Fukuoka and Kagoshima — 4 days with a 7- and a 3-year-old
Fukuoka Airport is close enough to Taipei or Hong Kong that the first day is not lost to flying. The hotel stays the same for all three nights, next to Hakata Station. On day three the family takes the Shinkansen down to Kagoshima and back — about an hour and twenty minutes each way, on trains that leave every 20 to 30 minutes, so you can turn around whenever the younger one has had enough. No day here holds more than two places.
Day 1 — Arrival day, kept short: drop the bags, then one bowl of ramen
International arrivals cross to the domestic side first, on a free shuttle of 10 to 15 minutes. The subway is directly beneath that terminal, six minutes to Hakata, with an elevator down to the platform.
- Train ~30–45 min (est.)
Other Ippudo shops stand nearby in Daimyo and Tenjin, so check the address, 1-13-14 Daimyo, before setting off. Open until 22:00, last orders 21:30.
Day 2 — A whole day at one aquarium, working through the seas around Kyushu
About thirty minutes from Hakata Station, changing at Kashii. Strollers are lent free on a 500-yen deposit that comes back when you return it.
Day 3 — A day trip south by Shinkansen: a whale shark, then the cafe where shirokuma shaved ice began
Kagoshima City Aquarium (Io World)
Tram from Kagoshima-Chuo to Suizokukan-guchi, then eight minutes on foot. The loaner strollers are for children two and under; from age three the aquarium lends a wheelchair instead.
- Walk ~15 min
No seat can be booked, so you join the queue in arrival order. If waiting is out with the kids, the window left of the door sells a handheld cup of the shaved ice you can eat while walking.
Day 4 — One indoor stop on the last morning, then the subway to the airport
Getting in costs nothing; only the fifth-floor exhibition rooms and the sixth-floor dome theater are ticketed. The fourth-floor family room is shoes-off, and the station exit is right outside.
Before you go
November in Fukuoka runs to about 19°C by day and 11°C at night, and cools further toward the end of the month. Rain falls on roughly 15 days of the month, so keep one indoor place in reserve. Tenmonkan Mujyaki closes on irregular days rather than a fixed weekday — check its official notices before you go. Fukuoka City Science Museum is closed on Tuesdays. The international and domestic terminals at Fukuoka Airport sit on opposite sides of the runway, linked only by a free shuttle of 10 to 15 minutes; count that in on both the arrival day and the departure day.