Fukuoka! ^_^;;

Posted December 22nd, 2009 by Mitsu
The bridge to Nakasu

While it might sound odd, I’ve been interested in Fukuoka when I heard it was closer to Shanghai than to Tokyo. Fukuoka has turned out to be the other. Not Kansai or Kantou in its ways, but very much Kyuushu. However, I cannot help but feel a little downhearted by the small glance of gal culture I saw in Fukuoka.

The Cecil McBee window displays and gals outside Core

Core

The main Fukuoka mall of gal culture. However 6(ish) floors are dedicated to gal style, while 2 are for men’s looks. Many not exactly gyaruo. Fukuoka’s concept of 109 the corner for men been done in a stylish way that definitely helps Fukuoka boys become sexy gyaruo. But, I just can’t feel the same for girls. While the girls floors are packed with great 109 brands: Cecil McBee, Lip Service, One*Spo, Glad News, and Cocolulu to name a few. For the most part, the gals I saw inside the stores didn’t reflect the pure style of the brand.

Cocolulu staff girls were on point, but many shopping had bad flat hair and no extensions. The dying seemed lacking as well as tight outfit style I see from the several of the clientele and staff of 109. I even couldn’t call it relaxed like the Osaka gals, instead it just seemed lacking.

Their deco store on B-1 did seem top notch, tough. Love the handle.

To further bastardize Fukuoka gal style, JRock brand Algonquins as well as Lolita powerhouse Angelic Pretty had stores next to gal brands. Out and about in Fukuoka I saw more people in JRock style than gal style. The gal magazines were out and displayed in tons of Fukuoka bookstores, but the lessons on style weren’t reaching the Fukuoka girls.

The 109 Mens floor was a new and welcome addition, featuring men’s brands such as Vanquish, Buffalo Bobs, Glad News, Semantic Design and more..

This is not to say all Fukuoka gals were lacking, I saw a few with cute ideas and even some Agejo style and some with good strong gal looks and one girl with the best short hair I had see Agejo in a long time.


Hostesses and Nakasu

The rows of foodstalls and the crowds around Nakasu

Fukuoka has a tiny island of entertainment district called Nakasu in which tons of hostess clubs were located. It seemed hostess clubs wholly overpowered the host clubs. I didn’t see that many hostesses out and about shopping in Core. At Shinjuku Alta, Agejo wannabe mix with the hostess girls while shopping. This was’t the case for Fukuoka Agejo, which I imagine have strong numbers judging by the amount of kyabakura inside the island.

A giant building housing tons of hostess clubs, possiblty 7 per floor.
A row listing all the clubs inside
They’re calling this a girl’s bar although all the pictures make it look more like an information stop.
Girls bars are more like traditional hostesses, who simply serve drinks and listen on a bar stool next to you.
For some reason every entertainment district has tons of pet shops.
My bet is its a place for hosts to take their customers
It was hard to get a good shot of this place and I cared not to get closer since there seemed to be visible yakuza patrolling the place. It was an entire giant apartment block set-up to be a soapland or “massage” and prostitution building. 8 floors in total, which means a lot of hookin’

Sky Dream Fukuoka

You can take a bus from Tenjin (one of Fukuoka’s main hubs) and head to Evergreen Marinoa outlets. I do not recommend training it since the setting itself is a 20+ minute winding walk from the closest train station. Evergreen Marinoa has Sky Dream Fukuoka. Purportedly the fourth tallest Ferris Wheel, Sky Dream takes 20 minutes to rotate and is a great date spot.

Making the loop better is the large selection of outlets to shop at around it. Everything from ABC Mart shoe store, to gal stores such as Egoist and male-fronted Tornado Mart. All the outlet items were last year’s pieces, but my all time favorite Egoist dress was in there for $40.00, not a bad way to stock up on sexy dresses. However since Lip Service is doing sexy current basics at $40.00 I wasn’t swayed to purchase anything. For those interested in OL there was a Pinky & Diane and also a nice large Coach outlet. Prices appeared to be only 15-25% off at the Coach Outlet, but maybe I was missing some great bargains.

Me and the man taking Ferris Wheel puri
I can’t say I recommend traveling to Fukuoka. Especially since the sheer price to do so: around $800.00 round trip on the Shinkansen. For a small port city, Kobe is much better.

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