Eventually if you’re living in China, you’re gonna need to do a visa run. Although Fukuoka is a popular visa run spot for the Korean English teacher crowd, for some reason China expats stay away like a gay dude hiding from a vagina. HK is (or was now that the Olympic visa regime is in full effect) the place most expats hit up when they’re looking for a quick cheap visa. Although HK is interesting, you live in China damn it, so why not try a completely different culture? I know you say because it’s absurdly expensive, but there’s a reason why this run is to Fukuoka and not Tokyo. Depending on when you do it (like now for instance), this visa run might actually be cheaper than going to HK.

Unless you’re traveling on a rocket ship made out of grease lightning, you aren’t going to make it to the consulate before it closes at 11am. This is ok, because it gives you ample time to get sorted with your hostel/hotel and to get oriented with the city. You’ll need 2 nights or 3 days to do this.

Landing at the international terminal of FUK you then can take a free but longer-than-it should be shuttle bus that goes to the main domestic terminal. Sometimes I wonder why they didn’t just make a giant tunnel connecting them with one of those people mover ramps. Better still would be a giant catapult that launched weary travelers into a vat of live chickens. From here you can get on the subway and head straight downtown. Just stay on the same train and get off at Hakata Station, nice and easy. Hakata station is pretty big, because it also has the JR bullet trains on the upper floors, and has dozens of stores and restaurants built into it.

If you’re not looking to waste money you could be spending on delicious Japanese booze, you should stay at one of the two hostels in the general vicinity of Hakata Station. These places are the cheapest in Fukuoka unless you want to resort to a bottle of Suntory Whiskey and a park bench. If you want a more social atmosphere, and a closer walk to the station, you’ll want to stay at the Khaosan Fukuoka Hostel. The people there are friendly, helpful and obsessively clean. There is also lots of those weirdo backpacker people that never seem to shave or cut their hair sneaking around. As weird as they are, get a few beers in em and they’re good times. This website will show you exactly how to get there from Hakata Station. KFH has dorms for 2500 yen, and single private rooms for 3500 yen, but the single rooms are the size of a closet, and have no furniture except a mattress and covers on the ground. Check-in seems to be from 9am-9pm and check out is 11am. There is no curfew, but they lock the door at 9pm, they give you a code for the door on a piece of paper, don’t lose it like I did and spend your night watching drunken salary men stumble home.

Fukuoka Youth Hostel is just a bit further away, and offers much larger rooms, but a more sterile atmosphere. They seem to cater more to Japanese than international backpackers so it’s boring but quieter. Note that the cheapest rooms FYH has are 3500 yen doubles though they’re the same size as a business hotel room. The bathrooms there are shared but bigger and more private than Khaosan. Supposedly there’s no curfew, but I was told they lock the door at 1am so I don’t know how that’s going to work. I didn’t feel like experimenting after forgetting the code at the Khaosan. Also check-in isn’t until 4pm so if you arrive before that, you can leave your bags (for them to put in your room if it’s empty WTF??) So both have trade-offs. Personally I think it would be better to stay at the KFH on the weekends when there are lots of people around, plus you can get in and out at any time. Check below for how to get to the Fukuoka youth hostel.

The cheapest way to get to the consulate is to get on the subway at Hakata and go to Nishijin Station. Check my map down below and follow these instructions: Get out at exit 3 and walk till you get to the big intersection and turn right, keep heading up that road along the creek until you get passed the third bridge. You’ll know you’re there when you see lots of guards around it, possibly the special police, and also a big group of nationalist protestors and their ridiculous vans covered in Japanese flags and loudspeakers spewing off crazy sounding rants. The full walk is about 10-15mins. Also on the way back to Hakata, make sure to get on the right train, some trains switch lines and head to Kaizuka, you don’t want to go there, trust me.

Once inside, take a number immediately by pushing the top button on the machine. While you’re waiting to be called fill out the form. The applications line is on the right and the left line is where you come to pick up and pay for your visa. As of May 2008 you need:

• Full accommodation itinerary printout of hotel bookings with your name on it from the computer OR
• Housing Contract with your name on it that states where you live OR
• Written invitation from a resident that says you’ll be staying with them for the duration of the visa and copies of their ID card, etc.
• Returns air tickets in and out of the country
• Photocopy of your passport and the Japanese visa you have (they have a pay per use photocopy machine in the consulate)
• 1 passport photo
• And you’ll be damned if you forget your passport.

The next day head back to the consulate. Don’t forget your receipt. Pop 7000 yen into the machine at the entrance, you’ll actually need to buy a 6000 and 1000 yen ticket because for some reason they don’t sell 7000 yen tickets. If you’re lucky like me, the machine will have a nervous breakdown while you’re using it and the accountant will come out from a little box proceed to beat the crap out of the machine. Once you get the tickets head to the window on the far left, where you’ll get your visa back. Once you’ve got it, you’re free to get the hell out of Japan, or stay and enjoy some pork ramen.

MAPS

Ok just follow the main street that runs diagonal from Yodobashi camera, its the same street you use to get to Khaosan. You might want to take a bus because it’s about a 20 min walk. Go until you get to the Mobil gas station, turn right, then turn left at the Lawsons which is very close, and you’ll see on the left. Follow the green line on the map. Get on any bus that has the characters 山王丁一 and you’ll get there for about 250 yen. If you get lost the address for the taxis is: 6-7-23 Hakata-eki Minami, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka-shi OR in Japanese: 福岡県福岡市博多区博多駅南6-7-23. Their phone number is: 92-473-4555.

Just follow the green line, this one is really easy, only about 10 min walk. And sorry I have no idea what those little swastikas on the map are for. The consulate is the little grey building at the top! The address: Fukuoka-shi, Chiuo-ku Jigyohama 1-3-3, 福冈市中央区地行浜1-3-3. Phone number: 92-713-1121.

Some notes: The consulate has English visa application forms but that’s about it, everything else is in Chinese and Japanese, and there’s little to no English signage. The people working there also have some limited English, so make sure you’ve got everything in order first, follow the instructions here and you should be ok. If not the Japanese secret police waiting outside will kidnap you and feed you to the robots (there’s a robot museum right by the consulate!)

If you get lost and need to take a taxi, they are expensive starting at Y550 to get into, but the drivers are generally quite helpful, and they all have those GPS TV map gismos. The ride from the hostels to the consulate is about 3500 yen give or take.

You’ll probably end up spending more money than if you had gone to HK, but damn, if you’ve already been there a few times, Fukuoka is a breath of fresh air (both literally and figuratively of course).

Filed under: quick guides