Fukuoka

Welcome to Cvent’s MICE Guide to Fukuoka, a city guide for MICE professionals. Known as the gateway between Japan and other Asian continents, Fukuoka serves as the largest city on Kyushu, an island in southwest Japan, as well as a key center for Asian trade, with a 2,000-year history of exchange with other Asian countries. As such, Fukuoka has the lowest commodity pricing for food, clothing, and housing among 51 other cities in Japan, all while maintaining a high quality of life with the ideal balance of urban amenities and lush greenery. With a fantastic blend of traditional culture and modern amenities, Fukuoka enjoys a six-year record as the second-most popular city in Japan for holding international conventions (after Tokyo), thanks to its size, array of entertainment and culture options, broad range of accommodations, and excellent transportation and access. The city is equipped to handle anything from small-scale conferences to major conventions of more than 10,000 attendees. For these reasons, the number of international conventions held in Fukuoka increases each year.

Meeting participants appreciate Fukuoka’s low traffic congestion and compact, stress-free city center, with all major facilities set within a 2.5-kilometer radius area. There is easy airport-to-city center access, as travelers flying into Fukuoka Airport only need to take a ten-minute subway ride to get to downtown. The airport is known for its high number of flights from major domestic airports. European travelers can take a direct flight to Fukuoka from Helsinki, while travelers coming from North America need to make just one connection in Incheon, Shanghai or Beijing. Once in Fukuoka, visitors can ride the reliable, convenient Fukuoka City Subway or Nishitetsu buses and trains, which take passengers throughout the city and to major area attractions. Operating several stations in Fukuoka, the JR Kyushu intercity rail service takes passengers throughout the island of Kyushu.

Easily accessible via public transportation, the Fukuoka International Congress Center is a state-of-the-art facility in a scenic waterside location, which offers versatile space for a wide range of events and conventions. Spanning five floors, the modern, sleek center features sliding walls that adjust to the scale of each event, as well as simultaneous interpreter booths and audio-visual equipment. Meeting spaces range from a 1,320-square-meter multi-purpose hall to a series of conference rooms, ranging from 40 to 420 square meters. The center also puts meeting participants near the city’s Nakasu nightlife district, perfect for post-convention entertainment.

In addition to the Fukuoka International Congress Center, Fukuoka is home to a number of unique venues perfect for group gatherings. As for social gatherings, groups can hold events at the charming, covered Kawabata Shopping Arcade, the city’s oldest shopping arcade and beloved locale of long-standing shops, giving a taste of local life. Using the long shopping street as a venue, you can hold parties and other events onsite. Along with food and drinks provided by stores on the shopping arcade and events to experience the Japanese traditional performing arts, you can bring additional excitement to parties with stores along the street. Groups can also hold an open-air social gathering using the entire bayside area, at the Bayside Place Hakata, a tourist attraction with shops and restaurants. With high-quality food of which Fukuoka boasts, various forms of entertainment such as a tuna disassembling performance, band performances and Hakata’s traditional performing arts bring a lot of excitement to the party. Groups who would like to explore the bay by water can charter a dining room, floor, or an entire boat, courtesy of the elegant Mariera Dinner Cruise. Enjoy French cuisine while cruising Hakata Bay, on which a buffet-style cuisine can be prepared for a simple and convenient party. If you charter the ship, live musical performances and other services can also be arranged.

Local performers such as Hakata-Koma (top spinning performance), Kinjishi-daiko (lion dance with Japanese drum performance), Hakata-Minyo (Local traditional dance) can be provided at the reception or awarding ceremony for large conventions or incentive tours groups.