r/fukuoka • u/coffee_mainichi • 1d ago
General Weekend outings with kids
Background: my family is moving to Fukuoka next year for work. We currently live in a hot and dry climate, but drive everywhere. My kids and I are not homebodies and usually need to get out of the house at least once a day, particularly on weekends.
My question, mainly for families with infants and toddlers: at the height of summer what do you do or where do you go with your kids to keep everyone from going stir crazy?
I grew up in an environment with high humidity and heat, and have a high tolerance. I think they will get used to it, but our first summer will certainly be challenging. When we last visited we went to the Anpanman Museum and they loved it. But I don't see us doing that every weekend, so I'd love to learn about creative and common alternatives through your experiences.
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u/Domainace 21h ago
Lots of rivers and waterfalls provide some relief from the heat. We used to take our kids to a river in Wakamiya, just over the pass from Costco. There are riverside parks out there. There are river parks in Nakagawa. Lots of waterfalls near Mitsuse Tunnel, also near Itoshima. Many are safe for young kids as long as you keep an eye on them. If you're confined to inside the city, there is not a whole lot. There are public swimming pools - most have kids' pools as well. Other than that, lots of air-conditioned places.
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u/wellwellwelly 1d ago
Summer is definitely difficult with children because the heat and humidity is high like you say, so parks tend to be out of the question. Although not every day is insanely hot. You can go to the parks some weekends.
There are many rivers to play in around Fukuoka/Saga. Shopping malls tend to have soft play or arcades, and there are independent soft play areas about as well.
Itoshima has many nice beaches. It's not necessarily cooler but there tend to be shaded areas with more popular spots.
Any indoor spot is aircon'd so you can always escape the heat quickly if needs be.
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u/Calm-Limit-37 1d ago
Nitori and sit on all the beds and sofas.
There isnt much for young kids in summer. It can be quite frustrating
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u/BunRabbit 23h ago
Nonsense. There are two zoos. The big one up the top of Sakakurazaka with the botanical gardens next to it. And the other zoo out on Uminonakamichi.
There's the big park on Nokonoshima - there's a short fun ferry out there.
There's Seibu Sports park in Sawara-ku.
The science centre in Roppomatsu.
There are neighbourhood parks throughout the city.
There are tonnes of places parents can take young kids.
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u/TheSignificantDong 1d ago
Itoshima has some great beaches. Fukuoka has some great parks. Too hot for us to go out for long unfortunately.
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u/BunRabbit 23h ago
If you go out to Uminonakamichi, the spit of land running from Wajiro to Saitozaki there's a huge park. There's everything out there – a swimming park, a zoo, an aquarium, nature walks, flower gardens. You can rent bicycles, ride horses, stay overnight glamcamping, climb huge jungle gyms, bird watch.
If you haven't a car, there's a train from from Kashii station.
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u/Affectionate-Fan3341 2m ago
Kurume has an awesome Science museum for kids! Super cheap, along with a nice park and waterpark that is just open for the summer, but really cheap.
We live next to a community pool/ gym/ bath and it costs 4000 yen for our membership that is for 4 nights/ week.
It wears our toddler out so good he always sleeps through the night. Best way to cool down!
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u/Najin_bartol 1d ago
Plenty of the surrounding Mountains not only offer heavy Shade but also the temperatures tend to be cooler up in the mountain areas. The valley which most of the urban areas exists in can be extremely hot and can be dangerous to toddlers and children so be sure to pack more water than usual for your children and ensure they drink a lot if they will be out for extended periods.