Fukuoka? I Don't Even Know Ya!

Of all the New York Times' flavors of traveler, Cultured is perhaps the best. One can't help but resent the Sophisticated Traveler's $1,250 Loro Piano blankets and $195 cashmere travel slippers. The Practical Traveler is a nice guy but more vanilla than a pasty suburban dad. The Armchair Traveler? Who wants to read about reading about going somewhere? And now that Matt Gross is back doing whatever Matt Gross does when he's not the Frugal Traveler, we lost the only traveler than vaguely approaches our budget. Entereth The Cultured Traveler whose most recent excursion, to Fukuoka, Japan, provided wonderful fodder for some Sunday reading. Fukuoka is an architectural diamond mine. Everybody from Koolhass, Cesar Pelli, Kazuo Shinohara and Jan Jerde have pieces in the Kyushu city. Perhaps the most prestigious structure is Nexus World, a residential complex with units by Rem Koolhass, Steven Holl, (shown above) Oscar Tusquets Blanca, Mark Mack, Christian de Portzamparc and Osamu Ishiyama. There are plenty of buildings in Fukuoka for the architectophile among you but the Cultured Traveler, in this case Tom Downey, does a good job rounding up some of the more designy hotels and obscure restaurants like the street stands called yatai lining the Naka River or the roadside French-inspired cuisine of Nakasu Dining in the city's Red Light District.

In Japan: A Time Capsule of Modern Design [NYT]
Fukuoka News [in English]
Nakasu Dining

Previously: US to Honk Kong Then 19 Cities in 21 Days, $1,099, Starchitects in Beijing's Commune, Best Buildings in Chicago, Great Architecture on Half Life, Great Letters in New York