Kawabata Shopping Street, Fukuoka’s Main Shopping Area
Kawabata Shopping Street, 上川端書店街 [kamikawabata shotengai] is the main shopping street in Fukuoka.
In the day, the street features retail shops selling cosmetics, clothes, shoes, bags and even craft items.
The street is dotted with many eateries where you can refuel as you do your shopping here.
We noted that it may be worth visiting Kawabata shopping street both in the day and at night.
Official site: https://kawabatadori.com/en/
Kushida Shrine, one of the main highlights
The side entrance to Kushida Shrine, 櫛田神社 [kushida jinjya] is located near the Southeast entrance of Kawabata Shopping Street.
We found the shrine grounds to be quite large featuring a main shrine, few smaller shrines and a short row of torii gates.
A small shop selling amulets, charms and ema, a small wooden plaque for writing wishes is located within the shrine grounds as well.
Visit Kawabata at night to get a different experience
We were took a walk around Kawabata shopping street in the evening and realised how different it was after the sun sets.
What we notice was some of the eateries that were closed in the day were now packed with locals.
We decided to head into a random izakaya to chill with some beer and bar snacks.
How to Get to Kawabata Shopping Street
We took a short 8 minute walk from Canal City Hakata taking us to the southeast entrance of the the shopping street.
Alternatively, we found the entrance to Nakasukawabata metro station which at the shopping street’s northwest entrance.