Last Updated: Jul 25, 2024

Explore Asakura

A Historic but Overlooked Part of Fukuoka

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

It should really come as no surprise to those who already follow me on the Gram that Asakura has a special place in my heart. Not only is this provincial section of Fukuoka Prefecture a treasure trove of bucolic delights, it’s also under the jurisdiction of a close friend and his company, Discover Deep Japan. Thanks to their ever-helpful support with logistics, I was recently able to explore all of the many sights in Asakura that I would have never otherwise gotten to see without my own set of wheels (maybe one of these days, I’ll actually get an automobile license of my own).

My forays down in Asakura not too long ago were actually the second time that I had the chance to visit the region. During my initial adventure, I was limited only to the confines of Asakura’s crowning jewel of Akizuki. This former castle town is a real gem and is definitely worth checking out if you want to sample what samurai life would have been like during peaceful times. Seeing as my prior piece contains all you could ever want to know about Akizuki, I am going to instead opt to focus on other areas for round two.

While my personal connection to Discover Deep Japan first put Asakura on the map for me, understand that the area actually belies a huge…