty nuts during the flight + juice from the type of citrus that’s popular on Jeju, 귤. Plus, the flight is pretty affordable at around $200 for a round trip ticket ^^

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I would love to share with you all of the interesting, historically important sites, but I tend to get easily distracted by the culinary and consumeristic aspects of travel, so I’ll just write about the amazing food for now 😉

Let me tell you, if you’re in Japan for any amount of time, you gotta try Yakitori (焼き鳥) ~ it’s this skewered, grilled chicken that is to-die-for-delicious! You order a bunch of different kinds of skewers and maybe a chicken and rice dish and you are set to enjoy your night! I had the pictured dishes with my friend and her boyfriend. Afterwards we were full and ready to burst ^_^

 Looks delicious, riiiiiiiiiiiiight?

You’re probably thinking, “Dang, Vickie, it couldn’t get any tastier than that right there.” And, in that case, you’d be wrong! Unless you’re allergic to green tea AMAZINGNESS as presented in shaved ice form! In Korea, they call the following 그린티빙수. I have no idea what they call it in Japan. In English, I’ll just call it “the tower of green tea amazingness + ice + ice cream + rice cake + omg u’ll love it”. I think the name is pretty catchy.

This time when I was in Fukuoka I also tried a crazy-delicious Italian dish called bagna càuda. It’s basically vegetable fondue. I LOVED it. Absolutely, hardcore, totally gonna have it again as soon as possible – loved it!

It’s interesting because it seems to me that the Japanese conserve the authentic taste of whatever dish they import, but Koreans love to either create fusion dishes or tweak the recipe to Korean taste. For example, even with a food like pizza, the typical pizza place in Korea will serve the pie with sweet pickles!

Since it’s nearing Christmas, there were a bunch of pretty lights up around Hakata Station, the main railway station in Fukuoka City.

I wish I’d had more time, but I guess I’ll just have to go back! Especially to get the eel! Have you ever tried the sweet Japanese eel over rice dish? If not, you are missing out! They make it faaaaaaabuously in Fukuoka! So, you should try it 😉

I’m ready to take the plane back now! ^_^