{"id":71931,"date":"2016-03-28T18:01:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T09:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=feature&p=71372"},"modified":"2017-06-13T12:48:09","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T03:48:09","slug":"month-fukuoka-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/month-fukuoka-april\/","title":{"rendered":"This Month in Fukuoka – April"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Fukuoka Now! Since 1998 our team of local experts have been introducing the best of Fukuoka to the world. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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Terumo Jinja Shrine<\/strong>
\nWith 1,300 cherry trees, Nishi Park is one of Fukuoka\u2019s premier hanami<\/em> spots. At the top of the stairs sits Terumo Jinja Shrine, dedicated to Kanbei Kuroda and his son Nagamasa (the first ruler of the Fukuoka Domain). Its location on a strip of land jutting into Hakata Bay affords wonderful vistas of the ocean and the city. Inside the shrine grounds stands a bronze statue of the famous samurai<\/em> Tahei Bori holding a giant sake<\/em> cup. The current shrine was rebuilt in 1966 – including the beautiful crane decoration on the ceiling, which sings when you throw money into the donation box.<\/p>\n

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\nPhoto courtesy of Amritendu Maji.<\/p>\n

Terumo Jinja Shrine<\/strong>
\nAddress: 13-\u00ad1 Nishi-\u00adkoen, Chuo-\u00adku
\nTel.: 092\u00ad-761-\u00ad1807<\/p>\n

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Sanatorium<\/strong>
\nLast June, a new gallery\/cafe called Sanatorium opened in the subcultural mecca of north Tenjin. It is a branch of the Fushigi Hakubutsukan\u2014a creative space in Nakagawa Town. The white interior features anatomical models, medical devices and the owner\u2019s art. The banana shake, like a barium swallow, comes in a beaker. The sweets change daily and also come in off-the-wall containers. You cannot photograph the nurse uniform-clad staff or some of the exhibits, but this only adds to the cafe\u2019s mystique. The vibe may be weird, but who knows, you might just feel right at home.<\/p>\n

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Sanatorium<\/strong>
\nAddress: 3-3-23-3F Tenjin, Chuo-ku
\nHours: 12:00~22:00
\nClosed: Wed.
\nTel: 092-791-5477<\/p>\n

Menu: Daily snack \u00a5800, daily dish \u00a5800, drinks (coffee, tea, tomato juice, sake<\/em>, etc.) \u00a5600, snack & drink set \u00a51,200 <\/p>\n

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Edo Soba Wabisuke<\/strong>
\nIn the quiet neighborhood of Shirogane, you will find Wabisuke, a soba<\/em> shop that still grinds its buckwheat by hand with a mortar and pestle. The Yamamotos, the shop\u2019s husband-and-wife owners, buy their high-grade buckwheat direct from the farmers. Some of it is ground by hand for inaka seiro<\/em>, a special soba<\/em> made from a mix of buckwheat including crushed whole soba<\/em> kernels. Only five bowls of this bouncy, hearty soba<\/em> are available per day. Try a tiny pinch of salt with your first bite to bring out the true flavor. Then continue with salt, or switch to dipping sauce. (Remember: only dip the tips of the noodles; dipping an entire chopstickful is considered gauche.) Soba<\/em> should be eaten immediately, before it loses its flavor. This is especially true for the sobagaki<\/em>, a traditional mixture of 100% soba<\/em> flour and hot water topped with an<\/em> (sweet bean paste). The owners recommend you savor some sake<\/em>, graze on a side dish, and then finish off with soba<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Edo Soba Wabisuke <\/strong>
\nAddress: 1-14-2 Shirogane, Chuo-ku
\nHours: 11:30~15:00, 18:00~21:00 (or until soba runs out)
\nClosed: Tue., irregular
\nTel: 092-285-4217<\/p>\n

Menu: 100% handmade seiro<\/em> \u00a5900, coarse-ground seiro<\/em> \u00a5900, kakesoba<\/em> \u00a5700, itawasa<\/em> \u00a5400, dashimaki tamago<\/em> \u00a5650, seasonal tempura<\/em> \u00a51,000, sobagaki zenzai<\/em> \u00a5600, soba kaiseki<\/em> (6 dishes) \u00a53,500, sake<\/em> (180ml) \u00a5800<\/p>\n

Originally published in Fukuoka Now Magazine (fn208<\/a>, Apr. 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Fukuoka Now! Since 1998 our team of local experts have been introducing the best of Fukuoka to the world. Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"71372","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","location-fukuoka-prefecture","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/fn208-nishi-koen-002-e1458799380489.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99083,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71931\/revisions\/99083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}