CNN –
Fukuoka, Japan’s sixth-largest city by population, has more outdoor food stalls than the rest of the country combined.
These stalls are called yatais and are an indelible part of what makes Fukuoka’s food scene so special.
Think of her as a kind of foodie Cinderella.
Yatais are assigned specific, highly sought-after spots on important pedestrian streets.
However, they can only operate at night and must completely dismantle or remove their stands before morning commuters flock to the sidewalks. The only indication that a yatai might arise later is a water tap near the ground.
But at night the city transforms. Carts and vans seem to appear as if by magic, serving everything from gyoza (in Fukuoka, these popular dumplings are served in bite-sized mini-forms) to ramen and meat skewers to a local chicken stew called oden, paired with ice-cold Asahi or Sapporo beers.
“Yatai is the best place to make friends,” says Nick Szasz, a Canadian-born, longtime Japanese resident who runs the English-language website Fukuoka Now. “Especially in the winter.”
Most carts only fit 6 to 10 people. We recommend that you squeeze together on communal benches or tightly packed stools. During the cold season, many yatais keep their customers warm by draping their benches with thick curtains, making the experience even cozier.
While the Japanese sometimes have a reputation for being polite, Szasz explains that chatting with strangers while crammed into a yatai is considered good manners. Some shopping carts even offer the option to purchase drinks for other guests – or the chef! – as a menu item.
Had Fukuoka taken a different direction, Yatai might have been a thing of the past. The loose, independent cart system was unregulated and varied widely in safety and quality.
There is Sōichirō Takashima, who has been mayor of Fukuoka since 2010. When he was elected, he was just 36 years old, the youngest mayor in Fukuoka’s history and one of the youngest in all of Japan.
Japan has the “greyest” population in the world, with at least one in 10 residents over 80 years old.
But Fukuoka, the largest city on the island of Kyushu, is bucking this trend. The Takashima government has wooed college graduates and young entrepreneurs from across the country with small business loans, affordable rents and co-working spaces.
One of the major initiatives of the mayor – who was re-elected for a fourth term in 2022 – was an overhaul of the yatais.
Although the city has always been dotted with these food trucks, the Takashima government set up a committee to regulate them and ensure that they remain an important part of the city.
The committee set some ground rules for yatais, such as a maximum of 120 shopping carts (96 are currently registered), a requirement that prices be displayed in a conspicuous place, and a ban on raw foods – that is, if you try fukuokas To enjoy the infamous fresh sashimi, you have to go to a traditional restaurant.
But rather than limiting the yatai community, the industry shakeout has given rise to a new, younger generation of yatai operators who are trying out new styles and flavors to keep locals coming back.
At Telas & Mico, Kensuke Kubota — who trained at London’s Zuma before returning to Japan — serves Italian-style bruschetta with mentaiko, a spicy cod roe, the most ubiquitous condiment in Fukuoka.
And food isn’t the only draw. Many shopping carts feature special designs or styles that add a personal touch beyond what is on offer.
Telas & Mico, for example, is painted a bright blue that stands out on the busy, crowded sidewalk at Nianjin Station. The owner of Yatai Keiji in the trendy Akasaka neighborhood used to work as a carpenter for Shinto shrines, so he made his cart look like a shrine too.
Some have even stopped selling food altogether and become bars aimed at yatai hoppers looking for a final stop on the way home.
The Fukuoka local tourism authority has created an English-language website with yatai maps and tips.
The website notes that despite all the new rules, Yatais can still be unpredictable – an owner may decide not to open one evening if the weather is bad or a chef is sick.
But the element of surprise is one of the things that makes street food so much fun, and that goes double in Fukuoka.