Post: #1

Introduction

A good friend of mine from back home who is currently living in Kitakyushu invited me to go and see him once he discovered I was in Asia. I was in Kitakyushu for two weeks. Even though it rained a lot of the time and I was ill for about a week, I believe I got a good feel of the city, enough to formulate a datasheet about a city of which little information is contained within the forum.

Overview

Kitakyushu is a city with around 1 million inhabitants located on the most south western island of Kyushu. As a city it only dates back to 1963 when the cities of Moji, Kokura, Tobata, Yahata and Wakamatsu were merged together. Known for its industry it is a city with very view tourists from experience, a city where people will still stare and look at you as you walk down the street.

Getting there

I flew into Fukuoka airport from Seoul then took the bus into Kitakyushu (takes around an hour). Alternatively Kitakyushu does have a small airport that services domestic flights, I believe you can fly in from Seoul too. Travelling by train from the other major cities is also an option as Kitakyushu has a large railway station. Apparently a ferry also runs from Tokyo.

Where to stay

I stayed with my friend for the duration of my stay so my knowledge in this regard is very limited. However Airbnb provided some seemingly good options with entire apartments costing as low as £19/$25 a night. There are also a number of hotels situated around the train station and shopping malls.

Getting around

There is a monorail that cuts through the heart of city and a bus service.

Daygame

Daygame in Kitakyushu is great. For a start a big shopping mall is built into Kokura train station (the main train station).
A minute walk from the train station is another huge shopping that you cant miss as it dominates the area due to how big it is. Its huge.
Go down the escalator and take a walk through the main roof covered shopping streets, take a right turn and keep going, cross the river and you find....another shopping mall. For a guy who likes day game this city is great in the sense that you have three large shopping malls, two of which are next door, the third being a 5 minute walk away.

One thing I noticed is that the people inside these shopping malls are overwhelmingly women, many of whom are attractive, thin, and dress well. In my experience they are friendly when you approach and very helpful, one women going so far as to ask the book store staff where the English section was, then translate it on her phone, then walk me there.

The one disadvantage which really limited me was the fact that my Japanese is non existent and very few women speak English. That held me back more than anything. I have the feeling that if a guy came here with passable Japanese, he could do some damage. Many times I would talk to a girl, she would be smiling and happy, giving off the impression that she wanted to talk, only for the interaction to fall apart due to the linguistic barrier.

Night game

From my experience and from what my friend said night game is basically non existent here, he claims that there aren't any clubs in the city. There are a few bars but honestly I never went out at night with intention of going to bars or clubs so I can't really comment on the nightlife.

Online:

Tinder I had little success with it due to me not being shown many girls who were near me, a large amount being listed as 50km or further away. I don't have Tinder plus, maybe that's why?

HelloTalk: This a language exchange app that a Latin American guy I met recommended, he claimed to have banged loads of girls from it. There are many girls using the app and I even had a few open me. Though I never met any, I believe that this app has great potential and if I had stayed longer I believe I would of been able to reap more from it.

Non game activities

Kokura castle: The original castle, built in 1602 was burnt down in 1865, and fully restored on the same site as the original in 1990. There a few interesting things inside like Samurai armour and a model of the castle and the surrounding area depicting how it would of looked when the castle was first built.

Horse racing There is a stop for the monorail that is very close to the horse racing venue, you can't miss the stands.

Mojiko Situated by the sea, it became a prominent port area during the late 19th century. Much of the port activities have been moved but the area contains a few museums, some western style buildings, including one house that Einstein stayed at and a big tower that you can go to the top of for 300 yen, the view is pretty good. It's a nice place to take a girl. Take the train from Kokura station, it takes about half an hour to get there. The promenade is nice too.

Onsens An Onsens is a sort of public hot water spring. They date back hundreds of years and are intertwined within Japanese culture

Pachinko While gambling is illegal in Japan, Pachinko is one of the exceptions (horse racing is another). Basically you sit in front of a machine that resembles a vertical pinball machine. Once you fire the balls into the machine they travel through a sea of pins, the aim being to get the balls to enter into a little slot, which give you more balls. Occasionally other slots open up which give you even more balls than the regular slots. the end goal is to get as many balls as possible, which you can then exchange for cash.

Conclusion

Honestly, there isn't many reasons to come here, it's not the most visually pleasing city either I only came to catch up with my good friend. English isn't widely spoken here at all so if you want to game girls then a passable level of Japanese is advisable. Still, the girls are friendly and approachable, and it was interesting and nice to see a part of Japan that few tourists do.

Post: #2

(06-29-2016 08:40 AM)Poker Wrote:  Introduction

A good friend of mine from back home who is currently living in Kitakyushu invited me to go and see him once he discovered I was in Asia. I was in Kitakyushu for two weeks. Even though it rained a lot of the time and I was ill for about a week, I believe I got a good feel of the city, enough to formulate a datasheet about a city of which little information is contained within the forum.

Overview

Kitakyushu is a city with around 1 million inhabitants located on the most south western island of Kyushu. As a city it only dates back to 1963 when the cities of Moji, Kokura, Tobata, Yahata and Wakamatsu were merged together. Known for its industry it is a city with very view tourists from experience, a city where people will still stare and look at you as you walk down the street.

Getting there

I flew into Fukuoka airport from Seoul then took the bus into Kitakyushu (takes around an hour). Alternatively Kitakyushu does have a small airport that services domestic flights, I believe you can fly in from Seoul too. Travelling by train from the other major cities is also an option as Kitakyushu has a large railway station. Apparently a ferry also runs from Tokyo.

Where to stay

I stayed with my friend for the duration of my stay so my knowledge in this regard is very limited. However Airbnb provided some seemingly good options with entire apartments costing as low as £19/$25 a night. There are also a number of hotels situated around the train station and shopping malls.

Getting around

There is a monorail that cuts through the heart of city and a bus service.

Daygame

Daygame in Kitakyushu is great. For a start a big shopping mall is built into Kokura train station (the main train station).
A minute walk from the train station is another huge shopping that you cant miss as it dominates the area due to how big it is. Its huge.
Go down the escalator and take a walk through the main roof covered shopping streets, take a right turn and keep going, cross the river and you find....another shopping mall. For a guy who likes day game this city is great in the sense that you have three large shopping malls, two of which are next door, the third being a 5 minute walk away.

One thing I noticed is that the people inside these shopping malls are overwhelmingly women, many of whom are attractive, thin, and dress well. In my experience they are friendly when you approach and very helpful, one women going so far as to ask the book store staff where the English section was, then translate it on her phone, then walk me there.

The one disadvantage which really limited me was the fact that my Japanese is non existent and very few women speak English. That held me back more than anything. I have the feeling that if a guy came here with passable Japanese, he could do some damage. Many times I would talk to a girl, she would be smiling and happy, giving off the impression that she wanted to talk, only for the interaction to fall apart due to the linguistic barrier.

Night game

From my experience and from what my friend said night game is basically non existent here, he claims that there aren't any clubs in the city. There are a few bars but honestly I never went out at night with intention of going to bars or clubs so I can't really comment on the nightlife.

Online:

Tinder I had little success with it due to me not being shown many girls who were near me, a large amount being listed as 50km or further away. I don't have Tinder plus, maybe that's why?

HelloTalk: This a language exchange app that a Latin American guy I met recommended, he claimed to have banged loads of girls from it. There are many girls using the app and I even had a few open me. Though I never met any, I believe that this app has great potential and if I had stayed longer I believe I would of been able to reap more from it.

Non game activities

Kokura castle: The original castle, built in 1602 was burnt down in 1865, and fully restored on the same site as the original in 1990. There a few interesting things inside like Samurai armour and a model of the castle and the surrounding area depicting how it would of looked when the castle was first built.

Horse racing There is a stop for the monorail that is very close to the horse racing venue, you can't miss the stands.

Mojiko Situated by the sea, it became a prominent port area during the late 19th century. Much of the port activities have been moved but the area contains a few museums, some western style buildings, including one house that Einstein stayed at and a big tower that you can go to the top of for 300 yen, the view is pretty good. It's a nice place to take a girl. Take the train from Kokura station, it takes about half an hour to get there. The promenade is nice too.

Onsens An Onsens is a sort of public hot water spring. They date back hundreds of years and are intertwined within Japanese culture

Pachinko While gambling is illegal in Japan, Pachinko is one of the exceptions (horse racing is another). Basically you sit in front of a machine that resembles a vertical pinball machine. Once you fire the balls into the machine they travel through a sea of pins, the aim being to get the balls to enter into a little slot, which give you more balls. Occasionally other slots open up which give you even more balls than the regular slots. the end goal is to get as many balls as possible, which you can then exchange for cash.

Conclusion

Honestly, there isn't many reasons to come here, it's not the most visually pleasing city either I only came to catch up with my good friend. English isn't widely spoken here at all so if you want to game girls then a passable level of Japanese is advisable. Still, the girls are friendly and approachable, and it was interesting and nice to see a part of Japan that few tourists do.

I guess I'm not moving this place to the top of my list, but it's always fun to hear about obscure places you haven't even heard about. Well done.

Post: #3

I was just in Japan 2 days ago and I paid a visit to Kitakyushu. The main station is Kokura and I had the JR Pass so I went for a day trip. Agreed that there really isn't anything there. You should have came to Fukuoka for the nightlife man, definitely more popping than KitaKyushu